Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#8133
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Chelcie Ross represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 35 years in, and Chelcie is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Chelcie Ross appears in 20 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Chelcie. The Untouchables is the clearest case: a film rated 7.8 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for drama, documentary, western. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Joel Coen, Ramin Bahrani, Robert Lorenz and others, Chelcie Ross helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
The Untouchables (1987) as Reporter · A Simple Plan (1998) as Carl Jenkins · The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) as Trapper (segment "The Mortal Remains")
Career snapshot
Ranked #8133 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
20
1987–2022
Career length
35 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
The Untouchables
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.8
The Untouchables
Most frequent director
Sam Raimi
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Sam Raimi
Most common genre
Drama
11 titles
Average runtime
1h 47m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.5
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1980s
7.0 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Above the Law, The Untouchables — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.0
Across 2 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
6.9
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Above the Law, The Untouchables.
Most productive era
1990s
9 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.31 film | 6.93 films | 6.72 films | 6.24 films | 0.01 film |
| Action | 6.31 film | 6.32 films | — | — | — |
| Thriller | 7.02 films | 6.84 films | 6.33 films | 5.41 film | — |
| Comedy | — | 6.34 films | 6.01 film | 6.22 films | — |
| Crime | 7.02 films | 7.21 film | 6.01 film | — | — |
| Romance | — | 6.61 film | 6.81 film | 7.01 film | — |
| Horror | — | — | 6.52 films | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · Highest rated performance · Career peak
1987The Untouchables
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Reporter. 7.8 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2022Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
The current state of the argument, as David Bonderman.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
20 of 20 films
as Reporter
Directed by Brian De Palma
as Carl Jenkins
Directed by Sam Raimi
as Trapper (segment "The Mortal Remains")
Directed by Joel Coen
as Dan Devine
Directed by David Anspaugh
as Captain Talcott
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Reporter
The Untouchables (1987)
Performance score7.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Reporter gives Chelcie Ross a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Carl Jenkins
A Simple Plan (1998)
Performance score7.3
A Simple Plan asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Carl Jenkins is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Trapper (segment "The Mortal Remains")
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Performance score7.0
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Trapper (segment "The Mortal Remains") is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Dan Devine
Rudy (1993)
Performance score7.0
Rudy asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dan Devine is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Reporter
Start here. The Untouchables is the clearest statement of what Chelcie Ross does — accessible, 119 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Chelcie at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Basic Instinct (1992)
Keeps the thriller register of The Untouchables but asks for a colder reading of it.
Rudy (1993)
A deliberate change of key after Basic Instinct — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
A Simple Plan (1998)
Keeps the drama register of Rudy but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Keeps the drama register of A Simple Plan but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Sam Raimi
Director
3 films together
Notably A Simple Plan
Andrew Davis
Director
2 films together
Notably Above the Law
Brian De Palma
Director
1 film together
Notably The Untouchables
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Last Boy Scout
Peter Hewitt
Director
1 film together
Notably Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
Paul Verhoeven
Director
1 film together
Notably Basic Instinct
David Anspaugh
Director
1 film together
Notably Rudy
Donald Petrie
Director
1 film together
Notably Ri¢hie Ri¢h
P.J. Hogan
Director
1 film together
Notably My Best Friend's Wedding
Mike Nichols
Director
1 film together
Notably Primary Colors
Frank Darabont
Director
1 film together
Notably The Majestic
Ron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably The Dilemma
Robert Lorenz
Director
1 film together
Notably Trouble with the Curve
Ramin Bahrani
Director
1 film together
Notably At Any Price
Joel Coen
Director
1 film together
Notably The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Sam Raimi
Director
3 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
A Simple PlanAndrew Davis
Director
2 films together · 6.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Above the LawBrian De Palma
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The UntouchablesJoel Coen
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Ballad of Buster ScruggsDavid Anspaugh
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RudyPaul Verhoeven
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Basic InstinctRobert Lorenz
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Trouble with the CurveTony Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Last Boy ScoutFrank Darabont
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The MajesticP.J. Hogan
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Best Friend's WeddingMike Nichols
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Primary ColorsPeter Hewitt
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bill & Ted's Bogus JourneyDonald Petrie
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ri¢hie Ri¢hRamin Bahrani
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
At Any PriceRon Howard
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The DilemmaSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
The Untouchables
as Reporter
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Rudy
as Dan Devine
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The Untouchables
as Reporter
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
My Best Friend's Wedding
as Preist (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Untouchables
as Reporter
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Chelcie Ross has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
35 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
11 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Basic Instinct
as Captain Talcott
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Untouchables
as Reporter
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Trouble with the Curve
as Smitty
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Basic Instinct
as Captain Talcott
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Untouchables
as Reporter
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Above the Law
as Nelson Fox
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
as Trapper (segment "The Mortal Remains")
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Above the Law
as Nelson Fox
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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