Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1089
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Chi McBride represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 30 years in, and Chi is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Chi McBride appears in 21 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Chi. The Terminal is the clearest case: a film rated 7.5 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 science fiction, comedy, animation. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Albert Calleros, Ivan Reitman, Wayne Kramer and others, Chi McBride 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 Terminal (2004) as Mulroy · I, Robot (2004) as Lt. John Bergin · Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022) as Metcalf / Judge (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #1089 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
21
1992–2022
Career length
30 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.5
The Terminal
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.4
The Terminal
Most frequent director
Albert Calleros
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Albert Calleros
Most common genre
Comedy
11 titles
Average runtime
1h 45m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.8
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
2020s
6.9 average MV
The 2020s are where the work and the material meet. Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2020s
6.9
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2020s
6.9
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Mercury Rising, Hoodlum, The Frighteners.
Most productive era
2000s
12 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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.53 films | 6.84 films | 6.71 film | — |
| Action | 6.31 film | 6.47 films | 5.81 film | — |
| Thriller | 6.31 film | 6.72 films | 5.41 film | — |
| Comedy | 6.52 films | 6.26 films | 5.62 films | 6.91 film |
| Crime | 6.42 films | 6.53 films | — | — |
| Horror | 6.91 film | — | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1992The Distinguished Gentleman
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Homer.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2004The Terminal
7.5 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
2022Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe
The current state of the argument, as Metcalf / Judge (voice).
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.
21 of 21 films
as Mulroy
Directed by Steven Spielberg
as Cpt. Mitchell Cheevers
Directed by Joe Carnahan
as Metcalf / Judge (voice)
Directed by Albert Calleros
as Lt. John Bergin
Directed by Alex Proyas
as Kenny
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
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
Mulroy
The Terminal (2004)
Performance score7.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Mulroy gives Chi McBride a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Cpt. Mitchell Cheevers
Narc (2002)
Performance score7.2
Narc asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Cpt. Mitchell Cheevers is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Metcalf / Judge (voice)
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022)
Performance score7.1
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Metcalf / Judge (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Lt. John Bergin
I, Robot (2004)
Performance score7.0
I, Robot asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lt. John Bergin 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 Mulroy
Start here. The Terminal is the clearest statement of what Chi McBride does — accessible, 128 minutes, and rated 7.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Chi 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.
The Kid (2000)
Keeps the comedy register of The Terminal but asks for a colder reading of it.
Narc (2002)
A deliberate change of key after The Kid — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
I, Robot (2004)
A deliberate change of key after Narc — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022)
Keeps the science fiction register of I, Robot but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Jonathan Lynn
Director
1 film together
Notably The Distinguished Gentleman
Brian Gibson
Director
1 film together
Notably What's Love Got to Do with It
Peter Jackson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Frighteners
Bill Duke
Director
1 film together
Notably Hoodlum
Jon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together
Notably The Kid
Joe Carnahan
Director
1 film together
Notably Narc
Malcolm D. Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Undercover Brother
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Director
1 film together
Notably Cradle 2 the Grave
Alex Proyas
Director
1 film together
Notably I, Robot
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably The Terminal
Justin Lin
Director
1 film together
Notably Annapolis
Dick Sebast
Director
1 film together
Notably Ultimate Avengers 2
Bob Odenkirk
Director
1 film together
Notably The Brothers Solomon
Wayne Kramer
Director
1 film together
Notably Pawn Shop Chronicles
Ivan Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably Draft Day
Albert Calleros
Director
1 film together
Notably Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The TerminalAlex Proyas
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I, RobotAlbert Calleros
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the UniverseJustin Lin
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AnnapolisPeter Jackson
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 FrightenersDick Sebast
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ultimate Avengers 2Joe Carnahan
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NarcJon Turteltaub
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 KidBrian Gibson
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What's Love Got to Do with ItIvan Reitman
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Draft DayBill Duke
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HoodlumAndrzej Bartkowiak
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cradle 2 the GraveJonathan Lynn
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Distinguished GentlemanMalcolm D. Lee
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Undercover BrotherWayne Kramer
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pawn Shop ChroniclesBob Odenkirk
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Brothers SolomonSix 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 Terminal
as Mulroy
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
What's Love Got to Do with It
as Fross
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 Terminal
as Mulroy
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Cradle 2 the Grave
as "Jump" Chambers
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Terminal
as Mulroy
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. Chi McBride 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
30 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.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
11 catalogue titles in comedy, 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
Narc
as Cpt. Mitchell Cheevers
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Narc
as Cpt. Mitchell Cheevers
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
What's Love Got to Do with It
as Fross
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Narc
as Cpt. Mitchell Cheevers
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Ultimate Avengers 2
as Chief Elder (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Ultimate Avengers 2
as Chief Elder (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Mercury Rising
as Tommy B. Jordan
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Terminal
as Mulroy
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Bonnie Hunt
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Have your say
Community
Which Chi McBride performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
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Reference
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