Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#364
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Dakota Johnson works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Dakota Johnson appears in 30 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Dakota. The Peanut Butter Falcon is the clearest case: a film rated 7.4 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, mystery, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Showalter, Celine Song and others, Dakota Johnson 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 Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) as Eleanor · The Social Network (2010) as Amelia Ritter · Our Friend (2019) as Nicole Teague
Career snapshot
Ranked #364 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
30
2010–2026
Career length
16 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.4
The Peanut Butter Falcon
Average Nutevio score
5.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.4
The Peanut Butter Falcon
Most frequent director
Maggie Gyllenhaal
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Maggie Gyllenhaal
Most common genre
Drama
21 titles
Average runtime
1h 50m
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
6.2
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
2010s
6.4 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. The Peanut Butter Falcon, Our Friend, Wounds — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.4
Across 17 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.4
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2010s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Peanut Butter Falcon, Our Friend, Wounds.
Most productive era
2010s
17 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 | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.713 films | 5.78 films |
| Action | 6.72 films | 5.31 film |
| Thriller | 6.44 films | 2.92 films |
| Comedy | 6.55 films | 6.56 films |
| Crime | 6.74 films | — |
| Romance | 6.48 films | 6.56 films |
| Horror | 5.52 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · Highest rated performance
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Amelia Ritter. 7.4 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2019Our Friend
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026Verity
The current state of the argument, as Lowen Ashleigh.
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.
30 of 30 films
as Nicole Teague
Directed by Unknown
as Maggie Sherwoode
Directed by Nisha Ganatra
as Domino
Directed by Cooper Raiff
as Anastasia Steele
Directed by James Foley
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Nicole Teague
Our Friend (2019)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Nicole Teague gives Dakota Johnson a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Eleanor
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
Performance score7.7
The Peanut Butter Falcon asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Eleanor is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Maggie Sherwoode
The High Note (2020)
Performance score7.6
The High Note asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Maggie Sherwoode is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Domino
Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)
Performance score7.5
Cha Cha Real Smooth asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Domino 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 Nicole Teague
Start here. Our Friend is the clearest statement of what Dakota Johnson does — accessible, 124 minutes, and rated 7.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Dakota 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.
Fifty Shades Freed (2018)
Keeps the romance register of Our Friend but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
Keeps the drama register of Fifty Shades Freed but asks for a colder reading of it.
The High Note (2020)
Keeps the comedy register of The Peanut Butter Falcon but asks for a colder reading of it.
Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)
Keeps the romance register of The High Note but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Luca Guadagnino
Director
2 films together
Notably Suspiria
James Foley
Director
2 films together
Notably Fifty Shades Freed
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Director
2 films together
Notably The Lost Daughter
David Fincher
Director
1 film together
Notably The Social Network
Daniel Barnz
Director
1 film together
Notably Beastly
Phil Lord
Director
1 film together
Notably 21 Jump Street
Nicholas Stoller
Director
1 film together
Notably The Five-Year Engagement
Scott Cooper
Director
1 film together
Notably Black Mass
Sam Taylor-Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably Fifty Shades of Grey
Christian Ditter
Director
1 film together
Notably How to Be Single
Drew Goddard
Director
1 film together
Notably Bad Times at the El Royale
Nisha Ganatra
Director
1 film together
Notably The High Note
Bill Benz
Director
1 film together
Notably The Nowhere Inn
Cooper Raiff
Director
1 film together
Notably Cha Cha Real Smooth
Christy Hall
Director
1 film together
Notably Daddio
SJ Clarkson
Director
1 film together
Notably Madame Web
Stephanie Allynne
Director
1 film together
Notably Am I OK?
Celine Song
Director
1 film together
Notably Materialists
Michael Showalter
Director
1 film together
Notably Verity
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
James Foley
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Fifty Shades FreedLuca Guadagnino
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
SuspiriaMaggie Gyllenhaal
Director
2 films together · 3.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Lost DaughterDavid Fincher
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Social NetworkCooper Raiff
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cha Cha Real SmoothNisha Ganatra
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The High NotePhil Lord
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
21 Jump StreetDrew Goddard
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bad Times at the El RoyaleScott Cooper
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Black MassStephanie Allynne
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Am I OK?Celine Song
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MaterialistsChristy Hall
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DaddioChristian Ditter
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
How to Be SingleDaniel Barnz
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BeastlySam Taylor-Johnson
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fifty Shades of GreyNicholas Stoller
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Five-Year EngagementBill Benz
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Nowhere InnSJ Clarkson
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Madame WebMichael Showalter
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VeritySix 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 Social Network
as Amelia Ritter
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Our Friend
as Nicole Teague
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 Social Network
as Amelia Ritter
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Social Network
as Amelia Ritter
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Our Friend
as Nicole Teague
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. Dakota Johnson 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.
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
21 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
Suspiria
as Susie
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Suspiria
as Susie
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Materialists
as Lucy
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Bad Times at the El Royale
as Emily Summerspring
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
21 Jump Street
as Fugazy
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
21 Jump Street
as Fugazy
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The High Note
as Maggie Sherwoode
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Fifty Shades Freed
as Anastasia Steele
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Morgan Freeman
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Robert Downey Jr.
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Edward Norton
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Zach Grenier
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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