Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1156
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Dan Stevens 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.
Dan Stevens appears in 25 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Dan. The Call of the Wild 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 action, science fiction, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Adam Wingard, Rachel Lee Goldenberg, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and others, Dan Stevens 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 Call of the Wild (2020) as Hal · The Sea Beast (2022) as Admiral Hornagold (voice) · Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) as Trapper
Career snapshot
Ranked #1156 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
25
2012–2027
Career length
15 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.5
The Call of the Wild
Average Nutevio score
5.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.5
The Call of the Wild
Most frequent director
Adam Wingard
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Adam Wingard
Most common genre
Drama
12 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
6.2
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
5.9 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Her Smell, Lucy in the Sky, Apostle — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
5.9
Across 13 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
5.9
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. Her Smell, Lucy in the Sky, Apostle.
Most productive era
2010s
13 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 | 5.89 films | 6.73 films |
| Action | — | 3.64 films |
| Thriller | 5.75 films | 4.85 films |
| Comedy | 5.65 films | 6.63 films |
| Crime | 6.12 films | — |
| Romance | 5.64 films | 6.81 film |
| Horror | 5.72 films | 4.85 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2012Vamps
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Joey.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
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
2027Godzilla x Kong: Supernova
The current state of the argument, as Trapper.
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.
25 of 25 films
as Hal
Directed by Chris Sanders
as Trapper
Directed by Adam Wingard
as Admiral Hornagold (voice)
Directed by Chris Williams
as Tom
Directed by Maria Schrader
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
Hal
The Call of the Wild (2020)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Hal gives Dan Stevens a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Trapper
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
Performance score7.5
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Trapper is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Beast
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Performance score7.4
Beauty and the Beast asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Beast is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Admiral Hornagold (voice)
The Sea Beast (2022)
Performance score7.2
The Sea Beast asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Admiral Hornagold (voice) 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 Hal
Start here. The Call of the Wild is the clearest statement of what Dan Stevens does — accessible, 100 minutes, and rated 7.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Dan 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.
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Keeps the family register of The Call of the Wild but asks for a colder reading of it.
I'm Your Man (2021)
Keeps the romance register of Beauty and the Beast but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Sea Beast (2022)
A deliberate change of key after I'm Your Man — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
Keeps the action register of The Sea Beast but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Bill Condon
Director
2 films together
Notably Beauty and the Beast
Adam Wingard
Director
2 films together
Notably Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Amy Heckerling
Director
1 film together
Notably Vamps
Tom McCarthy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Cobbler
Scott Frank
Director
1 film together
Notably A Walk Among the Tombstones
Shawn Levy
Director
1 film together
Notably Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
Jackie Earle Haley
Director
1 film together
Notably Criminal Activities
Joseph Cedar
Director
1 film together
Notably Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
Nacho Vigalondo
Director
1 film together
Notably Colossal
Gareth Evans
Director
1 film together
Notably Apostle
Noah Hawley
Director
1 film together
Notably Lucy in the Sky
Alex Ross Perry
Director
1 film together
Notably Her Smell
David Dobkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Dave Franco
Director
1 film together
Notably The Rental
Chris Sanders
Director
1 film together
Notably The Call of the Wild
Maria Schrader
Director
1 film together
Notably I'm Your Man
Chris Williams
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sea Beast
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin
Director
1 film together
Notably Abigail
Rachel Lee Goldenberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Swiped
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Bill Condon
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Beauty and the BeastAdam Wingard
Director
2 films together · 3.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Godzilla x Kong: The New EmpireChris Sanders
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 Call of the WildChris Williams
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Sea BeastMaria Schrader
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I'm Your ManMatt Bettinelli-Olpin
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AbigailRachel Lee Goldenberg
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SwipedDavid Dobkin
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire SagaNacho Vigalondo
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ColossalScott Frank
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Walk Among the TombstonesShawn Levy
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Night at the Museum: Secret of the TombGareth Evans
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ApostleJackie Earle Haley
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Criminal ActivitiesTom McCarthy
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 CobblerAlex Ross Perry
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Her SmellDave Franco
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The RentalJoseph Cedar
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York FixerAmy Heckerling
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VampsNoah Hawley
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lucy in the SkySix 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 Sea Beast
as Admiral Hornagold (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Call of the Wild
as Hal
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 Call of the Wild
as Hal
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Sea Beast
as Admiral Hornagold (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Call of the Wild
as Hal
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. Dan Stevens 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
12 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
The Sea Beast
as Admiral Hornagold (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Sea Beast
as Admiral Hornagold (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Call of the Wild
as Hal
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
A Walk Among the Tombstones
as Kenny Kristo
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Sea Beast
as Admiral Hornagold (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
as Trapper
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Sea Beast
as Admiral Hornagold (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
as Trapper
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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