Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#5827
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Daniel von Bargen 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.
Daniel von Bargen appears in 23 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Daniel. The Silence of the Lambs is the clearest case: a film rated 8.5 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 romance, science fiction, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Andrew Niccol, Frank Darabont, John Singleton and others, Daniel von Bargen 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 Silence of the Lambs (1991) as SWAT Communicator · Philadelphia (1993) as Jury Foreman · O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) as Sheriff Cooley
Career snapshot
Ranked #5827 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
23
1991–2002
Career length
11 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.5
The Silence of the Lambs
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
The Silence of the Lambs
Most frequent director
Jonathan Demme
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Jonathan Demme
Most common genre
Drama
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 59m
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
6.4
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
2000s
6.6 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. S1m0ne, The Majestic, Shaft — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.6
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.6
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. Universal Soldier: The Return, The General's Daughter, Snow Falling on Cedars.
Most productive era
1990s
18 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.612 films | 6.42 films |
| Action | 6.45 films | 6.01 film |
| Thriller | 6.96 films | 6.01 film |
| Comedy | 6.22 films | 6.73 films |
| Crime | 6.93 films | 6.72 films |
| Romance | 6.02 films | 6.42 films |
| Horror | 6.32 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · Highest rated performance · Career peak
Where our catalogue meets this career, as SWAT Communicator. 8.5 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
2002S1m0ne
The current state of the argument, as Chief Detective.
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.
23 of 23 films
as SWAT Communicator
Directed by Jonathan Demme
as Jury Foreman
Directed by Jonathan Demme
as Sheriff Cooley
Directed by Joel Coen
as Vladimir Radchenko
Directed by Tony Scott
as Lieutenant Nilsen
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
SWAT Communicator
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Performance score8.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. SWAT Communicator gives Daniel von Bargen a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Jury Foreman
Philadelphia (1993)
Performance score7.5
Philadelphia asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jury Foreman is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Sheriff Cooley
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Performance score7.2
O Brother, Where Art Thou? asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sheriff Cooley is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Vladimir Radchenko
Crimson Tide (1995)
Performance score7.0
Crimson Tide asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vladimir Radchenko 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 SWAT Communicator
Start here. The Silence of the Lambs is the clearest statement of what Daniel von Bargen does — accessible, 119 minutes, and rated 8.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Daniel 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 Silence of the Lambs but asks for a colder reading of it.
Philadelphia (1993)
A deliberate change of key after Basic Instinct — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Crimson Tide (1995)
Keeps the drama register of Philadelphia but asks for a colder reading of it.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
A deliberate change of key after Crimson Tide — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Jonathan Demme
Director
2 films together
Notably The Silence of the Lambs
Paul Verhoeven
Director
1 film together
Notably Basic Instinct
Philip Kaufman
Director
1 film together
Notably Rising Sun
Clive Barker
Director
1 film together
Notably Lord of Illusions
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Crimson Tide
Barbet Schroeder
Director
1 film together
Notably Before and After
John Woo
Director
1 film together
Notably Broken Arrow
Kevin Costner
Director
1 film together
Notably The Postman
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Amistad
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably G.I. Jane
Steven Zaillian
Director
1 film together
Notably A Civil Action
Robert Rodriguez
Director
1 film together
Notably The Faculty
Simon West
Director
1 film together
Notably The General's Daughter
Mic Rodgers
Director
1 film together
Notably Universal Soldier: The Return
Joel Coen
Director
1 film together
Notably O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Jon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together
Notably The Kid
John Singleton
Director
1 film together
Notably Shaft
Frank Darabont
Director
1 film together
Notably The Majestic
Andrew Niccol
Director
1 film together
Notably S1m0ne
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Jonathan Demme
Director
2 films together · 8.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Silence of the LambsJoel Coen
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
O Brother, Where Art Thou?Tony Scott
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crimson TidePaul 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 InstinctSteven Spielberg
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AmistadFrank 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 MajesticJon 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 KidRobert Rodriguez
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The FacultyRidley Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
G.I. JaneSteven Zaillian
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Civil ActionSimon West
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The General's DaughterKevin Costner
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The PostmanJohn Woo
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Broken ArrowPhilip Kaufman
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rising SunAndrew Niccol
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
S1m0neJohn Singleton
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ShaftMic Rodgers
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Universal Soldier: The ReturnBarbet Schroeder
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Before and AfterClive Barker
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lord of IllusionsSix 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 Silence of the Lambs
as SWAT Communicator
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 Majestic
as Federal Agent Ellerby
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 Silence of the Lambs
as SWAT Communicator
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
S1m0ne
as Chief Detective
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Silence of the Lambs
as SWAT Communicator
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. Daniel von Bargen 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
14 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 Silence of the Lambs
as SWAT Communicator
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Silence of the Lambs
as SWAT Communicator
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Majestic
as Federal Agent Ellerby
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Basic Instinct
as Lieutenant Nilsen
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Silence of the Lambs
as SWAT Communicator
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Shaft
as Lt Kearney
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Silence of the Lambs
as SWAT Communicator
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Silence of the Lambs
as SWAT Communicator
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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