Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#7481
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Dave Maldonado 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.
Dave Maldonado appears in 18 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Dave. Sinners is the clearest case: a film rated 8.7 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 horror, thriller, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Ryan Coogler, Celine Held, Ric Roman Waugh and others, Dave Maldonado 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.
Sinners (2025) as Hogwood · Sinners (2025) as Hogwood · The Banker (2020) as Bank Examiner
Career snapshot
Ranked #7481 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
18
2011–2025
Career length
14 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.7
Sinners
Average Nutevio score
6.8
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
Sinners
Most frequent director
Ryan Coogler
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Ryan Coogler
Most common genre
Drama
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 54m
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
6.6
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
7.3 average MV
The 2020s are where the work and the material meet. Sinners, Sinners, Caddo Lake — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2020s
7.3
Across 10 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2020s
7.2
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. Into the Ashes, Poms, Deepwater Horizon.
Most productive era
2020s
10 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 | 6.27 films | 7.27 films |
| Action | 6.53 films | 7.53 films |
| Thriller | 5.43 films | 7.45 films |
| Comedy | 6.61 film | — |
| Crime | 5.83 films | 7.21 film |
| Horror | — | 8.12 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2011Trespass
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Security Guard.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2025Sinners
8.7 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
2025Sinners
The current state of the argument, as Hogwood.
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.
18 of 18 films
as Hogwood
Directed by Ryan Coogler
as Hogwood
Directed by Ryan Coogler
as Bank Examiner
Directed by George Nolfi
as Dodd
Directed by Unknown
as Sheriff Mark Tanner
Directed by Celine Held
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 21 of 21 titles · 21 total credits · active 2011–2026
HIS & HERS
2026 · TV · Sheriff
Sinners
2025 · Hogwood
Caddo Lake
2024 · Sheriff Mark Tanner
The Burial
2023 · Jim Lafont
Love & Death
2023 · TV · Detective Jim Cochran
The Tomorrow War
2021 · Dodd
National Champions
2021 · Kevin McDonald
Greyhound
2020 · Dr. Temme
The Devil All the Time
2020 · Henry Dunlap
The Banker
2020 · Bank Examiner
The Secrets We Keep
2020 · Officer Brouwer
Your Honor
2020 · TV · Lt. Brendan Cusack
Into the Ashes
2019 · Jordan
Poms
2019 · Tom
The Purge
2018 · TV · Clint
Deepwater Horizon
2016 · Capt. Curt Kuchta
Free State of Jones
2016 · Polling Station Clerk
The 5th Wave
2016 · Soccer Coach
99 Homes
2015 · Detective #1
Zipper
2015 · Father
Trespass
2011 · Security Guard
The defining work
#1
Hogwood
Sinners (2025)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Hogwood gives Dave Maldonado a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Hogwood
Sinners (2025)
Performance score7.4
Sinners asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Hogwood is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Bank Examiner
The Banker (2020)
Performance score7.4
The Banker asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bank Examiner is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Dodd
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Performance score7.3
The Tomorrow War asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dodd 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 Hogwood
Start here. Sinners is the clearest statement of what Dave Maldonado does — accessible, 137 minutes, and rated 8.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Dave 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 Banker (2020)
Keeps the drama register of Sinners but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
A deliberate change of key after The Banker — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Caddo Lake (2024)
Keeps the science fiction register of The Tomorrow War but asks for a colder reading of it.
Sinners (2025)
Keeps the thriller register of Caddo Lake but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Ryan Coogler
Director
2 films together
Notably Sinners
Joel Schumacher
Director
1 film together
Notably Trespass
Ramin Bahrani
Director
1 film together
Notably 99 Homes
J Blakeson
Director
1 film together
Notably The 5th Wave
Gary Ross
Director
1 film together
Notably Free State of Jones
Peter Berg
Director
1 film together
Notably Deepwater Horizon
George Nolfi
Director
1 film together
Notably The Banker
Antonio Campos
Director
1 film together
Notably The Devil All the Time
Aaron Schneider
Director
1 film together
Notably Greyhound
Ric Roman Waugh
Director
1 film together
Notably National Champions
Celine Held
Director
1 film together
Notably Caddo Lake
Michael B. Jordan
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Hailee Steinfeld
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Miles Caton
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Jack O'Connell
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Wunmi Mosaku
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Jayme Lawson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Omar Benson Miller
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Delroy Lindo
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Li Jun Li
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Yao
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Lola Kirke
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Peter Dreimanis
Actor
1 film together
Notably Sinners
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Ryan Coogler
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
SinnersGeorge Nolfi
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The BankerAaron Schneider
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GreyhoundCeline Held
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Caddo LakeAntonio Campos
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Devil All the TimePeter Berg
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Deepwater HorizonGary Ross
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Free State of JonesRamin Bahrani
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
99 HomesRic Roman Waugh
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
National ChampionsJ Blakeson
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 5th WaveJoel Schumacher
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TrespassSix 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
Sinners
as Hogwood
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 Burial
as Jim Lafont
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Sinners
as Hogwood
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Greyhound
as Dr. Temme
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Sinners
as Hogwood
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. Dave Maldonado has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 7.7 | 8.9 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #615 of 681 | #2 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 4 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 2 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 6 |
| Average Nutevio score | 8.7 | 9.3 |
| Genres | Horror, Thriller, Drama | Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama, Thriller |
| Directors | Ryan Coogler | Christopher Nolan |
| Performance DNA | Intensity, Quiet performance, Villain presence | Transformation, Screen presence, Rewatchability |
| Career timeline | 2025–2025 | 2006–2014 |
| Most iconic role | Hogwood — Sinners | Professor Brand — Interstellar |
| Most rewatchable film | Sinners | The Dark Knight |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Thriller Movies, Drama Movies
Michael Caine edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
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
Sinners
as Hogwood
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Sinners
as Hogwood
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Burial
as Jim Lafont
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Caddo Lake
as Sheriff Mark Tanner
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Tomorrow War
as Dodd
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Tomorrow War
as Dodd
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
99 Homes
as Detective #1
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Sinners
as Hogwood
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 4 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
From the magazine
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Robert Downey Jr.
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
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Reference
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