Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#5723
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
David O'Hara represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 29 years in, and David is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
David O'Hara appears in 18 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without David. The Departed is the clearest case: a film rated 9.0 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 western, drama, science fiction. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Kevin Costner, Farhad Safinia, Baltasar Kormákur and others, David O'Hara 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 Departed (2006) as Fitzy · The Departed (2006) as Fitzy · Braveheart (1995) as Stephen, Irish Fighter
Career snapshot
Ranked #5723 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
18
1995–2024
Career length
29 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.0
The Departed
Average Nutevio score
6.8
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.5
The Departed
Most frequent director
Kevin Costner
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Kevin Costner
Most common genre
Drama
12 titles
Average runtime
2h 10m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
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
6.8
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
7.2 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Wanted, Doomsday, The Departed — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
7.2
Across 7 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.1
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. The Devil's Own, Braveheart.
Most productive era
2000s
7 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 | 7.22 films | 7.55 films | 6.53 films | 6.92 films |
| Action | 8.11 film | 6.32 films | 6.03 films | 5.71 film |
| Thriller | 6.21 film | 7.54 films | 6.43 films | 5.11 film |
| Comedy | — | 5.81 film | — | — |
| Crime | 6.21 film | 7.54 films | 6.22 films | — |
| Romance | — | 6.71 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1995Braveheart
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Stephen, Irish Fighter.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2006The Departed
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.0 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
2024Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2
The current state of the argument.
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 Fitzy
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Fitzy
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Albert Runcorn
Directed by David Yates
as Stephen, Irish Fighter
Directed by Mel Gibson
as David
Directed by Terry George
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 19 of 19 titles · 19 total credits · active 1995–2024
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
2024 · Bowler Hat Surveyor
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2
2024 · Actor
Deus
2022 · Ulph
Santana
2020 · Actor
The Professor and the Madman
2019 · Church
Cold Pursuit
2019 · Gallum 'Sly' Ferrante
Contraband
2012 · Jim Church
Cowboys & Aliens
2011 · Pat Dolan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
2010 · Albert Runcorn
Luther
2010 · TV · George Stark
Wanted
2008 · Mr. X
Doomsday
2008 · Michael Canaris
The Tudors
2007 · TV · Henry Howard
The Departed
2006 · Fitzy
Tristan & Isolde
2006 · Donnchadh
Hotel Rwanda
2004 · David
Made
2001 · The Welshman
The Devil's Own
1997 · Martin MacDuff
Braveheart
1995 · Stephen, Irish Fighter
The defining work
#1
Fitzy
The Departed (2006)
Performance score8.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Fitzy gives David O'Hara a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Fitzy
The Departed (2006)
Performance score8.1
The Departed asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Fitzy is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Albert Runcorn
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Performance score7.8
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Albert Runcorn is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Stephen, Irish Fighter
Braveheart (1995)
Performance score7.8
Braveheart asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Stephen, Irish Fighter 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 Fitzy
Start here. The Departed is the clearest statement of what David O'Hara does — accessible, 151 minutes, and rated 9.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet David 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.
Braveheart (1995)
Keeps the drama register of The Departed but asks for a colder reading of it.
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Keeps the war register of Braveheart but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Departed (2006)
Keeps the drama register of Hotel Rwanda but asks for a colder reading of it.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
A deliberate change of key after The Departed — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Martin Scorsese
Director
2 films together
Notably The Departed
Jon Favreau
Director
2 films together
Notably Made
Kevin Costner
Director
2 films together
Notably Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2
Mel Gibson
Director
1 film together
Notably Braveheart
Alan J. Pakula
Director
1 film together
Notably The Devil's Own
Terry George
Director
1 film together
Notably Hotel Rwanda
Kevin Reynolds
Director
1 film together
Notably Tristan & Isolde
Neil Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Doomsday
Timur Bekmambetov
Director
1 film together
Notably Wanted
David Yates
Director
1 film together
Notably Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Baltasar Kormákur
Director
1 film together
Notably Contraband
Farhad Safinia
Director
1 film together
Notably The Professor and the Madman
Matt Damon
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Jack Nicholson
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Mark Wahlberg
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Martin Sheen
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Ray Winstone
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Vera Farmiga
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Anthony Anderson
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Alec Baldwin
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Kevin Corrigan
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
James Badge Dale
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Mark Rolston
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Martin Scorsese
Director
2 films together · 8.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The DepartedKevin Costner
Director
2 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2Jon Favreau
Director
2 films together · 5.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
MadeMel Gibson
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BraveheartDavid Yates
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1Terry George
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hotel RwandaFarhad Safinia
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Professor and the MadmanTimur Bekmambetov
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WantedKevin Reynolds
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tristan & IsoldeBaltasar Kormákur
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ContrabandAlan J. Pakula
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Devil's OwnNeil Marshall
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DoomsdaySix 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 Departed
as Fitzy
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Tristan & Isolde
as Donnchadh
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 Departed
as Fitzy
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
as Albert Runcorn
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Departed
as Fitzy
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. David O'Hara 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 | 8.0 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #432 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.0 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Crime, Thriller, Drama | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Martin Scorsese | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Quiet performance, Intensity, Screen presence | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2006–2006 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Fitzy — The Departed | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | The Departed | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
The Departed
Shared directors
Martin Scorsese
Shared collections
Top 100 Crime Movies, Thriller Movies, Crime Movies, Drama Movies
Collaborators in common
Martin Scorsese · Leonardo DiCaprio · Jack Nicholson · Mark Wahlberg
Matt Damon 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.
Career Achievement
Awarded
29 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.
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 Departed
as Fitzy
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Departed
as Fitzy
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Tristan & Isolde
as Donnchadh
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Professor and the Madman
as Church
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Departed
as Fitzy
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Cowboys & Aliens
as Pat Dolan
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Made
as The Welshman
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Departed
as Fitzy
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
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Robert De Niro
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
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