Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2941
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Derek Jacobi represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 53 years in, and Derek is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Derek Jacobi appears in 31 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Derek. Gladiator 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 drama, music, documentary. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Wash Westmoreland, Chris Foggin, Ridley Scott and others, Derek Jacobi 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.
Gladiator (2000) as Gracchus · The King's Speech (2010) as Archbishop Cosmo Lang · Broken English (2026) as The Narrator
Career snapshot
Ranked #2941 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
31
1973–2026
Career length
53 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.5
Gladiator
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Gladiator
Most frequent director
Kenneth Branagh
5 films together
Longest collaboration
5×
With Kenneth Branagh
Most common genre
Drama
19 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
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
1970s
7.2 average MV
The 1970s are where the work and the material meet. The Day of the Jackal — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1970s
7.2
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1970s
7.5
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1970s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Day of the Jackal.
Most productive era
2010s
12 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 | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 7.12 films | 7.31 film | 7.72 films | 5.89 films | 5.15 films |
| Action | 7.21 film | — | — | 7.52 films | 5.93 films | 6.81 film |
| Thriller | 7.21 film | — | 6.41 film | 6.72 films | 5.01 film | 5.61 film |
| Comedy | — | — | — | 6.71 film | 5.21 film | 5.81 film |
| Crime | — | — | — | — | 6.71 film | 5.61 film |
| Romance | — | — | 6.41 film | — | 6.53 films | 6.33 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Inspector Caron.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2000Gladiator
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
The current state of the argument, as Pete.
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.
31 of 31 films
as Gracchus
Directed by Ridley Scott
as King Claudius
Directed by Kenneth Branagh
as Nicodemus (voice)
Directed by Don Bluth
as Archbishop Cosmo Lang
Directed by Tom Hooper
as The Narrator
Directed by Unknown
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
Gracchus
Gladiator (2000)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Gracchus gives Derek Jacobi a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
King Claudius
Hamlet (1996)
Performance score7.6
Hamlet asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. King Claudius is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Nicodemus (voice)
The Secret of NIMH (1982)
Performance score7.6
The Secret of NIMH asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Nicodemus (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Archbishop Cosmo Lang
The King's Speech (2010)
Performance score7.5
The King's Speech asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Archbishop Cosmo Lang 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 Gracchus
Start here. Gladiator is the clearest statement of what Derek Jacobi does — accessible, 155 minutes, and rated 8.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Derek 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 Secret of NIMH (1982)
Keeps the adventure register of Gladiator but asks for a colder reading of it.
Hamlet (1996)
Keeps the drama register of The Secret of NIMH but asks for a colder reading of it.
The King's Speech (2010)
Keeps the drama register of Hamlet but asks for a colder reading of it.
Broken English (2026)
A deliberate change of key after The King's Speech — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Kenneth Branagh
Director
5 films together
Notably Hamlet
Ridley Scott
Director
2 films together
Notably Gladiator
Fred Zinnemann
Director
1 film together
Notably The Day of the Jackal
Don Bluth
Director
1 film together
Notably The Secret of NIMH
Robert Altman
Director
1 film together
Notably Gosford Park
Kirk Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably Nanny McPhee
Len Wiseman
Director
1 film together
Notably Underworld: Evolution
Chris Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably The Golden Compass
Tom Hooper
Director
1 film together
Notably The King's Speech
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Hereafter
Simon Curtis
Director
1 film together
Notably My Week with Marilyn
Olivier Dahan
Director
1 film together
Notably Grace of Monaco
Richard Laxton
Director
1 film together
Notably Effie Gray
Simon West
Director
1 film together
Notably Stratton
Dominic Brigstocke
Director
1 film together
Notably Horrible Histories: The Movie — Rotten Romans
Andy Newbery
Director
1 film together
Notably The Host
Brenda Chapman
Director
1 film together
Notably Come Away
Chris Foggin
Director
1 film together
Notably Tinsel Town
Wash Westmoreland
Director
1 film together
Notably Heartstopper Forever
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Kenneth Branagh
Director
5 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 5 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
HamletRidley Scott
Director
2 films together · 7.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
GladiatorTom Hooper
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The King's SpeechDon Bluth
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 Secret of NIMHFred Zinnemann
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 Day of the JackalWash Westmoreland
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Heartstopper ForeverRobert Altman
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gosford ParkSimon Curtis
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Week with MarilynKirk Jones
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nanny McPheeLen Wiseman
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Underworld: EvolutionClint Eastwood
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HereafterChris Weitz
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Golden CompassRichard Laxton
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Effie GrayOlivier Dahan
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Grace of MonacoChris Foggin
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tinsel TownBrenda Chapman
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Come AwayAndy Newbery
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The HostDominic Brigstocke
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Horrible Histories: The Movie — Rotten RomansSimon West
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StrattonSix 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
Gladiator
as Gracchus
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 King's Speech
as Archbishop Cosmo Lang
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Gladiator
as Gracchus
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Gosford Park
as Probert
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Gladiator
as Gracchus
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. Derek Jacobi 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.
Career Achievement
Awarded
53 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
19 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
Gladiator
as Gracchus
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Gladiator
as Gracchus
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Heartstopper Forever
as Pete
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Secret of NIMH
as Nicodemus (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Gladiator
as Gracchus
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Gladiator II
as Gracchus
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Cinderella
as King
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Gladiator
as Gracchus
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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
Which Derek Jacobi performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
Join the conversation
Reference
Continue exploring
Trending performers
Directors they work with
Collections to read next
