Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#3714
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Emile Hirsch represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 25 years in, and Emile is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Emile Hirsch appears in 36 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Emile. Into the Wild is the clearest case: a film rated 7.9 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 comedy, horror, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Sean McNamara, Ryuhei Kitamura, Francisco Ruiz Velasco and others, Emile Hirsch 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.
Into the Wild (2007) as Christopher McCandless / Alexander Supertramp · Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021) as Jim (voice) · Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) as Jay Sebring
Career snapshot
Ranked #3714 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
36
2002–2027
Career length
25 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.9
Into the Wild
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.8
Into the Wild
Most frequent director
Sean McNamara
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Sean McNamara
Most common genre
Drama
20 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
6.3
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
6.8 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Taking Woodstock, Milk, Speed Racer — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.8
Across 8 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Taking Woodstock, Milk, Speed Racer.
Most productive era
2020s
17 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 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.97 films | 6.69 films | 5.74 films |
| Action | 6.82 films | 7.41 film | 5.78 films |
| Thriller | 6.52 films | 6.84 films | 5.113 films |
| Comedy | 6.43 films | 6.34 films | 2.92 films |
| Crime | 6.52 films | 6.43 films | 5.47 films |
| Romance | — | 7.31 film | 6.51 film |
| Horror | — | — | 4.96 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2002The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Francis Doyle.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2007Into the Wild
7.9 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
2027Lice
The current state of the argument, as Mr. Shanker.
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.
36 of 36 films
as Christopher McCandless / Alexander Supertramp
Directed by Sean Penn
as Jim (voice)
Directed by Francisco Ruiz Velasco
as Jay Sebring
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
as Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz
Directed by Peter Berg
as Diego
Directed by Sergio Castellitto
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
Christopher McCandless / Alexander Supertramp
Into the Wild (2007)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Christopher McCandless / Alexander Supertramp gives Emile Hirsch a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Jim (voice)
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021)
Performance score8.1
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jim (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Jay Sebring
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)
Performance score7.7
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jay Sebring is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz
Lone Survivor (2013)
Performance score7.7
Lone Survivor asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz 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 Christopher McCandless / Alexander Supertramp
Start here. Into the Wild is the clearest statement of what Emile Hirsch does — accessible, 148 minutes, and rated 7.9 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Emile 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.
Twice Born (2012)
Keeps the drama register of Into the Wild but asks for a colder reading of it.
Lone Survivor (2013)
Keeps the war register of Twice Born but asks for a colder reading of it.
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)
Keeps the drama register of Lone Survivor but asks for a colder reading of it.
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021)
A deliberate change of key after Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Peter Care
Director
1 film together
Notably The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
Catherine Hardwicke
Director
1 film together
Notably Lords of Dogtown
Nick Cassavetes
Director
1 film together
Notably Alpha Dog
Sean Penn
Director
1 film together
Notably Into the Wild
Lilly Wachowski
Director
1 film together
Notably Speed Racer
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably Milk
Ang Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Taking Woodstock
Sergio Castellitto
Director
1 film together
Notably Twice Born
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Savages
William Friedkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Killer Joe
Peter Berg
Director
1 film together
Notably Lone Survivor
David Gordon Green
Director
1 film together
Notably Prince Avalanche
Shari Springer Berman
Director
1 film together
Notably 10,000 Saints
Adam Stein
Director
1 film together
Notably Freaks
Quentin Tarantino
Director
1 film together
Notably Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
George Gallo
Director
1 film together
Notably The Comeback Trail
Francisco Ruiz Velasco
Director
1 film together
Notably Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
Ryuhei Kitamura
Director
1 film together
Notably The Price We Pay
Sean McNamara
Director
1 film together
Notably Bau, Artist at War
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Sean Penn
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Into the WildFrancisco Ruiz Velasco
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Trollhunters: Rise of the TitansQuentin Tarantino
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Once Upon a Time... in HollywoodPeter Berg
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lone SurvivorSergio Castellitto
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Twice BornGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MilkCatherine Hardwicke
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lords of DogtownAdam Stein
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FreaksNick Cassavetes
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Alpha DogPeter Care
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 Dangerous Lives of Altar BoysSean McNamara
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bau, Artist at WarWilliam Friedkin
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Killer JoeOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SavagesLilly Wachowski
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Speed RacerAng Lee
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Taking WoodstockDavid Gordon Green
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Prince AvalancheShari Springer Berman
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
10,000 SaintsRyuhei Kitamura
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Price We PayGeorge Gallo
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Comeback TrailSix 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
Into the Wild
as Christopher McCandless / Alexander Supertramp
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Twice Born
as Diego
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Into the Wild
as Christopher McCandless / Alexander Supertramp
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
as Jay Sebring
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Into the Wild
as Christopher McCandless / Alexander Supertramp
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. Emile Hirsch 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
25 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
20 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
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
as Jim (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
as Jim (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Bau, Artist at War
as Joseph Bau
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Outsider
as Paulie Bowers
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
as Jim (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
as Jim (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
as Jim (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
as Jay Sebring
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
Harvey Keitel
Works with the same directors — Quentin Tarantino
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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