Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1484
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
F. Murray Abraham represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 53 years in, and F. is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
F. Murray Abraham appears in 24 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without F.. The Grand Budapest Hotel is the clearest case: a film rated 8.8 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, drama, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Mike Doyle, Wes Anderson, Shari Springer Berman and others, F. Murray Abraham 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 Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) as Mr. Moustafa · Scarface (1983) as Omar · The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) as Mr. Moustafa
Career snapshot
Ranked #1484 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
24
1973–2026
Career length
53 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.8
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Scarface
Most frequent director
Wes Anderson
4 films together
Longest collaboration
4×
With Wes Anderson
Most common genre
Drama
13 titles
Average runtime
1h 55m
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
6.9
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
1980s
7.9 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. The Name of the Rose, Amadeus, Scarface — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.9
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
7.9
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. All the President's Men, Serpico.
Most productive era
2020s
8 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 | 7.52 films | 7.93 films | 5.61 film | — | 7.64 films | 4.33 films |
| Action | — | 8.31 film | 6.61 film | — | 6.12 films | — |
| Thriller | 7.51 film | 7.41 film | — | 6.31 film | 6.12 films | 7.31 film |
| Comedy | — | — | 6.13 films | — | 8.33 films | 4.03 films |
| Crime | 7.41 film | 8.31 film | — | — | 6.21 film | 6.51 film |
| Horror | — | — | 6.11 film | 6.31 film | — | 5.71 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1973Serpico
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Detective Partner (uncredited).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
8.8 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
2026Bookends
The current state of the argument, as Saul Cohen.
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.
24 of 24 films
as Mr. Moustafa
Directed by Wes Anderson
as Antonio Salieri
Directed by Miloš Forman
as Omar
Directed by Brian De Palma
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 24 of 33 titles · 33 total credits · active 1973–2026
Bookends
2026 · Saul Cohen
The Phoenician Scheme
2025 · Prophet
Milarepa
2025 · Oyun
This Ordinary Thing
2025 · Self (voice)
Marvel Zombies
2025 · TV · Khonshu (voice)
Mother, Couch
2024 · Marcus / Marco
White House Plumbers
2023 · TV · Judge John Sirica
An Oral History of: The Name of the Rose
2022 · Self (archive footage)
The Magic Flute
2022 · Dr. Longbow
Moon Knight
2022 · TV · Khonshu (voice)
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
2022 · TV · Dr. Carl Winters
Things Heard & Seen
2021 · Floyd DeBeers
The White Lotus
2021 · TV · Bert Di Grasso
Mythic Quest
2020 · TV · C.W. Longbottom
Isle of Dogs
2018 · Jupiter (voice)
Robin Hood
2018 · Cardinal
The Grand Budapest Hotel
2014 · Mr. Moustafa
Inside Llewyn Davis
2013 · Bud Grossman
Dead Man Down
2013 · Gregor
Beauty and the Beast
2012 · TV · Cyril
Homeland
2011 · TV · Dar Adal
Bored to Death
2009 · TV · Professor Richard Hawkes
Thir13en Ghosts
2001 · Cyrus
Muppets from Space
1999 · Noah
The defining work
#1
Mr. Moustafa
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Performance score8.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Mr. Moustafa gives F. Murray Abraham a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Antonio Salieri
Amadeus (1984)
Performance score8.5
Amadeus asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Antonio Salieri is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mr. Moustafa
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Performance score8.4
The Grand Budapest Hotel asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mr. Moustafa is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Omar
Scarface (1983)
Performance score8.0
Scarface asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Omar 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 Mr. Moustafa
Start here. The Grand Budapest Hotel is the clearest statement of what F. Murray Abraham does — accessible, 99 minutes, and rated 8.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet F. 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.
Scarface (1983)
Keeps the drama register of The Grand Budapest Hotel but asks for a colder reading of it.
Amadeus (1984)
Keeps the drama register of Scarface but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Keeps the drama register of Amadeus but asks for a colder reading of it.
Milarepa (2025)
Keeps the drama register of The Grand Budapest Hotel but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Wes Anderson
Director
4 films together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Brian De Palma
Director
2 films together
Notably Scarface
Sidney Lumet
Director
1 film together
Notably Serpico
Alan J. Pakula
Director
1 film together
Notably All the President's Men
Miloš Forman
Director
1 film together
Notably Amadeus
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Director
1 film together
Notably The Name of the Rose
John McTiernan
Director
1 film together
Notably Last Action Hero
Guillermo del Toro
Director
1 film together
Notably Mimic
Tim Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Muppets from Space
Niels Arden Oplev
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead Man Down
Joel Coen
Director
1 film together
Notably Inside Llewyn Davis
Otto Bathurst
Director
1 film together
Notably Robin Hood
Shari Springer Berman
Director
1 film together
Notably Things Heard & Seen
Mike Doyle
Director
1 film together
Notably Bookends
Léa Seydoux
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Edward Norton
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Harvey Keitel
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ralph Fiennes
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mathieu Amalric
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Adrien Brody
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Willem Dafoe
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jeff Goldblum
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jude Law
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Bill Murray
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Saoirse Ronan
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jason Schwartzman
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Grand Budapest Hotel
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Wes Anderson
Director
4 films together · 7.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 4 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Grand Budapest HotelBrian De Palma
Director
2 films together · 7.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ScarfaceMiloš Forman
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AmadeusAlan J. Pakula
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
All the President's MenJean-Jacques Annaud
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Name of the RoseSidney Lumet
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SerpicoJoel Coen
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Inside Llewyn DavisJohn McTiernan
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Last Action HeroNiels Arden Oplev
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dead Man DownTim Hill
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Muppets from SpaceGuillermo del Toro
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MimicOtto Bathurst
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Robin HoodShari Springer Berman
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Things Heard & SeenMike Doyle
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BookendsSix 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 Grand Budapest Hotel
as Mr. Moustafa
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Amadeus
as Antonio Salieri
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 Grand Budapest Hotel
as Mr. Moustafa
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Bonfire of the Vanities
as D.A. Abe Weiss (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Grand Budapest Hotel
as Mr. Moustafa
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. F. Murray Abraham 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 | 7.8 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #582 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 8.8 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Comedy, Adventure, Drama | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Wes Anderson | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Screen presence, Rewatchability, Comedy | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2014–2014 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Mr. Moustafa — The Grand Budapest Hotel | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | The Grand Budapest Hotel | Interstellar |
| 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
Adventure Movies, Drama Movies
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
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
13 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 Grand Budapest Hotel
as Mr. Moustafa
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Scarface
as Omar
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Milarepa
as Oyun
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Name of the Rose
as Bernardo Gui
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Scarface
as Omar
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Robin Hood
as Cardinal
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Grand Budapest Hotel
as Mr. Moustafa
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Grand Budapest Hotel
as Mr. Moustafa
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 5 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
genre
Best Comedies
Features The Grand Budapest Hotel at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Comedy Movies
Features The Grand Budapest Hotel at #2
Read the collectiongenre
Best Family Movies
Features The Grand Budapest Hotel at #3
Read the collectiongenre
Adventure Movies
Features The Grand Budapest Hotel
Read the collectiongenre
Drama Movies
Features The Grand Budapest Hotel
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
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
Edward Norton
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Harvey Keitel
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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