Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1822
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Jason Davis 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.
Jason Davis appears in 22 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Jason. Prisoners is the clearest case: a film rated 8.3 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 action, comedy, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Bilall Fallah, George Nolfi, Ron Howard and others, Jason Davis 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.
Prisoners (2013) as Paul Brewer (uncredited) · I, Tonya (2017) as Al · The Banker (2020) as Sullivan
Career snapshot
Ranked #1822 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
22
2001–2024
Career length
23 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.3
Prisoners
Average Nutevio score
6.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
Prisoners
Most frequent director
Adam McKay
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Adam McKay
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
6.9
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
6.9 average MV
The 2020s are where the work and the material meet. Bad Boys: Ride or Die, The Banker, Hillbilly Elegy — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2020s
6.9
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2020s
6.9
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. Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Runaway Jury.
Most productive era
2010s
14 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 | 6.91 film | 6.910 films | 6.83 films |
| Action | — | 6.11 film | 7.31 film |
| Thriller | 6.91 film | 7.04 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.43 films | 6.46 films | 6.82 films |
| Crime | — | 7.82 films | 7.31 film |
| Romance | 5.91 film | 6.82 films | — |
| Horror | — | 6.82 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2001Summer Catch
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Fischer the Valet.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2013Prisoners
8.3 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 Grice.
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.
22 of 22 films
as Paul Brewer (uncredited)
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
as Al
Directed by Craig Gillespie
as Mr. Guillory
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.
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The defining work
#1
Paul Brewer (uncredited)
Prisoners (2013)
Performance score8.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Paul Brewer (uncredited) gives Jason Davis a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Al
I, Tonya (2017)
Performance score7.3
I, Tonya asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Al is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Grice
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)
Performance score7.2
Bad Boys: Ride or Die asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Grice is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Sullivan
The Banker (2020)
Performance score7.2
The Banker asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sullivan 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 Paul Brewer (uncredited)
Start here. Prisoners is the clearest statement of what Jason Davis does — accessible, 153 minutes, and rated 8.3 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Jason 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.
I, Tonya (2017)
Keeps the drama register of Prisoners but asks for a colder reading of it.
Forever My Girl (2018)
Keeps the drama register of I, Tonya but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Banker (2020)
Keeps the drama register of Forever My Girl but asks for a colder reading of it.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)
A deliberate change of key after The Banker — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Adam McKay
Director
2 films together
Notably Step Brothers
Michael Tollin
Director
1 film together
Notably Summer Catch
Gary Fleder
Director
1 film together
Notably Runaway Jury
Roger Donaldson
Director
1 film together
Notably Seeking Justice
Matthew Weiner
Director
1 film together
Notably Are You Here
Denis Villeneuve
Director
1 film together
Notably Prisoners
Peter Landesman
Director
1 film together
Notably Concussion
Ryan Fleck
Director
1 film together
Notably Mississippi Grind
Rob Letterman
Director
1 film together
Notably Goosebumps
Tony McNamara
Director
1 film together
Notably Ashby
Gavin O'Connor
Director
1 film together
Notably The Accountant
Craig Gillespie
Director
1 film together
Notably I, Tonya
Michael Tiddes
Director
1 film together
Notably Naked
Joel Edgerton
Director
1 film together
Notably Boy Erased
Mike Flanagan
Director
1 film together
Notably Doctor Sleep
Jeffrey G. Hunt
Director
1 film together
Notably Saving Zoë
Jon Stewart
Director
1 film together
Notably Irresistible
Ron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Hillbilly Elegy
George Nolfi
Director
1 film together
Notably The Banker
Bilall Fallah
Director
1 film together
Notably Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Adam McKay
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Step BrothersDenis Villeneuve
Director
1 film together · 8.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PrisonersCraig Gillespie
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I, TonyaGeorge Nolfi
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 BankerBilall Fallah
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bad Boys: Ride or DieGavin O'Connor
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The AccountantMike Flanagan
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Doctor SleepPeter Landesman
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ConcussionJoel Edgerton
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Boy ErasedGary Fleder
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Runaway JuryRon Howard
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hillbilly ElegyRob Letterman
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GoosebumpsJeffrey G. Hunt
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Saving ZoëTony McNamara
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AshbyJon Stewart
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
IrresistibleRyan Fleck
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mississippi GrindRoger Donaldson
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Seeking JusticeMichael Tiddes
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NakedMichael Tollin
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Summer CatchMatthew Weiner
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Are You HereSix 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
Prisoners
as Paul Brewer (uncredited)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Forever My Girl
as Mr. Guillory
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Prisoners
as Paul Brewer (uncredited)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Hillbilly Elegy
as Dr. Newton
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Prisoners
as Paul Brewer (uncredited)
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. Jason Davis 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
23 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
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
Prisoners
as Paul Brewer (uncredited)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Prisoners
as Paul Brewer (uncredited)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Forever My Girl
as Mr. Guillory
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Saving Zoë
as Zoe and Echo's Dad
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Prisoners
as Paul Brewer (uncredited)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
as Grice
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Ashby
as Mr. Mark
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Are You Here
as George
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
David Krumholtz
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Léa Seydoux
Works with the same directors — Denis Villeneuve
Florence Pugh
Works with the same directors — Denis Villeneuve
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Have your say
Community
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Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
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Reference
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