Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1688
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Jeff Daniels represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 41 years in, and Jeff is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Jeff Daniels appears in 36 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Jeff. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is the clearest case: a film rated 8.1 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 war, drama, history. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Michael Russell Gunn, Morgan Neville, Adam Wishart and others, Jeff Daniels 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.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024) as Self · The Martian (2015) as Theodore "Teddy" Sanders · Bye Bye Barry (2023) as Self
Career snapshot
Ranked #1688 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
36
1985–2026
Career length
41 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Most frequent director
Michael Russell Gunn
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Michael Russell Gunn
Most common genre
Drama
19 titles
Average runtime
1h 49m
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
6.7
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
6.6 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Heartburn, The Purple Rose of Cairo — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
6.6
Across 2 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
6.7
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Heartburn, The Purple Rose of Cairo.
Most productive era
2000s
13 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 | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.01 film | 7.02 films | 6.710 films | 6.94 films | 3.22 films |
| Action | — | 7.31 film | 6.52 films | 6.52 films | — |
| Thriller | — | 6.82 films | 6.64 films | 6.62 films | 0.01 film |
| Comedy | 6.62 films | 6.45 films | 6.26 films | 5.61 film | — |
| Crime | — | 6.21 film | 6.65 films | — | — |
| Romance | 6.62 films | 5.71 film | 6.71 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Tom Baxter / Gil Shepherd.
Career peak
2023Bye Bye Barry
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Highest rated performance
2024Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
8.1 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Most recent film
2026The Brink of War
The current state of the argument, as Ronald Reagan.
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 Theodore "Teddy" Sanders
Directed by Ridley Scott
as Bernard Berkman
Directed by Noah Baumbach
as Tom Baxter / Gil Shepherd
Directed by Woody Allen
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
Self
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self gives Jeff Daniels a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Self
Bye Bye Barry (2023)
Performance score8.1
Bye Bye Barry asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Theodore "Teddy" Sanders
The Martian (2015)
Performance score7.9
The Martian asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Theodore "Teddy" Sanders is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Bernard Berkman
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Performance score7.6
The Squid and the Whale asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bernard Berkman 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 Self
Start here. Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is the clearest statement of what Jeff Daniels does — accessible, 104 minutes, and rated 8.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Jeff 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 Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
A deliberate change of key after Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Keeps the comedy register of The Purple Rose of Cairo but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Martian (2015)
Keeps the drama register of The Squid and the Whale but asks for a colder reading of it.
Bye Bye Barry (2023)
A deliberate change of key after The Martian — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably The Purple Rose of Cairo
Mike Nichols
Director
1 film together
Notably Heartburn
Terry Hughes
Director
1 film together
Notably The Butcher's Wife
Ronald F. Maxwell
Director
1 film together
Notably Gettysburg
Peter Farrelly
Director
1 film together
Notably Dumb and Dumber
Jan de Bont
Director
1 film together
Notably Speed
John Herzfeld
Director
1 film together
Notably 2 Days in the Valley
Stephen Herek
Director
1 film together
Notably 101 Dalmatians
Gary Ross
Director
1 film together
Notably Pleasantville
Stephen Daldry
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hours
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Blood Work
Noah Baumbach
Director
1 film together
Notably The Squid and the Whale
George Clooney
Director
1 film together
Notably Good Night, and Good Luck.
Douglas McGrath
Director
1 film together
Notably Infamous
Barry Sonnenfeld
Director
1 film together
Notably RV
Scott Frank
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lookout
Kirk DeMicco
Director
1 film together
Notably Space Chimps
Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Director
1 film together
Notably Traitor
Sam Mendes
Director
1 film together
Notably Away We Go
Kieran Mulroney
Director
1 film together
Notably Paper Man
Kevin Macdonald
Director
1 film together
Notably State of Play
Rian Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably Looper
Bobby Farrelly
Director
1 film together
Notably Dumb and Dumber To
Danny Boyle
Director
1 film together
Notably Steve Jobs
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Martian
Robert Schwentke
Director
1 film together
Notably Allegiant
Ben Lewin
Director
1 film together
Notably The Catcher Was a Spy
Michael Uppendahl
Director
1 film together
Notably Adam
Adam Wishart
Director
1 film together
Notably 9/11: Inside the President's War Room
Morgan Neville
Director
1 film together
Notably The Saint of Second Chances
Michael Russell Gunn
Director
1 film together
Notably The Brink of War
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The MartianStephen Daldry
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 HoursGary Ross
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PleasantvilleJan de Bont
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SpeedWoody Allen
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 Purple Rose of CairoGeorge Clooney
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Good Night, and Good Luck.Noah Baumbach
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Squid and the WhaleMorgan Neville
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Saint of Second ChancesRian Johnson
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LooperAdam Wishart
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
9/11: Inside the President's War RoomDanny Boyle
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Steve JobsKevin Macdonald
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
State of PlayPeter Farrelly
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dumb and DumberRonald F. Maxwell
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GettysburgSam Mendes
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Away We GoJeffrey Nachmanoff
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TraitorScott Frank
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 LookoutDouglas McGrath
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
InfamousMichael Uppendahl
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AdamKieran Mulroney
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Paper ManBen Lewin
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 Catcher Was a SpyClint 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
Blood WorkJohn Herzfeld
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
2 Days in the ValleyRobert Schwentke
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AllegiantStephen Herek
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
101 DalmatiansMike Nichols
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HeartburnBarry Sonnenfeld
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RVTerry Hughes
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Butcher's WifeBobby Farrelly
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dumb and Dumber ToKirk DeMicco
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Space ChimpsMichael Russell Gunn
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Brink of WarSix 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 Martian
as Theodore "Teddy" Sanders
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Good Night, and Good Luck.
as Sig Mickelson
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
as Self
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Catcher Was a Spy
as Bill Donovan
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
as Self
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. Jeff Daniels 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
41 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
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
as Self
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Speed
as Harry
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Good Night, and Good Luck.
as Sig Mickelson
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
State of Play
as George Fergus
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Speed
as Harry
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Allegiant
as David
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Away We Go
as Jerry Farlander
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Martian
as Theodore "Teddy" Sanders
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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