Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#368
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Jemaine Clement 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.
Jemaine Clement appears in 27 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Jemaine. Moana 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 action, science fiction, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with James Cameron, Thomas Kail, Duncan Jones and others, Jemaine Clement 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.
Moana (2026) as Tamatoa (voice) · Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) as Dr. Garvin · Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) as Dr. Ian Garvin
Career snapshot
Ranked #368 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
27
2009–2031
Career length
22 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.9
Moana
Average Nutevio score
5.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.6
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Most frequent director
James Cameron
4 films together
Longest collaboration
4×
With James Cameron
Most common genre
Adventure
16 titles
Average runtime
1h 39m
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
6.2
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
2010s
6.7 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Patrick, Brad's Status, The Lego Batman Movie — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.7
Across 11 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.7
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. Gentlemen Broncos.
Most productive era
2020s
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 | 2030s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 5.71 film | 6.42 films | 3.52 films | — |
| Action | — | 6.92 films | 3.84 films | 0.01 film |
| Thriller | — | — | 7.21 film | — |
| Comedy | 5.71 film | 6.710 films | 6.84 films | — |
| Crime | — | 6.92 films | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Ronald Chevalier.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2026Moana
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
2031Avatar 5
The current state of the argument, as Dr. Ian Garvin.
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.
27 of 27 films
as Tamatoa (voice)
Directed by Thomas Kail
as Tamatoa (voice)
Directed by John Musker
as Dr. Garvin
Directed by James Cameron
as Dr. Ian Garvin
Directed by James Cameron
as Vic Diamond (voice)
Directed by Jared Hess
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 36 titles · 47 total credits · active 2007–2031
Avatar 5
2031 · Dr. Ian Garvin
Avatar 4
2029 · Dr. Ian Garvin
Rogue Trooper
2026 · (voice)
I, Object
2026 · Pop (voice)
Moana
2026 · Tamatoa (voice)
Wildwood
2026 · Owl Rex (voice)
Alice and Steve
2026 · TV · Steve
A Minecraft Movie
2025 · Daryl / Bruce (voice)
M3GAN 2.0
2025 · Alton Appleton
Avatar: Fire and Ash
2025 · Dr. Garvin
Moana 2
2024 · Tamatoa (voice)
Harold and the Purple Crayon
2024 · Gary
Thelma the Unicorn
2024 · Vic Diamond (voice)
Time Bandits
2024 · TV · Pure Evil · Director · Creator · Writer · Executive Producer
Plum
2024 · TV · Oliver
Avatar: The Way of Water
2022 · Dr. Ian Garvin
DC League of Super-Pets
2022 · Arthur Curry / Aquaman (voice)
Don't Make Me Go
2022 · Dale Angelo
Human Resources
2022 · TV · Simon Sex (voice)
Patrick
2019 · Dustin
Steven Universe Future
2019 · TV · Kerry Moonbeam (voice)
What We Do in the Shadows
2019 · TV · Director · Creator · Writer · Executive Producer
Brad's Status
2017 · Billy Wearslter
The Lego Batman Movie
2017 · Sauron (voice)
The defining work
#1
Tamatoa (voice)
Moana (2026)
Performance score7.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Tamatoa (voice) gives Jemaine Clement a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Tamatoa (voice)
Moana (2016)
Performance score7.7
Moana asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tamatoa (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Dr. Garvin
Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)
Performance score7.6
Avatar: Fire and Ash asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dr. Garvin is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Dr. Ian Garvin
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Performance score7.6
Avatar: The Way of Water asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dr. Ian Garvin 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 Tamatoa (voice)
Start here. Moana is the clearest statement of what Jemaine Clement does — accessible, 128 minutes, and rated 7.9 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Jemaine 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.
Moana (2016)
Keeps the adventure register of Moana but asks for a colder reading of it.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Keeps the adventure register of Moana but asks for a colder reading of it.
Thelma the Unicorn (2024)
A deliberate change of key after Avatar: The Way of Water — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)
Keeps the fantasy register of Thelma the Unicorn but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
James Cameron
Director
4 films together
Notably Avatar: Fire and Ash
Carlos Saldanha
Director
3 films together
Notably Rio
Jared Hess
Director
3 films together
Notably Thelma the Unicorn
Jay Roach
Director
1 film together
Notably Dinner for Schmucks
Chris Renaud
Director
1 film together
Notably Despicable Me
Barry Sonnenfeld
Director
1 film together
Notably Men in Black 3
James Bobin
Director
1 film together
Notably Muppets Most Wanted
John Musker
Director
1 film together
Notably Moana
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably The BFG
Mike White
Director
1 film together
Notably Brad's Status
Tim Mielants
Director
1 film together
Notably Patrick
Hannah Marks
Director
1 film together
Notably Don't Make Me Go
David G. Derrick Jr.
Director
1 film together
Notably Moana 2
Gerard Johnstone
Director
1 film together
Notably M3GAN 2.0
Travis Knight
Director
1 film together
Notably Wildwood
Andrew Niccol
Director
1 film together
Notably I, Object
Duncan Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably Rogue Trooper
Thomas Kail
Director
1 film together
Notably Moana
Catherine Lagaʻaia
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Dwayne Johnson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Rena Owen
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
John Tui
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Frankie Adams
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Emma Puahi-Shapazian
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Amaya Masoli
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Sam Puefua
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Sione Milford
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Kapeneta Te'o-Tafiti
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Eric Scanlan
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Moses Goods
Actor
1 film together
Notably Moana
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
James Cameron
Director
4 films together · 3.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 4 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Avatar: Fire and AshCarlos Saldanha
Director
3 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
RioJared Hess
Director
3 films together · 6.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Thelma the UnicornThomas Kail
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MoanaJohn Musker
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MoanaChris Renaud
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Despicable MeGerard Johnstone
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
M3GAN 2.0David G. Derrick Jr.
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Moana 2Hannah Marks
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Don't Make Me GoTim Mielants
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PatrickBarry Sonnenfeld
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Men in Black 3Mike White
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Brad's StatusSteven Spielberg
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The BFGJames Bobin
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Muppets Most WantedJay Roach
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dinner for SchmucksDuncan Jones
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rogue TrooperAndrew Niccol
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I, ObjectTravis Knight
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WildwoodSix 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
Moana
as Tamatoa (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Moana
as Tamatoa (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Moana
as Tamatoa (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Muppets Most Wanted
as Prison King
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Moana
as Tamatoa (voice)
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. Jemaine Clement 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 | 7.1 | 8.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #677 of 681 | #9 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 2 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 6 |
| Average Nutevio score | 7.9 | 8.6 |
| Genres | Adventure, Family, Fantasy | Animation, Family, Comedy, Drama |
| Directors | Thomas Kail | Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont |
| Performance DNA | Emotional range, Screen presence, Rewatchability | Emotional range, Quiet performance, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2026–2026 | 1999–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Tamatoa (voice) — Moana | Paul Edgecomb — The Green Mile |
| Most rewatchable film | Moana | The Green Mile |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 2 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Fantasy Movies
Tom Hanks 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
22 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.
Adventure Legend
Awarded
16 catalogue titles in adventure, 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
Avatar: Fire and Ash
as Dr. Garvin
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
M3GAN 2.0
as Alton Appleton
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Moana
as Tamatoa (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The BFG
as Fleshlumpeater
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Avatar: The Way of Water
as Dr. Ian Garvin
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Avatar: The Way of Water
as Dr. Ian Garvin
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Moana 2
as Tamatoa (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Moana
as Tamatoa (voice)
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 2 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
From the magazine
If you like this performer
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Elliot Page
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Catherine Lagaʻaia
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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