Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#749
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Jenny Slate 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.
Jenny Slate appears in 29 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Jenny. Gifted is the clearest case: a film rated 8.0 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 romance, comedy, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Kornél Mundruczó, Joel Crawford, Byron Howard and others, Jenny Slate 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.
Gifted (2017) as Bonnie Stevenson · Zootopia (2016) as Bellwether (voice) · Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) as Big Nose
Career snapshot
Ranked #749 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
29
2011–2026
Career length
15 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
Gifted
Average Nutevio score
5.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
Gifted
Most frequent director
Chris Renaud
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Chris Renaud
Most common genre
Comedy
20 titles
Average runtime
1h 32m
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
6.5 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. The Secret Life of Pets 2, Super Gidget, Hotel Artemis — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.5
Across 16 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.4
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2010s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Secret Life of Pets 2, Super Gidget, Hotel Artemis.
Most productive era
2010s
16 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 | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.35 films | 5.25 films |
| Action | 6.65 films | 7.22 films |
| Thriller | 6.11 film | — |
| Comedy | 6.411 films | 5.39 films |
| Crime | 6.11 film | 6.91 film |
| Romance | 6.21 film | 5.05 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2011Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Zoe.
Highest rated performance
2016Zootopia
8.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2022Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026Forgotten Island
The current state of the argument, as The Batibat (voice).
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.
29 of 29 films
as Marcel (voice)
Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp
as Bellwether (voice)
Directed by Byron Howard
as Big Nose
Directed by Daniel Kwan
as Bellwether (voice)
Directed by Byron Howard
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
Marcel (voice)
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Marcel (voice) gives Jenny Slate a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Bonnie Stevenson
Gifted (2017)
Performance score8.0
Gifted asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bonnie Stevenson is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Bellwether (voice)
Zootopia (2016)
Performance score8.0
Zootopia asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bellwether (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Big Nose
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Performance score7.6
Everything Everywhere All at Once asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Big Nose 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 Marcel (voice)
Start here. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On is the clearest statement of what Jenny Slate does — accessible, 90 minutes, and rated 7.6 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Jenny 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.
Zootopia (2016)
Keeps the comedy register of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On but asks for a colder reading of it.
Gifted (2017)
Keeps the comedy register of Zootopia but asks for a colder reading of it.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
A deliberate change of key after Gifted — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Zootopia 2 (2025)
Keeps the adventure register of Everything Everywhere All at Once but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Chris Renaud
Director
3 films together
Notably The Secret Life of Pets 2
Byron Howard
Director
2 films together
Notably Zootopia
Mike Mitchell
Director
1 film together
Notably Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
McG
Director
1 film together
Notably This Means War
Peter Glanz
Director
1 film together
Notably The Longest Week
Joe Swanberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Digging for Fire
Maya Forbes
Director
1 film together
Notably The Polka King
Kyle Balda
Director
1 film together
Notably Despicable Me 3
Marc Webb
Director
1 film together
Notably Gifted
Ruben Fleischer
Director
1 film together
Notably Venom
Sofia Coppola
Director
1 film together
Notably On the Rocks
David Wnendt
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sunlit Night
Scott Mosier
Director
1 film together
Notably Minions & More 2
Loren Bouchard
Director
1 film together
Notably The Bob's Burgers Movie
Dean Fleischer Camp
Director
1 film together
Notably Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Daniel Kwan
Director
1 film together
Notably Everything Everywhere All at Once
Justin Baldoni
Director
1 film together
Notably It Ends with Us
Anthony Russo
Director
1 film together
Notably The Electric State
Joel Crawford
Director
1 film together
Notably Forgotten Island
Kornél Mundruczó
Director
1 film together
Notably At the Sea
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Chris Renaud
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
The Secret Life of Pets 2Byron Howard
Director
2 films together · 7.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ZootopiaMarc Webb
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GiftedDaniel Kwan
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Everything Everywhere All at OnceDean Fleischer Camp
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Marcel the Shell with Shoes OnScott Mosier
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Minions & More 2Justin Baldoni
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
It Ends with UsLoren Bouchard
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 Bob's Burgers MovieRuben Fleischer
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VenomAnthony Russo
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Electric StateKyle Balda
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Despicable Me 3McG
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
This Means WarSofia Coppola
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
On the RocksMike Mitchell
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Alvin and the Chipmunks: ChipwreckedMaya Forbes
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Polka KingDavid Wnendt
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Sunlit NightJoe Swanberg
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Digging for FirePeter Glanz
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Longest WeekKornél Mundruczó
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
At the SeaJoel Crawford
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Forgotten IslandSix 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
Zootopia
as Bellwether (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
It Ends with Us
as Allysa
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Zootopia
as Bellwether (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Zootopia 2
as Bellwether (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
as Marcel (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. Jenny Slate 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.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
20 catalogue titles in comedy, 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
Zootopia 2
as Bellwether (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Zootopia 2
as Bellwether (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
It Ends with Us
as Allysa
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Bob's Burgers Movie
as Tammy (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Everything Everywhere All at Once
as Big Nose
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Electric State
as Penny Pal (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
as Zoe
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Zootopia
as Bellwether (voice)
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
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
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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