Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1948
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Jim Caviezel represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 35 years in, and Jim is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Jim Caviezel appears in 22 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Jim. Sound of Freedom is the clearest case: a film rated 7.8 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 crime, drama, documentary. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Cyrus Nowrasteh, Alejandro Monteverde, Thomas Carter and others, Jim Caviezel 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.
Sound of Freedom (2023) as Tim Ballard · The Passion of the Christ (2004) as Jesus · The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) as Edmond Dantes
Career snapshot
Ranked #1948 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
22
1991–2026
Career length
35 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
Sound of Freedom
Average Nutevio score
5.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
Sound of Freedom
Most frequent director
Cyrus Nowrasteh
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Cyrus Nowrasteh
Most common genre
Drama
13 titles
Average runtime
1h 43m
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
6.4
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
1990s
6.9 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Ride with the Devil, The Thin Red Line, G.I. Jane — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.9
Across 6 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.9
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Ride with the Devil, The Thin Red Line, G.I. Jane.
Most productive era
1990s
6 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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.85 films | 7.23 films | 6.71 film | 3.74 films |
| Action | 6.92 films | 6.43 films | 6.03 films | 3.92 films |
| Thriller | 7.21 film | 6.33 films | 6.03 films | 0.01 film |
| Crime | — | 6.12 films | 5.81 film | 0.01 film |
| Romance | 6.41 film | — | — | — |
| Horror | — | 5.71 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Airline Clerk.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2023Sound of Freedom
7.8 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
2026Ghost Soldier
The current state of the argument, as Henry "Fitz" Fitzgerald.
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 Tim Ballard
Directed by Alejandro Monteverde
as Edmond Dantes
Directed by Kevin Reynolds
as Pvt. Robert Witt
Directed by Terrence Malick
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
Tim Ballard
Sound of Freedom (2023)
Performance score8.3
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Tim Ballard gives Jim Caviezel a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Jesus
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Performance score8.1
The Passion of the Christ asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jesus is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Edmond Dantes
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
Performance score8.1
The Count of Monte Cristo asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Edmond Dantes is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Pvt. Robert Witt
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Performance score8.0
The Thin Red Line asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Pvt. Robert Witt 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 Tim Ballard
Start here. Sound of Freedom is the clearest statement of what Jim Caviezel does — accessible, 131 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Jim 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 Thin Red Line (1998)
Keeps the drama register of Sound of Freedom but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)
Keeps the drama register of The Thin Red Line but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Keeps the drama register of The Count of Monte Cristo but asks for a colder reading of it.
When the Game Stands Tall (2014)
Keeps the drama register of The Passion of the Christ but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Alejandro Monteverde
Director
2 films together
Notably Sound of Freedom
Cyrus Nowrasteh
Director
2 films together
Notably Infidel
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably My Own Private Idaho
Lawrence Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Wyatt Earp
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably The Rock
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably G.I. Jane
Terrence Malick
Director
1 film together
Notably The Thin Red Line
Ang Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Ride with the Devil
Carl Franklin
Director
1 film together
Notably High Crimes
Kevin Reynolds
Director
1 film together
Notably The Count of Monte Cristo
Robert Harmon
Director
1 film together
Notably Highwaymen
Mel Gibson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Passion of the Christ
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Déjà Vu
Antonio Negret
Director
1 film together
Notably Transit
Mikael Håfström
Director
1 film together
Notably Escape Plan
Thomas Carter
Director
1 film together
Notably When the Game Stands Tall
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Alejandro Monteverde
Director
2 films together · 3.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Sound of FreedomCyrus Nowrasteh
Director
2 films together · 2.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
InfidelMel Gibson
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Passion of the ChristKevin Reynolds
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Count of Monte CristoTerrence Malick
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 Thin Red LineMichael Bay
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 RockGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Own Private IdahoTony Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Déjà VuThomas Carter
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
When the Game Stands TallMikael Håfström
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Escape PlanLawrence Kasdan
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wyatt EarpRidley Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
G.I. JaneCarl Franklin
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
High CrimesAng Lee
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ride with the DevilAntonio Negret
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TransitRobert Harmon
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HighwaymenSix 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
Sound of Freedom
as Tim Ballard
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Count of Monte Cristo
as Edmond Dantes
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Sound of Freedom
as Tim Ballard
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Rock
as Rear F-18 Pilot
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Sound of Freedom
as Tim Ballard
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. Jim Caviezel 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
35 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
Sound of Freedom
as Tim Ballard
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Sound of Freedom
as Tim Ballard
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Count of Monte Cristo
as Edmond Dantes
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
High Crimes
as Tom Kubik
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Sound of Freedom
as Tim Ballard
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Rock
as Rear F-18 Pilot
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Count of Monte Cristo
as Edmond Dantes
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
G.I. Jane
as Slovnik
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
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Harry Dean Stanton
Works with the same directors — Ridley Scott
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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