Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#499
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
John Travolta represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 50 years in, and John is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
John Travolta appears in 60 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without John. Pulp Fiction is the clearest case: a film rated 9.2 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 adventure, family, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with John Travolta, Roland Joffé, Eric Appel and others, John Travolta 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.
Pulp Fiction (1994) as Vincent Vega · Pulp Fiction (1994) as Vincent Vega · The Thin Red Line (1998) as Brig. Gen. David Quintard
Career snapshot
Ranked #499 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
60
1976–2026
Career length
50 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.2
Pulp Fiction
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.9
Pulp Fiction
Most frequent director
Chuck Russell
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Chuck Russell
Most common genre
Thriller
30 titles
Average runtime
1h 44m
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
7.0
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
1970s
7.2 average MV
The 1970s are where the work and the material meet. Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Carrie — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1970s
7.2
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1970s
7.1
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
1 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The General's Daughter, The Thin Red Line, Primary Colors.
Most productive era
2000s
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 | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.81 film | 6.13 films | 6.87 films | 6.55 films | 5.89 films | 6.72 films |
| Action | — | — | 6.72 films | 5.97 films | 5.86 films | 6.17 films |
| Thriller | 7.31 film | 7.21 film | 6.85 films | 6.36 films | 5.610 films | 5.17 films |
| Comedy | 7.41 film | 6.41 film | 6.46 films | 6.07 films | 6.01 film | 5.91 film |
| Crime | — | 7.21 film | 7.65 films | 6.09 films | 5.68 films | 4.75 films |
| Romance | 7.41 film | 6.24 films | 5.83 films | 6.42 films | — | — |
| Horror | 7.31 film | — | — | — | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1976Carrie
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Billy Nolan.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
1994Pulp Fiction
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.2 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 Mason Goddard.
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.
60 of 60 films
as Vincent Vega
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
as Vincent Vega
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
as Jack Terry
Directed by Brian De Palma
as Danny
Directed by Randal Kleiser
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 61 titles · 71 total credits · active 1976–2026
Propeller One-Way Night Coach
2026 · Retiring Captain / Narrator (voice) · Director · Screenplay · Producer
November 1963
2026 · Johnny Roselli
The Gentleman Thief
2026 · Mason Goddard
High Rollers
2025 · Mason Goddard
Cash Out
2024 · Mason Goddard
Die Hart
2023 · Ron Wilcox
Mob Land
2023 · Bodie Davis
The Shepherd
2023 · Johnny Kavanagh · Executive Producer
The Playboy Murders
2023 · TV · Self (archive footage)
Paradise City
2022 · Buck
The Poison Rose
2019 · Carson Philips · Executive Producer
The Fanatic
2019 · Moose · Producer
Trading Paint
2019 · Sam · Producer
Gotti
2018 · John Gotti
I Am Wrath
2016 · Stanley Hill
In a Valley of Violence
2016 · The Marshal
Life on the Line
2016 · Beau Ginner
American Crime Story
2016 · TV · Robert Shapiro · Producer
Criminal Activities
2015 · Eddie · Executive Producer
The Forger
2014 · Raymond Cutter
Killing Season
2013 · Emil Kovac
Savages
2012 · Dennis
I'm Still Here
2010 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
From Paris with Love
2010 · Charlie Wax
The defining work
#1
Vincent Vega
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Performance score9.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Vincent Vega gives John Travolta a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Vincent Vega
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Performance score9.1
Pulp Fiction asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vincent Vega is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Sean Archer
Face/Off (1997)
Performance score7.8
Face/Off asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sean Archer is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Jack Terry
Blow Out (1981)
Performance score7.8
Blow Out asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jack Terry 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 Vincent Vega
Start here. Pulp Fiction is the clearest statement of what John Travolta does — accessible, 154 minutes, and rated 9.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet John 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.
Grease (1978)
A deliberate change of key after Pulp Fiction — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Blow Out (1981)
A deliberate change of key after Grease — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Keeps the crime register of Blow Out but asks for a colder reading of it.
Face/Off (1997)
Keeps the crime register of Pulp Fiction but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Brian De Palma
Director
2 films together
Notably Carrie
James Bridges
Director
2 films together
Notably Urban Cowboy
Amy Heckerling
Director
2 films together
Notably Look Who's Talking
Quentin Tarantino
Director
2 films together
Notably Pulp Fiction
John Woo
Director
2 films together
Notably Face/Off
Nora Ephron
Director
2 films together
Notably Michael
Chuck Russell
Director
2 films together
Notably I Am Wrath
John Badham
Director
1 film together
Notably Saturday Night Fever
Randal Kleiser
Director
1 film together
Notably Grease
Sylvester Stallone
Director
1 film together
Notably Staying Alive
Barry Sonnenfeld
Director
1 film together
Notably Get Shorty
Jon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together
Notably Phenomenon
Costa-Gavras
Director
1 film together
Notably Mad City
Steven Zaillian
Director
1 film together
Notably A Civil Action
Mike Nichols
Director
1 film together
Notably Primary Colors
Terrence Malick
Director
1 film together
Notably The Thin Red Line
Simon West
Director
1 film together
Notably The General's Daughter
Jay Roach
Director
1 film together
Notably Austin Powers in Goldmember
John McTiernan
Director
1 film together
Notably Basic
Jonathan Hensleigh
Director
1 film together
Notably The Punisher
F. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together
Notably Be Cool
Todd Robinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Lonely Hearts
Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together
Notably Hairspray
Byron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Bolt
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Pierre Morel
Director
1 film together
Notably From Paris with Love
Casey Affleck
Director
1 film together
Notably I'm Still Here
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Savages
Mark Steven Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably Killing Season
Philip Martin
Director
1 film together
Notably The Forger
Jackie Earle Haley
Director
1 film together
Notably Criminal Activities
David Hackl
Director
1 film together
Notably Life on the Line
Ti West
Director
1 film together
Notably In a Valley of Violence
Kevin Connolly
Director
1 film together
Notably Gotti
Fred Durst
Director
1 film together
Notably The Fanatic
George Gallo
Director
1 film together
Notably The Poison Rose
Eric Appel
Director
1 film together
Notably Die Hart
Roland Joffé
Director
1 film together
Notably November 1963
John Travolta
Director
1 film together
Notably Propeller One-Way Night Coach
Christopher Walken
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Samuel L. Jackson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Uma Thurman
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Bruce Willis
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Ving Rhames
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Harvey Keitel
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Eric Stoltz
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Tim Roth
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Amanda Plummer
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Maria de Medeiros
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Rosanna Arquette
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Quentin Tarantino
Director
2 films together · 8.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Pulp FictionBrian De Palma
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
CarrieJohn Woo
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Face/OffAmy Heckerling
Director
2 films together · 6.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Look Who's TalkingJames Bridges
Director
2 films together · 6.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Urban CowboyChuck Russell
Director
2 films together · 5.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
I Am WrathNora Ephron
Director
2 films together · 5.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
MichaelTerrence 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 LineRandal Kleiser
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GreaseJohn Badham
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Saturday Night FeverByron 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
BoltAdam Shankman
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HairsprayJohn McTiernan
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BasicSteven Zaillian
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Civil ActionJon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PhenomenonBarry Sonnenfeld
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Get ShortyJohn Travolta
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Propeller One-Way Night CoachOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SavagesPierre Morel
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
From Paris with LoveTony Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3Jonathan Hensleigh
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The PunisherSimon West
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The General's DaughterMike Nichols
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Primary ColorsCosta-Gavras
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mad CityTi West
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
In a Valley of ViolenceTodd Robinson
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lonely HeartsSylvester Stallone
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Staying AliveCasey Affleck
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I'm Still HereJay Roach
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Austin Powers in GoldmemberEric Appel
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Die HartJackie Earle Haley
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Criminal ActivitiesDavid Hackl
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Life on the LinePhilip Martin
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ForgerMark Steven Johnson
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Killing SeasonF. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Be CoolKevin Connolly
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GottiGeorge Gallo
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Poison RoseFred Durst
Director
1 film together · 4.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The FanaticRoland Joffé
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
November 1963Six degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
1 win
1 win · latest 1995
Pulp Fiction
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Pulp Fiction
as Vincent Vega
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Phenomenon
as George Malley
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Pulp Fiction
as Vincent Vega
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
I'm Still Here
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Pulp Fiction
as Vincent Vega
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. John Travolta has known it for a long time.”
“They call it a Royale with cheese.”
“English, motherf—er, do you speak it?”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.2 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #215 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.2 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Crime, Drama | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Quentin Tarantino | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Drama, Screen presence, Quiet performance | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 1994–1994 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Vincent Vega — Pulp Fiction | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | Pulp Fiction | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Top 250 Movies of All Time, Crime Movies, Top 100 Crime Movies, Drama Movies
Matt Damon 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
50 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.
Thriller Legend
Awarded
30 catalogue titles in thriller, 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
Pulp Fiction
as Vincent Vega
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Pulp Fiction
as Vincent Vega
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Phenomenon
as George Malley
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The General's Daughter
as Warrant Officer Paul Brenner
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Pulp Fiction
as Vincent Vega
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
In a Valley of Violence
as The Marshal
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
I'm Still Here
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Staying Alive
as Tony Manero
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 4 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
From the magazine
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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
Harvey Keitel
Works with the same directors — Quentin Tarantino
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Have your say
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