Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#835
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Josh Gad 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.
Josh Gad appears in 41 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Josh. Orangutan is the clearest case: a film rated 8.5 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 fantasy, adventure, family. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Jon M. Chu, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lee and others, Josh Gad 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.
Orangutan (2026) as Self - Narrator (voice) · The Disney Family Singalong (2020) as Self - Performer · Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020) as Self - Actor
Career snapshot
Ranked #835 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
41
2007–2028
Career length
21 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.5
Orangutan
Average Nutevio score
5.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.5
Orangutan
Most frequent director
Chris Buck
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Chris Buck
Most common genre
Comedy
26 titles
Average runtime
1h 23m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
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
2010s
6.6 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. A Dog's Journey, Frozen II, Little Monsters — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.6
Across 19 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.6
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. Crossing Over, 21, The Rocker.
Most productive era
2010s
19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.42 films | 6.76 films | 7.02 films |
| Action | — | 6.42 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.22 films | 6.414 films | 5.510 films |
| Crime | 6.42 films | 6.71 film | 3.02 films |
| Romance | 6.31 film | 7.02 films | — |
| Horror | — | 6.51 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Mark.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2026Orangutan
8.5 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 Boy (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.
41 of 41 films
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Directed by Mark Linfield
as Self - Performer
Directed by Unknown
as Bailey / Molly / Big Dog / Max (voice)
Directed by Gail Mancuso
as Olaf (voice)
Directed by Chris Buck
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 - Narrator (voice)
Orangutan (2026)
Performance score8.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self - Narrator (voice) gives Josh Gad a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Self - Performer
The Disney Family Singalong (2020)
Performance score8.0
The Disney Family Singalong asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self - Performer is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Self - Actor
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020)
Performance score7.8
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self - Actor is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Bailey / Molly / Big Dog / Max (voice)
A Dog's Journey (2019)
Performance score7.7
A Dog's Journey asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bailey / Molly / Big Dog / Max (voice) 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 - Narrator (voice)
Start here. Orangutan is the clearest statement of what Josh Gad does — accessible, 82 minutes, and rated 8.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Josh 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.
A Dog's Journey (2019)
Keeps the family register of Orangutan but asks for a colder reading of it.
Frozen II (2019)
Keeps the adventure register of A Dog's Journey but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Disney Family Singalong (2020)
Keeps the fantasy register of Frozen II but asks for a colder reading of it.
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020)
Same director as The Disney Family Singalong, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Chris Buck
Director
3 films together
Notably Frozen
Kenneth Branagh
Director
2 films together
Notably Murder on the Orient Express
Dan Abraham
Director
2 films together
Notably Once Upon a Studio
Josh Greenbaum
Director
2 films together
Notably Strays
Robert Luketic
Director
1 film together
Notably 21
Wayne Kramer
Director
1 film together
Notably Crossing Over
Edward Zwick
Director
1 film together
Notably Love & Other Drugs
Shawn Levy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Internship
Zach Braff
Director
1 film together
Notably Wish I Was Here
Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together
Notably Pixels
Jeremy Garelick
Director
1 film together
Notably The Wedding Ringer
Stevie Wermers-Skelton
Director
1 film together
Notably Olaf's Frozen Adventure
Bill Condon
Director
1 film together
Notably Beauty and the Beast
Thurop Van Orman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Angry Birds Movie 2
Abe Forsythe
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Monsters
Gail Mancuso
Director
1 film together
Notably A Dog's Journey
Jason Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Alex Winter
Director
1 film together
Notably Adulthood
Byron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Zootopia 2
John Rice
Director
1 film together
Notably The Angry Birds Movie 3
Mark Linfield
Director
1 film together
Notably Orangutan
Nora Kirkpatrick
Director
1 film together
Notably Couples Weekend
Jennifer Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Frozen III
Bradley Cooper
Director
1 film together
Notably Untitled Ocean's Prequel
Jon M. Chu
Director
1 film together
Notably Oh, the Places You'll Go!
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Chris Buck
Director
3 films together · 7.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
FrozenDan Abraham
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
Once Upon a StudioKenneth Branagh
Director
2 films together · 6.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Murder on the Orient ExpressJosh Greenbaum
Director
2 films together · 3.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
StraysMark Linfield
Director
1 film together · 8.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
OrangutanByron Howard
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Zootopia 2Gail Mancuso
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Dog's JourneyJason Reitman
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ghostbusters: AfterlifeThurop Van Orman
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Angry Birds Movie 2Bill Condon
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beauty and the BeastEdward Zwick
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Love & Other DrugsRobert Luketic
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
21Abe Forsythe
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little MonstersStevie Wermers-Skelton
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Olaf's Frozen AdventureJeremy Garelick
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 Wedding RingerZach Braff
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wish I Was HereNora Kirkpatrick
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Couples WeekendShawn Levy
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 InternshipWayne Kramer
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crossing OverAlex Winter
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AdulthoodChris Columbus
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PixelsJon M. Chu
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Oh, the Places You'll Go!Bradley Cooper
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Jennifer Lee
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Frozen IIIJohn Rice
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 Angry Birds Movie 3Six 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
Orangutan
as Self - Narrator (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
The Disney Family Singalong
as Self - Performer
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Orangutan
as Self - Narrator (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 Paul Moledebrandt (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Orangutan
as Self - Narrator (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. Josh Gad 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
21 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.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
26 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
The Disney Family Singalong
as Self - Performer
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Zootopia 2
as Paul Moledebrandt (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Disney Family Singalong
as Self - Performer
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Murder on the Orient Express
as Hector MacQueen
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Orangutan
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Angry Birds Movie 2
as Chuck (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Once Upon a Studio
as Olaf (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Frozen
as Olaf (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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