Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1046
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Josh Pais represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 35 years in, and Josh is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Josh Pais appears in 28 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Josh. Joker is the clearest case: a film rated 8.4 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 comedy, drama, romance. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Nicole Holofcener, Michael Showalter, Owen Kline and others, Josh Pais 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.
Joker (2019) as Hoyt Vaughn · A Beautiful Mind (2001) as Princeton Professor · Detachment (2011) as Meredith's Father
Career snapshot
Ranked #1046 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
28
1990–2025
Career length
35 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.4
Joker
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
Joker
Most frequent director
Wes Craven
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Wes Craven
Most common genre
Drama
18 titles
Average runtime
1h 47m
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
6.7
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
6.8 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Joker, Motherless Brooklyn, Going in Style — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.8
Across 7 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.8
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. Music of the Heart, Rounders, A Civil Action.
Most productive era
2000s
11 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 | 6.73 films | 6.96 films | 7.05 films | 6.64 films |
| Action | 6.71 film | — | — | — |
| Thriller | — | 6.52 films | 7.62 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.71 film | 6.57 films | 6.23 films | 6.05 films |
| Crime | 7.01 film | 6.53 films | 7.62 films | — |
| Romance | — | 7.04 films | 6.11 film | 6.72 films |
| Horror | — | 6.01 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1990Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Raphael (voice) / Passenger In Cab.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2019Joker
8.4 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
2025If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
The current state of the argument, as Brad.
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.
28 of 28 films
as Hoyt Vaughn
Directed by Todd Phillips
as Princeton Professor
Directed by Ron Howard
as Scott
Directed by Michael Showalter
as Meredith's Father
Directed by Tony Kaye
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
Hoyt Vaughn
Joker (2019)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Hoyt Vaughn gives Josh Pais a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Princeton Professor
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Performance score7.8
A Beautiful Mind asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Princeton Professor is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Scott
Spoiler Alert (2022)
Performance score7.4
Spoiler Alert asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Scott is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Meredith's Father
Detachment (2011)
Performance score7.4
Detachment asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Meredith's Father 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 Hoyt Vaughn
Start here. Joker is the clearest statement of what Josh Pais does — accessible, 122 minutes, and rated 8.4 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 Beautiful Mind (2001)
Keeps the drama register of Joker but asks for a colder reading of it.
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Keeps the drama register of A Beautiful Mind but asks for a colder reading of it.
Detachment (2011)
Keeps the drama register of Synecdoche, New York but asks for a colder reading of it.
Spoiler Alert (2022)
Keeps the drama register of Detachment but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Wes Craven
Director
2 films together
Notably Music of the Heart
Steve Barron
Director
1 film together
Notably Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Steven Zaillian
Director
1 film together
Notably A Civil Action
John Dahl
Director
1 film together
Notably Rounders
Ron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably A Beautiful Mind
Joel Schumacher
Director
1 film together
Notably Phone Booth
Tom McCarthy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Station Agent
Mark Levin
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Manhattan
Sidney Lumet
Director
1 film together
Notably Find Me Guilty
Charlie Kaufman
Director
1 film together
Notably Synecdoche, New York
Jared Hess
Director
1 film together
Notably Gentlemen Broncos
Greg Mottola
Director
1 film together
Notably Adventureland
Tony Kaye
Director
1 film together
Notably Detachment
Tom Gormican
Director
1 film together
Notably That Awkward Moment
Marc Abraham
Director
1 film together
Notably I Saw the Light
Jason Bateman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Family Fang
Zach Braff
Director
1 film together
Notably Going in Style
Edward Norton
Director
1 film together
Notably Motherless Brooklyn
Todd Phillips
Director
1 film together
Notably Joker
Owen Kline
Director
1 film together
Notably Funny Pages
Michael Showalter
Director
1 film together
Notably Spoiler Alert
Nicole Holofcener
Director
1 film together
Notably You Hurt My Feelings
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Wes Craven
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Music of the HeartTodd Phillips
Director
1 film together · 8.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
JokerRon Howard
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Beautiful MindTony Kaye
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DetachmentCharlie Kaufman
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Synecdoche, New YorkTom McCarthy
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Station AgentMark Levin
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little ManhattanMichael Showalter
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Spoiler AlertJohn Dahl
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RoundersJoel Schumacher
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Phone BoothEdward Norton
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Motherless BrooklynZach Braff
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Going in StyleSteve Barron
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesSidney Lumet
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Find Me GuiltySteven 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 ActionGreg Mottola
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AdventurelandNicole Holofcener
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
You Hurt My FeelingsMarc Abraham
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I Saw the LightTom Gormican
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
That Awkward MomentJason Bateman
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Family FangOwen Kline
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Funny PagesJared Hess
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gentlemen BroncosSix 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
Joker
as Hoyt Vaughn
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
A Beautiful Mind
as Princeton Professor
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Joker
as Hoyt Vaughn
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Rounders
as Weitz
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Joker
as Hoyt Vaughn
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 Pais 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
18 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
Joker
as Hoyt Vaughn
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Joker
as Hoyt Vaughn
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
I Saw the Light
as Dore Schary
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Scream 3
as Wallace
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Joker
as Hoyt Vaughn
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
as Raphael (voice) / Passenger In Cab
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Find Me Guilty
as Harry Bellman
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Joker
as Hoyt Vaughn
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Christian Bale
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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