Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#637
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Julian Richings represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 35 years in, and Julian is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Julian Richings appears in 34 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Julian. The Witch is the clearest case: a film rated 7.0 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 science fiction, horror, fantasy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Ari Aster, Doug Liman, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos and others, Julian Richings 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.
The Witch (2016) as Governor · The Red Violin (1998) as Nicolas Olsberg (Montréal) · Naked Lunch (1991) as Exterminator #4
Career snapshot
Ranked #637 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
34
1991–2026
Career length
35 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.0
The Witch
Average Nutevio score
5.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.3
The Red Violin
Most frequent director
Isabel Coixet
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Isabel Coixet
Most common genre
Horror
15 titles
Average runtime
1h 40m
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
6.6 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Detroit Rock City, The Red Violin, Cube — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.6
Across 6 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.6
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. Detroit Rock City, The Red Violin, Cube.
Most productive era
2020s
13 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 | 7.02 films | 6.22 films | 7.02 films | 3.43 films |
| Action | — | 6.03 films | 6.12 films | 5.01 film |
| Thriller | 7.02 films | 6.43 films | 6.03 films | 6.01 film |
| Comedy | 6.71 film | 6.51 film | — | 4.85 films |
| Crime | 7.01 film | 6.32 films | — | — |
| Romance | 7.01 film | 6.22 films | — | 6.41 film |
| Horror | 5.92 films | 6.04 films | 6.32 films | 4.47 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · Highest rated performance
1991Naked Lunch
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Exterminator #4. 7.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026Man Eating Pussy
The current state of the argument, as Freddie.
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.
34 of 34 films
as Nicolas Olsberg (Montréal)
Directed by François Girard
as Exterminator #4
Directed by David Cronenberg
as Ricky
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
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
Henry Walsh
Anything for Jackson (2020)
Performance score7.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Henry Walsh gives Julian Richings a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Governor
The Witch (2016)
Performance score6.9
The Witch asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Governor is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Nicolas Olsberg (Montréal)
The Red Violin (1998)
Performance score6.9
The Red Violin asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Nicolas Olsberg (Montréal) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Exterminator #4
Naked Lunch (1991)
Performance score6.9
Naked Lunch asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Exterminator #4 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 Henry Walsh
Start here. Anything for Jackson is the clearest statement of what Julian Richings does — accessible, 96 minutes, and rated 6.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Julian 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.
Naked Lunch (1991)
A deliberate change of key after Anything for Jackson — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Red Violin (1998)
Keeps the drama register of Naked Lunch but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (2013)
Keeps the drama register of The Red Violin but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Witch (2016)
Keeps the drama register of The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Isabel Coixet
Director
2 films together
Notably Elegy
David Cronenberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Naked Lunch
Guillermo del Toro
Director
1 film together
Notably Mimic
Vincenzo Natali
Director
1 film together
Notably Cube
François Girard
Director
1 film together
Notably The Red Violin
Adam Rifkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Detroit Rock City
Rob Schmidt
Director
1 film together
Notably Wrong Turn
Brett Ratner
Director
1 film together
Notably X-Men: The Last Stand
James Wan
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead Silence
Darren Lynn Bousman
Director
1 film together
Notably Saw IV
Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together
Notably Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Director
1 film together
Notably The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
Zack Snyder
Director
1 film together
Notably Man of Steel
Jeff Renfroe
Director
1 film together
Notably The Colony
Justin G. Dyck
Director
1 film together
Notably Anything for Jackson
Cody Calahan
Director
1 film together
Notably Vicious Fun
Maxwell McCabe-Lokos
Director
1 film together
Notably Stanleyville
Doug Liman
Director
1 film together
Notably Chaos Walking
Ari Aster
Director
1 film together
Notably Beau Is Afraid
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Isabel Coixet
Director
2 films together · 6.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ElegyFrançois Girard
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Red ViolinDavid Cronenberg
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Naked LunchJean-Pierre Jeunet
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 Young and Prodigious T.S. SpivetVincenzo Natali
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CubeAri Aster
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beau Is AfraidJustin G. Dyck
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Anything for JacksonZack Snyder
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Man of SteelAdam Rifkin
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detroit Rock CityDoug Liman
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Chaos WalkingJames Wan
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dead SilenceBrett Ratner
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
X-Men: The Last StandCody Calahan
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Vicious FunRob Schmidt
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wrong TurnChris Columbus
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning ThiefDarren Lynn Bousman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Saw IVGuillermo del Toro
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MimicJeff Renfroe
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ColonyMaxwell McCabe-Lokos
Director
1 film together · 4.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StanleyvilleSix 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
The Red Violin
as Nicolas Olsberg (Montréal)
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 Red Violin
as Nicolas Olsberg (Montréal)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Naked Lunch
as Exterminator #4
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Red Violin
as Nicolas Olsberg (Montréal)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Anything for Jackson
as Henry Walsh
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. Julian Richings 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.
Horror Legend
Awarded
15 catalogue titles in horror, 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 Witch
as Governor
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Witch
as Governor
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
as Ricky
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Witch
as Governor
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Man of Steel
as Lor-Em
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Man of Steel
as Lor-Em
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Charlotte
as Dr. Kurt Singer / Policeman #1 / SS Soldier #2 (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
X-Men: The Last Stand
as Mutant Theatre Organizer
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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
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
Which Julian Richings performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
Join the conversation
Reference
Continue exploring
Trending performers
Directors they work with
Collections to read next
