Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2340
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
June Squibb represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 33 years in, and June is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
June Squibb appears in 26 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without June. Soul is the clearest case: a film rated 8.2 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 mystery, comedy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Byron Howard, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Margolin and others, June Squibb 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.
Soul (2020) as Gerel (voice) · Palmer (2021) as Vivian Palmer · Scent of a Woman (1992) as Mrs. Hunsaker
Career snapshot
Ranked #2340 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
26
1992–2025
Career length
33 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.2
Soul
Average Nutevio score
6.8
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
Palmer
Most frequent director
Martin Brest
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Martin Brest
Most common genre
Comedy
18 titles
Average runtime
1h 46m
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
6.7
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
1990s
7.4 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Meet Joe Black, The Age of Innocence, Scent of a Woman — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.4
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.4
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. Meet Joe Black, The Age of Innocence, Scent of a Woman.
Most productive era
2010s
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 | 7.43 films | 7.02 films | 6.25 films | 7.24 films |
| Action | — | — | 7.21 film | 6.81 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.91 film | 6.411 films | 6.86 films |
| Romance | 7.22 films | 7.11 film | 5.91 film | 7.31 film |
| Horror | — | — | — | 5.91 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1992Scent of a Woman
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Mrs. Hunsaker.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2020Soul
8.2 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 Eleanor Morgenstein.
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.
26 of 26 films
as Gerel (voice)
Directed by Pete Docter
as Vivian Palmer
Directed by Fisher Stevens
as Mrs. Hunsaker
Directed by Martin Brest
as Gram Gram (voice)
Directed by Byron Howard
as Eleanor Morgenstein
Directed by Scarlett Johansson
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
Gerel (voice)
Soul (2020)
Performance score7.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Gerel (voice) gives June Squibb a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Vivian Palmer
Palmer (2021)
Performance score7.8
Palmer asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vivian Palmer is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mrs. Hunsaker
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Performance score7.6
Scent of a Woman asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mrs. Hunsaker is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Gram Gram (voice)
Zootopia 2 (2025)
Performance score7.5
Zootopia 2 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Gram Gram (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 Gerel (voice)
Start here. Soul is the clearest statement of what June Squibb does — accessible, 101 minutes, and rated 8.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet June 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.
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Keeps the drama register of Soul but asks for a colder reading of it.
Palmer (2021)
Keeps the drama register of Scent of a Woman but asks for a colder reading of it.
Zootopia 2 (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Palmer — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Eleanor the Great (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Zootopia 2 — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Martin Brest
Director
2 films together
Notably Scent of a Woman
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably The Age of Innocence
Todd Haynes
Director
1 film together
Notably Far from Heaven
Alexander Payne
Director
1 film together
Notably About Schmidt
David Frankel
Director
1 film together
Notably The Big Year
Jake Szymanski
Director
1 film together
Notably 7 Days in Hell
Jessie Nelson
Director
1 film together
Notably Love the Coopers
Brett Haley
Director
1 film together
Notably I'll See You in My Dreams
Chris Kelly
Director
1 film together
Notably Other People
Jeffrey Blitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Table 19
Lawrence Sher
Director
1 film together
Notably Father Figures
Phil Johnston
Director
1 film together
Notably Ralph Breaks the Internet
Bridget Savage Cole
Director
1 film together
Notably Blow the Man Down
Josh Cooley
Director
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 4
Steven Brill
Director
1 film together
Notably Hubie Halloween
Pete Docter
Director
1 film together
Notably Soul
Fisher Stevens
Director
1 film together
Notably Palmer
Wade Allain-Marcus
Director
1 film together
Notably Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
Josh Margolin
Director
1 film together
Notably Thelma
Scarlett Johansson
Director
1 film together
Notably Eleanor the Great
Byron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Zootopia 2
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Martin Brest
Director
2 films together · 7.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Scent of a WomanPete Docter
Director
1 film together · 8.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SoulFisher Stevens
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PalmerByron 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 2Josh Cooley
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Toy Story 4Phil Johnston
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ralph Breaks the InternetTodd Haynes
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Far from HeavenMartin Scorsese
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 Age of InnocenceScarlett Johansson
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Eleanor the GreatAlexander Payne
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
About SchmidtJosh Margolin
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ThelmaJake Szymanski
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
7 Days in HellChris Kelly
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Other PeopleBrett Haley
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I'll See You in My DreamsBridget Savage Cole
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Blow the Man DownJessie Nelson
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Love the CoopersDavid Frankel
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Big YearSteven Brill
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hubie HalloweenJeffrey Blitz
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Table 19Lawrence Sher
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Father FiguresWade Allain-Marcus
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's DeadSix 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
Soul
as Gerel (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
Soul
as Gerel (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Soul
as Gerel (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 Gram Gram (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Soul
as Gerel (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. June Squibb 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
33 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
18 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
Soul
as Gerel (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Zootopia 2
as Gram Gram (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Soul
as Gerel (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Zootopia 2
as Gram Gram (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Ralph Breaks the Internet
as Jimmy's Grandma (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Thelma
as Thelma
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Soul
as Gerel (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Toy Story 4
as Margaret the Store Owner (voice)
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
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Robert De Niro
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Have your say
Community
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Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
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Reference
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