Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2628
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Katherine Waterston 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.
Katherine Waterston appears in 29 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Katherine. The Third Day: Autumn 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 war, drama, history. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Paul Greengrass, Jim O'Hanlon, Chris Weitz and others, Katherine Waterston 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 Third Day: Autumn (2020) as Jess · mid90s (2018) as Dabney · Babylon (2022) as Estelle
Career snapshot
Ranked #2628 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
29
2007–2026
Career length
19 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.5
The Third Day: Autumn
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.5
The Third Day: Autumn
Most frequent director
David Yates
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With David Yates
Most common genre
Drama
20 titles
Average runtime
2h 12m
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
2010s
6.5 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. State Like Sleep, Amundsen, mid90s — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.5
Across 15 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.5
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. Taking Woodstock, The Babysitters, Michael Clayton.
Most productive era
2010s
15 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 | 6.33 films | 6.410 films | 5.97 films |
| Action | — | 6.71 film | — |
| Thriller | 6.81 film | 5.91 film | 6.03 films |
| Comedy | 6.21 film | 6.85 films | 7.02 films |
| Crime | 6.81 film | 6.82 films | — |
| Romance | — | 6.52 films | 7.01 film |
| Horror | — | 6.21 film | 5.72 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2007Michael Clayton
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Third Year.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
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
2026The Uprising
The current state of the argument.
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.
29 of 29 films
as Abigail
Directed by Mona Fastvold
as Porpentina 'Tina' Goldstein
Directed by David Yates
as Estelle
Directed by Damien Chazelle
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
Jess
The Third Day: Autumn (2020)
Performance score8.7
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Jess gives Katherine Waterston a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Dabney
mid90s (2018)
Performance score7.8
mid90s asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dabney is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Abigail
The World to Come (2021)
Performance score7.6
The World to Come asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Abigail is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Porpentina 'Tina' Goldstein
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
Performance score7.6
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Porpentina 'Tina' Goldstein 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 Jess
Start here. The Third Day: Autumn is the clearest statement of what Katherine Waterston does — accessible, 715 minutes, and rated 8.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Katherine 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.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
A deliberate change of key after The Third Day: Autumn — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
mid90s (2018)
A deliberate change of key after Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The World to Come (2021)
Keeps the drama register of mid90s but asks for a colder reading of it.
Babylon (2022)
Keeps the drama register of The World to Come but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
David Yates
Director
3 films together
Notably Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Tony Gilroy
Director
1 film together
Notably Michael Clayton
Ang Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Taking Woodstock
Paul Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Being Flynn
Jake Schreier
Director
1 film together
Notably Robot & Frank
Paul Thomas Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably Inherent Vice
Leslye Headland
Director
1 film together
Notably Sleeping with Other People
Danny Boyle
Director
1 film together
Notably Steve Jobs
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Alien: Covenant
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Director
1 film together
Notably The Current War
Jonah Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably mid90s
Espen Sandberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Amundsen
Meredith Danluck
Director
1 film together
Notably State Like Sleep
Marc Munden
Director
1 film together
Notably The Third Day: Autumn
Mona Fastvold
Director
1 film together
Notably The World to Come
Damien Chazelle
Director
1 film together
Notably Babylon
Janicza Bravo
Director
1 film together
Notably House Comes with a Bird
Chris Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Afraid
Jim O'Hanlon
Director
1 film together
Notably Fackham Hall
Paul Greengrass
Director
1 film together
Notably The Uprising
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
David Yates
Director
3 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find ThemMarc Munden
Director
1 film together · 8.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Third Day: AutumnJonah Hill
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
mid90sDamien Chazelle
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BabylonMona Fastvold
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 World to ComeJake Schreier
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Robot & FrankDanny Boyle
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Steve JobsTony Gilroy
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Michael ClaytonJim O'Hanlon
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fackham HallAlfonso Gomez-Rejon
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Current WarPaul Thomas Anderson
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Inherent ViceJanicza Bravo
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
House Comes with a BirdLeslye Headland
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sleeping with Other PeopleRidley Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Alien: CovenantAng Lee
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Taking WoodstockPaul Weitz
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Being FlynnEspen Sandberg
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AmundsenChris Weitz
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AfraidMeredith Danluck
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
State Like SleepPaul Greengrass
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 UprisingSix 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
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
as Porpentina 'Tina' Goldstein
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 Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
as Charlie
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The Third Day: Autumn
as Jess
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Babylon
as Estelle
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Third Day: Autumn
as Jess
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. Katherine Waterston 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.
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
20 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
The Third Day: Autumn
as Jess
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Third Day: Autumn
as Jess
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
as Charlie
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Third Day: Autumn
as Jess
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Third Day: Autumn
as Jess
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Logan Lucky
as Sylvia Harrison
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Taking Woodstock
as Penny
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Fear Street: Prom Queen
as Nancy Falconer
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
Harry Dean Stanton
Works with the same directors — Ridley Scott
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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