Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2401
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Kathy Najimy represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 34 years in, and Kathy is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Kathy Najimy appears in 18 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Kathy. WALL·E 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 science fiction, comedy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Daniel Chong, Jeffrey Schwarz, Anne Fletcher and others, Kathy Najimy 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.
WALL·E (2008) as Mary (voice) · Hoppers (2026) as Dr. Sam (voice) · Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006) as Sunny St. Cloud (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #2401 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
18
1992–2026
Career length
34 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.4
WALL·E
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Hoppers
Most frequent director
Anne Fletcher
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Anne Fletcher
Most common genre
Comedy
13 titles
Average runtime
1h 36m
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
6.6
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
2000s
7.2 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. WALL·E, Tinker Bell, Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
7.2
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
7.1
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. Bride of Chucky, Hope Floats, Cats Don't Dance.
Most productive era
1990s
6 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 | 6.41 film | — | 6.72 films | 5.21 film |
| Comedy | 6.76 films | 6.72 films | 6.72 films | 7.23 films |
| Romance | 6.41 film | 5.91 film | — | 6.41 film |
| Horror | 6.31 film | — | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1992Sister Act
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Sister Mary Patrick.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2008WALL·E
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
2026Hoppers
The current state of the argument, as Dr. Sam (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.
18 of 18 films
as Mary (voice)
Directed by Andrew Stanton
as Dr. Sam (voice)
Directed by Daniel Chong
as Mary Sanderson
Directed by Anne Fletcher
as Sunny St. Cloud (voice)
Directed by Chuck Sheetz
as Sister Mary Patrick
Directed by Emile Ardolino
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
Mary (voice)
WALL·E (2008)
Performance score8.3
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Mary (voice) gives Kathy Najimy a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Dr. Sam (voice)
Hoppers (2026)
Performance score8.1
Hoppers asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dr. Sam (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mary Sanderson
Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
Performance score7.5
Hocus Pocus 2 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mary Sanderson is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Sunny St. Cloud (voice)
Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006)
Performance score7.3
Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sunny St. Cloud (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 Mary (voice)
Start here. WALL·E is the clearest statement of what Kathy Najimy does — accessible, 98 minutes, and rated 8.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Kathy 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.
Sister Act (1992)
A deliberate change of key after WALL·E — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! (2006)
Keeps the comedy register of Sister Act but asks for a colder reading of it.
Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
Keeps the comedy register of Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy! but asks for a colder reading of it.
Hoppers (2026)
Keeps the comedy register of Hocus Pocus 2 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Anne Fletcher
Director
2 films together
Notably Hocus Pocus 2
Emile Ardolino
Director
1 film together
Notably Sister Act
Kenny Ortega
Director
1 film together
Notably Hocus Pocus
Bill Duke
Director
1 film together
Notably Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
Mark Dindal
Director
1 film together
Notably Cats Don't Dance
Forest Whitaker
Director
1 film together
Notably Hope Floats
Ronny Yu
Director
1 film together
Notably Bride of Chucky
Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Wedding Planner
Chuck Sheetz
Director
1 film together
Notably Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!
Bradley Raymond
Director
1 film together
Notably Tinker Bell
Andrew Stanton
Director
1 film together
Notably WALL·E
Tyler Perry
Director
1 film together
Notably A Madea Christmas
Sia
Director
1 film together
Notably Music
Jeffrey Schwarz
Director
1 film together
Notably Commitment to Life
Daniel Chong
Director
1 film together
Notably Hoppers
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Anne Fletcher
Director
2 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Hocus Pocus 2Andrew Stanton
Director
1 film together · 8.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WALL·EDaniel Chong
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HoppersChuck Sheetz
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!Kenny Ortega
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hocus PocusBradley Raymond
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tinker BellEmile Ardolino
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sister ActMark Dindal
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cats Don't DanceTyler Perry
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 Madea ChristmasBill Duke
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sister Act 2: Back in the HabitForest Whitaker
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hope FloatsRonny Yu
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bride of ChuckyAdam Shankman
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 Wedding PlannerSia
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MusicJeffrey Schwarz
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Commitment to LifeSix 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
WALL·E
as Mary (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
Secret of the Wings
as Minister of Summer (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
WALL·E
as Mary (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Commitment to Life
as Self (archive footage)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
WALL·E
as Mary (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. Kathy Najimy 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
34 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
13 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
Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!
as Sunny St. Cloud (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!
as Sunny St. Cloud (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Secret of the Wings
as Minister of Summer (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!
as Sunny St. Cloud (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
WALL·E
as Mary (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Tinker Bell
as Minister of Summer (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Cats Don't Dance
as Tillie Hippo (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
WALL·E
as Mary (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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