Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2000
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Keith Szarabajka represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 39 years in, and Keith is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Keith Szarabajka appears in 12 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Keith. The Dark Knight is the clearest case: a film rated 9.5 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 mystery, drama, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Brandon Vietti, Sam Liu, Steward Lee and others, Keith Szarabajka 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 Dark Knight (2008) as Stephens · The Dark Knight (2008) as Stephens · DC Showcase: Death (2019) as Supervisor (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #2000 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
12
1982–2021
Career length
39 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.5
The Dark Knight
Average Nutevio score
7.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
9.0
The Dark Knight
Most frequent director
Christopher Nolan
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Christopher Nolan
Most common genre
Drama
6 titles
Average runtime
1h 39m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.5
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
7.6
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
7.7 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight, Dead Space: Downfall — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
7.7
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
7.7
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
2 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight, Dead Space: Downfall.
Most productive era
2000s
5 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 | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.91 film | 7.51 film | 9.51 film | 7.92 films | 6.31 film |
| Action | — | — | 8.53 films | 7.31 film | 7.11 film |
| Thriller | 6.91 film | 7.51 film | 7.82 films | 7.31 film | 6.31 film |
| Comedy | — | — | 6.51 film | — | — |
| Crime | — | 7.51 film | 9.22 films | — | — |
| Horror | — | — | 6.71 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1982Missing
Where our catalogue meets this career, as David Holloway.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2008The Dark Knight
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.5 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
2021Encounter
The current state of the argument, as Grant.
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.
12 of 12 films
as Stephens
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Supervisor (voice)
Directed by Sam Liu
as Stephens
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Terry Pugh
Directed by Clint Eastwood
as Cikatro Vizago/ Transport Captain/ Imperial Officer 1/ Old Man
Directed by Steward Lee
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 21 of 21 titles · 21 total credits · active 1982–2021
Encounter
2021 · Grant
DC Showcase - Batman: Death in the Family
2020 · Supervisor (voice)
DC Showcase: Death
2019 · Supervisor (voice)
Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion
2014 · Cikatro Vizago/ Transport Captain/ Imperial Officer 1/ Old Man
Star Wars Rebels
2014 · TV · Cikatro Vizago (voice)
Argo
2012 · Adam Engell
The Dark Knight
2008 · Stephens
Dead Space: Downfall
2008 · Dr. Kyne (voice)
Supernatural
2005 · TV · Donatello Redfield
Cold Case
2003 · TV · Patrick Doherty
Teen Titans
2003 · TV · Trigon (voice)
Spider-Man: The New Animated Series
2003 · TV · Wesley (voice)
We Were Soldiers
2002 · Diplomatic Spook
The Wild Thornberrys Movie
2002 · Poacher (voice)
Angel
1999 · TV · Daniel Holtz
Roswell
1999 · TV · Dan Lubetkin
The Wild Thornberrys
1998 · TV · Kip O'Donnell (voice)
The Angry Beavers
1997 · TV
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
1994 · TV · Skritch (voice)
A Perfect World
1993 · Terry Pugh
Missing
1982 · David Holloway
The defining work
#1
Stephens
The Dark Knight (2008)
Performance score9.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Stephens gives Keith Szarabajka a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Supervisor (voice)
DC Showcase: Death (2019)
Performance score8.4
DC Showcase: Death asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Supervisor (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Stephens
The Dark Knight (2008)
Performance score8.4
The Dark Knight asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Stephens is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Terry Pugh
A Perfect World (1993)
Performance score7.6
A Perfect World asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Terry Pugh 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 Stephens
Start here. The Dark Knight is the clearest statement of what Keith Szarabajka does — accessible, 152 minutes, and rated 9.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Keith 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 Perfect World (1993)
Keeps the crime register of The Dark Knight but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Keeps the crime register of A Perfect World but asks for a colder reading of it.
Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion (2014)
Keeps the action register of The Dark Knight but asks for a colder reading of it.
DC Showcase: Death (2019)
Keeps the animation register of Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Christopher Nolan
Director
2 films together
Notably The Dark Knight
Costa-Gavras
Director
1 film together
Notably Missing
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably A Perfect World
Jeff McGrath
Director
1 film together
Notably The Wild Thornberrys Movie
Randall Wallace
Director
1 film together
Notably We Were Soldiers
Chuck Patton
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead Space: Downfall
Ben Affleck
Director
1 film together
Notably Argo
Steward Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion
Sam Liu
Director
1 film together
Notably DC Showcase: Death
Brandon Vietti
Director
1 film together
Notably DC Showcase - Batman: Death in the Family
Michael Caine
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Cillian Murphy
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Morgan Freeman
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Christian Bale
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Heath Ledger
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Aaron Eckhart
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Gary Oldman
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Monique Gabriela Curnen
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Ron Dean
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Chin Han
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Nestor Carbonell
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Dark Knight
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Christopher Nolan
Director
2 films together · 9.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Dark KnightSam Liu
Director
1 film together · 8.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DC Showcase: DeathClint Eastwood
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Perfect WorldSteward Lee
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Star Wars Rebels: Spark of RebellionBen Affleck
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ArgoBrandon Vietti
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DC Showcase - Batman: Death in the FamilyRandall Wallace
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
We Were SoldiersCosta-Gavras
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MissingChuck Patton
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dead Space: DownfallJeff McGrath
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Wild Thornberrys MovieSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Performer
Keith Szarabajka
Where this journey starts
Director
Christopher Nolan
2 collaborations, averaging 9.2
Film
The Dark Knight
Their highest-rated film together (2008)
Performer
Michael Caine
Shares the frame in The Dark Knight
Film
Interstellar
Where Michael goes next, and where you can too
Performer
Matt Damon
Three steps from where you began
Recognition
1 win
1 win · latest 2009
The Dark Knight
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
The Dark Knight
as Stephens
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
DC Showcase: Death
as Supervisor (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
The Dark Knight
as Stephens
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Wild Thornberrys Movie
as Poacher (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Dark Knight
as Stephens
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. Keith Szarabajka has known it for a long time.”
“Why so serious?”
“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.4 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #83 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.5 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Action, Crime, Drama | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Christopher Nolan | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Drama, Screen presence, Action | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2008–2008 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Stephens — The Dark Knight | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | The Dark Knight | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Christopher Nolan
Shared collections
Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked, Crime Movies, Drama Movies
Collaborators in common
Christopher Nolan · Michael Caine · Cillian Murphy
Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
39 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Editor's Icon
Awarded
Named by our desk for a body of work we return to when we need to explain what screen acting is for.
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
6 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 Dark Knight
as Stephens
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Dark Knight
as Stephens
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
DC Showcase: Death
as Supervisor (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Missing
as David Holloway
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Dark Knight
as Stephens
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion
as Cikatro Vizago/ Transport Captain/ Imperial Officer 1/ Old Man
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
DC Showcase: Death
as Supervisor (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Dark Knight
as Stephens
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 6 Nutevio collections
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genre
Action Movies
Features The Dark Knight at #1
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Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked
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Crime Movies
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Drama Movies
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Best Action Movies
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Community
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