Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#82
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Kevin Michael Richardson represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 31 years in, and Kevin is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Kevin Michael Richardson appears in 66 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Kevin. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the clearest case: a film rated 8.3 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 comedy, family, animation. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Matthew Nastuk, Aaron Horvath, Jonathan A. Rosenbaum and others, Kevin Michael Richardson 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 Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) as Kamek (voice) · The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) as Kamek (voice) · Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020) as Goro / Bystander (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #82 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
66
1995–2026
Career length
31 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.3
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Average Nutevio score
6.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Most frequent director
Ethan Spaulding
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Ethan Spaulding
Most common genre
Animation
59 titles
Average runtime
1h 18m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.2
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
6.8
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
7.1 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans, Justice League vs. the Fatal Five, The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-ween — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
7.1
Across 22 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
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. Mortal Kombat.
Most productive era
2000s
24 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 | — | 6.92 films | — | — |
| Action | 6.11 film | 6.88 films | 7.39 films | 7.81 film |
| Thriller | — | 6.82 films | — | — |
| Comedy | — | 6.414 films | 7.116 films | 6.917 films |
| Crime | — | 6.31 film | — | 7.31 film |
| Romance | — | 7.31 film | — | — |
| Horror | — | 6.71 film | 7.03 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1995Mortal Kombat
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Goro (voice).
Highest rated performance · Career peak · Most recent film
2026The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
8.3 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. The current state of the argument, as Kamek (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.
66 of 66 films
as Kamek (voice)
Directed by Aaron Horvath
as Sojo / The Black Samurai (voice)
Directed by Christopher Berkeley
as Kamek (voice)
Directed by Aaron Horvath
as Goro / Bystander (voice)
Directed by Ethan Spaulding
as Mahonin / Old Man (voice)
Directed by Doug Murphy
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
Kamek (voice)
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)
Performance score8.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Kamek (voice) gives Kevin Michael Richardson a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Sojo / The Black Samurai (voice)
Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword (2009)
Performance score7.7
Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sojo / The Black Samurai (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Kamek (voice)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Performance score7.6
The Super Mario Bros. Movie asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Kamek (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Goro / Bystander (voice)
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)
Performance score7.6
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Goro / Bystander (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 Kamek (voice)
Start here. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the clearest statement of what Kevin Michael Richardson does — accessible, 98 minutes, and rated 8.3 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Kevin 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.
Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword (2009)
Keeps the comedy register of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie but asks for a colder reading of it.
Constantine: City of Demons - The Movie (2018)
Keeps the action register of Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword but asks for a colder reading of it.
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)
Keeps the action register of Constantine: City of Demons - The Movie but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Keeps the fantasy register of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Ethan Spaulding
Director
3 films together
Notably Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
Victor Cook
Director
2 films together
Notably Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright
Bobs Gannaway
Director
2 films together
Notably Stitch! The Movie
Paul McEvoy
Director
2 films together
Notably Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster Madness
David Silverman
Director
2 films together
Notably Welcome to the Club
Walt Dohrn
Director
2 films together
Notably Trolls Band Together
Ken Cunningham
Director
2 films together
Notably LEGO Marvel Avengers: Mission Demolition
Aaron Horvath
Director
2 films together
Notably The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Paul W. S. Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably Mortal Kombat
Robert C. Ramirez
Director
1 film together
Notably Joseph: King of Dreams
Chuck Sheetz
Director
1 film together
Notably Recess: School's Out
Craig McCracken
Director
1 film together
Notably The Powerpuff Girls Movie
Jeff McGrath
Director
1 film together
Notably The Wild Thornberrys Movie
Dean DeBlois
Director
1 film together
Notably Lilo & Stitch
David Grossman
Director
1 film together
Notably George of the Jungle 2
Andrew R. Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably The Animatrix
Lilly Wachowski
Director
1 film together
Notably The Matrix Revolutions
Lynne Southerland
Director
1 film together
Notably Mulan II
Pete Michels
Director
1 film together
Notably Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
Kevin Smith
Director
1 film together
Notably Clerks II
Matthew O'Callaghan
Director
1 film together
Notably Open Season 2
Dave Filoni
Director
1 film together
Notably Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Chuck Patton
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead Space: Downfall
Fuminori Kizaki
Director
1 film together
Notably Afro Samurai: Resurrection
Dominic Polcino
Director
1 film together
Notably Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Christopher Berkeley
Director
1 film together
Notably Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword
John Musker
Director
1 film together
Notably The Princess and the Frog
Dan Povenmire
Director
1 film together
Notably Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension
Michael Goguen
Director
1 film together
Notably Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon
J.J. Abrams
Director
1 film together
Notably Star Trek Into Darkness
Don Coscarelli
Director
1 film together
Notably John Dies at the End
Jay Oliva
Director
1 film together
Notably Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
Robert Hughes
Director
1 film together
Notably Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars
Mike Mitchell
Director
1 film together
Notably The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
Stephen Sandoval
Director
1 film together
Notably Tangled: Before Ever After
Doug Murphy
Director
1 film together
Notably Constantine: City of Demons - The Movie
Jake Castorena
Director
1 film together
Notably Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Kevin Peaty
Director
1 film together
Notably The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-ween
Sam Liu
Director
1 film together
Notably Justice League vs. the Fatal Five
Jeff Mednikow
Director
1 film together
Notably Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans
Erik Kling
Director
1 film together
Notably Captain Underpants Mega Blissmas
Daniel Chong
Director
1 film together
Notably We Bare Bears: The Movie
Darrell Van Citters
Director
1 film together
Notably Tom and Jerry: Snowman's Land
Christo Stamboliev
Director
1 film together
Notably The Boss Baby: Christmas Bonus
Audie Harrison
Director
1 film together
Notably Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!
Kyle Balda
Director
1 film together
Notably Minions: The Rise of Gru
Ryan Kramer
Director
1 film together
Notably Taz: Quest for Burger
Debbie Bruce Mahan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Simpsons: O C'mon All Ye Faithful
Jonathan A. Rosenbaum
Director
1 film together
Notably Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp
Matthew Nastuk
Director
1 film together
Notably Extreme Makeover: Homer Edition
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Ethan Spaulding
Director
3 films together · 7.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's RevengeAaron Horvath
Director
2 films together · 8.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Super Mario Galaxy MoviePaul McEvoy
Director
2 films together · 7.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! Moon Monster MadnessWalt Dohrn
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Trolls Band TogetherVictor Cook
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! Stage FrightKen Cunningham
Director
2 films together · 6.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
LEGO Marvel Avengers: Mission DemolitionDavid Silverman
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Welcome to the ClubBobs Gannaway
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Stitch! The MovieDoug Murphy
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Constantine: City of Demons - The MovieMichael Goguen
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue FalconChristopher Berkeley
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai SwordJay Oliva
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Justice League: The Flashpoint ParadoxDean DeBlois
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lilo & StitchDaniel Chong
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
We Bare Bears: The MovieJeff Mednikow
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen TitansKyle Balda
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Minions: The Rise of GruJ.J. Abrams
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 Trek Into DarknessJohn Musker
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Princess and the FrogJake Castorena
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the BoldRobert Hughes
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Phineas and Ferb: Star WarsDominic Polcino
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something, Dark SideAndrew R. Jones
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The AnimatrixDan Povenmire
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the 2nd DimensionDebbie Bruce Mahan
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 Simpsons: O C'mon All Ye FaithfulAudie Harrison
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!Matthew Nastuk
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Extreme Makeover: Homer EditionFuminori Kizaki
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Afro Samurai: ResurrectionKevin Smith
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Clerks IIPete Michels
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Stewie Griffin: The Untold StoryLilly Wachowski
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 Matrix RevolutionsRobert C. Ramirez
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Joseph: King of DreamsDarrell Van Citters
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tom and Jerry: Snowman's LandSam Liu
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Justice League vs. the Fatal FiveStephen Sandoval
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tangled: Before Ever AfterCraig McCracken
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Powerpuff Girls MovieChristo Stamboliev
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 Boss Baby: Christmas BonusChuck 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: DownfallKevin Peaty
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Spooky Tale of Captain Underpants Hack-a-weenChuck Sheetz
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Recess: School's OutLynne Southerland
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mulan IIJeff 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 MovieJonathan A. Rosenbaum
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Woody Woodpecker Goes to CampErik Kling
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Captain Underpants Mega BlissmasDon Coscarelli
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
John Dies at the EndMichael Bay
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transformers: Revenge of the FallenDave Filoni
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Star Wars: The Clone WarsMike Mitchell
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of WaterPaul W. S. Anderson
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mortal KombatRyan Kramer
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Taz: Quest for BurgerMatthew O'Callaghan
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Open Season 2David Grossman
Director
1 film together · 4.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
George of the Jungle 2Six 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 Super Mario Galaxy Movie
as Kamek (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
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
as Kamek (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 Super Mario Galaxy Movie
as Kamek (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Star Trek Into Darkness
as Additional Voices (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
as Kamek (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. Kevin Michael Richardson 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
31 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.
Animation Legend
Awarded
59 catalogue titles in animation, 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! Mask of the Blue Falcon
as Mayor Ron Starlin (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Constantine: City of Demons - The Movie
as Mahonin / Old Man (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Trolls Band Together
as Mr. Dinkles (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon
as Mayor Ron Starlin (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
as Goro / Bystander (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars
as Additional Voices (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Trolls Band Together
as Mr. Dinkles (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
as Kamek (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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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