Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#4642
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Leslie Mann represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 30 years in, and Leslie is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Leslie Mann appears in 29 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Leslie. The Croods: A New Age is the clearest case: a film rated 7.4 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 comedy, romance, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Jon Lucas, Cooper Raiff, Judd Apatow and others, Leslie Mann 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 Croods: A New Age (2020) as Hope Betterman (voice) · Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022) as Lisa · Dear Diary: World's First Pranks (2021) as Hope Betterman (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #4642 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
29
1996–2026
Career length
30 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.4
The Croods: A New Age
Average Nutevio score
6.0
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.4
The Croods: A New Age
Most frequent director
Judd Apatow
5 films together
Longest collaboration
5×
With Judd Apatow
Most common genre
Comedy
26 titles
Average runtime
1h 43m
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
6.3 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Motherless Brooklyn, Welcome to Marwen, Blockers — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.3
Across 12 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.3
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. Big Daddy, Last Man Standing, The Cable Guy.
Most productive era
2010s
12 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 | 6.32 films | 6.13 films | 6.34 films | 7.11 film |
| Thriller | 6.01 film | — | 6.71 film | — |
| Comedy | 6.03 films | 6.08 films | 6.410 films | 5.25 films |
| Crime | 6.41 film | — | 5.92 films | — |
| Romance | 5.51 film | 6.03 films | 6.32 films | 7.11 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Wanda.
Career peak
2011Rio
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Highest rated performance
7.4 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Most recent film
2026Spa Weekend
The current state of the argument, as Jane.
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 Hope Betterman (voice)
Directed by Joel Crawford
as Linda (voice)
Directed by Carlos Saldanha
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Lisa
Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)
Performance score7.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Lisa gives Leslie Mann a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Hope Betterman (voice)
The Croods: A New Age (2020)
Performance score7.2
The Croods: A New Age asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Hope Betterman (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Linda (voice)
Rio (2011)
Performance score7.2
Rio asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Linda (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Nicol
Welcome to Marwen (2018)
Performance score7.0
Welcome to Marwen asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Nicol 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 Lisa
Start here. Cha Cha Real Smooth is the clearest statement of what Leslie Mann does — accessible, 108 minutes, and rated 7.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Leslie 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.
Rio (2011)
Keeps the comedy register of Cha Cha Real Smooth but asks for a colder reading of it.
Welcome to Marwen (2018)
Keeps the comedy register of Rio but asks for a colder reading of it.
Blockers (2018)
Keeps the comedy register of Welcome to Marwen but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Croods: A New Age (2020)
Keeps the comedy register of Blockers but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Judd Apatow
Director
5 films together
Notably The 40 Year Old Virgin
Carlos Saldanha
Director
2 films together
Notably Rio
Edward Burns
Director
1 film together
Notably She's the One
Ben Stiller
Director
1 film together
Notably The Cable Guy
Walter Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Last Man Standing
Dennis Dugan
Director
1 film together
Notably Big Daddy
Jake Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Orange County
Raja Gosnell
Director
1 film together
Notably Beverly Hills Chihuahua
Steven Brill
Director
1 film together
Notably Drillbit Taylor
Burr Steers
Director
1 film together
Notably 17 Again
Robert Rodriguez
Director
1 film together
Notably Shorts
Glenn Ficarra
Director
1 film together
Notably I Love You Phillip Morris
David Dobkin
Director
1 film together
Notably The Change-Up
Sofia Coppola
Director
1 film together
Notably The Bling Ring
Rob Minkoff
Director
1 film together
Notably Mr. Peabody & Sherman
John Francis Daley
Director
1 film together
Notably Vacation
Christian Ditter
Director
1 film together
Notably How to Be Single
Kay Cannon
Director
1 film together
Notably Blockers
Robert Zemeckis
Director
1 film together
Notably Welcome to Marwen
Edward Norton
Director
1 film together
Notably Motherless Brooklyn
Joel Crawford
Director
1 film together
Notably The Croods: A New Age
Cooper Raiff
Director
1 film together
Notably Cha Cha Real Smooth
Jon Lucas
Director
1 film together
Notably Spa Weekend
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Judd Apatow
Director
5 films together · 5.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 5 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The 40 Year Old VirginCarlos Saldanha
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
RioJoel Crawford
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Croods: A New AgeCooper Raiff
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cha Cha Real SmoothEdward Norton
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Motherless BrooklynRob Minkoff
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mr. Peabody & ShermanRobert Zemeckis
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Welcome to MarwenDennis Dugan
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Big DaddyGlenn Ficarra
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I Love You Phillip MorrisWalter Hill
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Last Man StandingKay Cannon
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BlockersChristian Ditter
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
How to Be SingleJohn Francis Daley
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VacationBurr Steers
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
17 AgainDavid Dobkin
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Change-UpJake Kasdan
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Orange CountyBen Stiller
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 Cable GuyRobert Rodriguez
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ShortsSteven Brill
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Drillbit TaylorEdward Burns
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
She's the OneSofia Coppola
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Bling RingRaja Gosnell
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beverly Hills ChihuahuaJon Lucas
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Spa WeekendSix 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 Croods: A New Age
as Hope Betterman (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
Cha Cha Real Smooth
as Lisa
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 Croods: A New Age
as Hope Betterman (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Orange County
as Krista
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Cha Cha Real Smooth
as Lisa
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. Leslie Mann 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
30 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
26 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
The Croods: A New Age
as Hope Betterman (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Motherless Brooklyn
as Julia Minna
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
as Bimini (uncredited)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Croods: A New Age
as Hope Betterman (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Croods: A New Age
as Hope Betterman (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Last Man Standing
as Wanda
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
I Love You Phillip Morris
as Debbie
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
How to Be Single
as Meg
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Edward Norton
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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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Reference
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