Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1676
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Lily James 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.
Lily James appears in 25 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Lily. The Iron Claw is the clearest case: a film rated 7.5 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 Jaume Collet-Serra, John Rice, David Mackenzie and others, Lily James 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 Iron Claw (2023) as Pam · The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society (2018) as Juliet Ashton · Baby Driver (2017) as Debora
Career snapshot
Ranked #1676 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
25
2012–2027
Career length
15 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.5
The Iron Claw
Average Nutevio score
5.8
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.5
The Iron Claw
Most frequent director
Mike Newell
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Mike Newell
Most common genre
Drama
16 titles
Average runtime
1h 37m
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
6.2
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
6.7 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. One Red Nose Day and a Wedding, Little Woods, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.7
Across 13 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.7
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2010s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. One Red Nose Day and a Wedding, Little Woods, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society.
Most productive era
2010s
13 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 | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.88 films | 5.78 films |
| Action | 6.62 films | 3.52 films |
| Thriller | 5.82 films | 3.34 films |
| Comedy | 6.84 films | 4.54 films |
| Crime | 7.41 film | 6.31 film |
| Romance | 6.96 films | 6.03 films |
| Horror | 6.21 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Korrina.
Career peak
2018The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Highest rated performance
2023The Iron Claw
7.5 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Most recent film
2027Cliffhanger
The current state of the argument, as Naomi Cooper.
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.
25 of 25 films
as Juliet Ashton
Directed by Mike Newell
as Debora
Directed by Edgar Wright
as Elizabeth Layton
Directed by Joe Wright
as Mieke de Jong
Directed by Unknown
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
Juliet Ashton
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
Performance score8.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Juliet Ashton gives Lily James a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Debora
Baby Driver (2017)
Performance score7.7
Baby Driver asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Debora is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Elizabeth Layton
Darkest Hour (2017)
Performance score7.7
Darkest Hour asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Elizabeth Layton is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Young Donna
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
Performance score7.5
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Young Donna 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 Juliet Ashton
Start here. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society is the clearest statement of what Lily James does — accessible, 124 minutes, and rated 7.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Lily 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.
Baby Driver (2017)
A deliberate change of key after The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Darkest Hour (2017)
A deliberate change of key after Baby Driver — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Exception (2017)
Keeps the drama register of Darkest Hour but asks for a colder reading of it.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
Same director as The Exception, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Mike Newell
Director
2 films together
Notably The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
Jonathan Liebesman
Director
1 film together
Notably Wrath of the Titans
Kenneth Branagh
Director
1 film together
Notably Cinderella
John Wells
Director
1 film together
Notably Burnt
Burr Steers
Director
1 film together
Notably Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Joe Wright
Director
1 film together
Notably Darkest Hour
Edgar Wright
Director
1 film together
Notably Baby Driver
Boots Riley
Director
1 film together
Notably Sorry to Bother You
Nia DaCosta
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Woods
Ben Wheatley
Director
1 film together
Notably Rebecca
Billie Piper
Director
1 film together
Notably Rare Beasts
Shekhar Kapur
Director
1 film together
Notably What's Love Got to Do with It?
Saverio Costanzo
Director
1 film together
Notably Finally Dawn
Potsy Ponciroli
Director
1 film together
Notably Greedy People
Rachel Lee Goldenberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Swiped
David Mackenzie
Director
1 film together
Notably Relay
John Rice
Director
1 film together
Notably The Angry Birds Movie 3
Jaume Collet-Serra
Director
1 film together
Notably Cliffhanger
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Mike Newell
Director
2 films together · 7.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie SocietyEdgar Wright
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Baby DriverJoe Wright
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Darkest HourDavid Mackenzie
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RelayBoots Riley
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sorry to Bother YouKenneth Branagh
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CinderellaRachel Lee Goldenberg
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SwipedJohn Wells
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BurntPotsy Ponciroli
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Greedy PeopleBen Wheatley
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RebeccaBurr Steers
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pride and Prejudice and ZombiesSaverio Costanzo
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Finally DawnShekhar Kapur
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What's Love Got to Do with It?Jonathan Liebesman
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wrath of the TitansBillie Piper
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rare BeastsNia DaCosta
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little WoodsJaume Collet-Serra
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CliffhangerJohn Rice
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 Angry Birds Movie 3Six 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 Iron Claw
as Pam
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 Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
as Juliet Ashton
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 Iron Claw
as Pam
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Broken
as Older Skunk
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
as Juliet Ashton
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. Lily James 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
16 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 Iron Claw
as Pam
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Baby Driver
as Debora
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
One Red Nose Day and a Wedding
as Miranda
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Greedy People
as Paige
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Baby Driver
as Debora
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Wrath of the Titans
as Korrina
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
One Red Nose Day and a Wedding
as Miranda
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Darkest Hour
as Elizabeth Layton
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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