Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#813
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Mark Margolis represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 40 years in, and Mark is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Mark Margolis appears in 30 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Mark. Scarface 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 drama, comedy, romance. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Kirk Jones, Darren Aronofsky, Fisher Stevens and others, Mark Margolis 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.
Scarface (1983) as Shadow · Requiem for a Dream (2000) as Mr. Rabinowitz · Black Swan (2010) as Mr. Fithian / Patron
Career snapshot
Ranked #813 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
30
1980–2020
Career length
40 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.3
Scarface
Average Nutevio score
6.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Scarface
Most frequent director
Darren Aronofsky
6 films together
Longest collaboration
6×
With Darren Aronofsky
Most common genre
Drama
23 titles
Average runtime
1h 53m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
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
1980s
7.2 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Glory, The Cotton Club, Scarface — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.2
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
7.2
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Glory, The Cotton Club, Scarface.
Most productive era
2000s
10 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 | 7.24 films | 6.75 films | 6.99 films | 6.53 films | 6.02 films |
| Action | 8.31 film | 6.53 films | 5.31 film | 6.02 films | — |
| Thriller | 6.91 film | 6.62 films | 6.53 films | 6.82 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.81 film | 6.53 films | — | 6.02 films | 6.81 film |
| Crime | 7.42 films | 6.73 films | 7.43 films | 6.01 film | — |
| Romance | — | 6.81 film | 7.22 films | 6.01 film | — |
| Horror | 6.91 film | 6.32 films | — | 7.71 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1980Dressed to Kill
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Patient at Bellvue Hospital (uncredited).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1983Scarface
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.
Most recent film
2020Abe
The current state of the argument, as Benjamin.
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.
30 of 30 films
as Shadow
Directed by Brian De Palma
as Mr. Rabinowitz
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
as Lenny
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
as Mr. Fithian / Patron
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
as Sol Robeson
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
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
Shadow
Scarface (1983)
Performance score8.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Shadow gives Mark Margolis a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Mr. Rabinowitz
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Performance score7.8
Requiem for a Dream asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mr. Rabinowitz is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Lenny
The Wrestler (2008)
Performance score7.6
The Wrestler asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lenny is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Mr. Fithian / Patron
Black Swan (2010)
Performance score7.5
Black Swan asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mr. Fithian / Patron 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 Shadow
Start here. Scarface is the clearest statement of what Mark Margolis does — accessible, 170 minutes, and rated 8.3 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Mark 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.
Pi (1998)
Keeps the drama register of Scarface but asks for a colder reading of it.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Same director as Pi, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
The Wrestler (2008)
Same director as Requiem for a Dream, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Black Swan (2010)
Same director as The Wrestler, 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.
Darren Aronofsky
Director
6 films together
Notably Requiem for a Dream
Brian De Palma
Director
2 films together
Notably Scarface
Ridley Scott
Director
2 films together
Notably Hannibal
Edward Zwick
Director
2 films together
Notably Glory
Barry Levinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Diner
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
1 film together
Notably The Cotton Club
John Harrison
Director
1 film together
Notably Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Tom Shadyac
Director
1 film together
Notably Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Absolute Power
John McTiernan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Thomas Crown Affair
Peter Hyams
Director
1 film together
Notably End of Days
Peter Kassovitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Jakob the Liar
Brian Robbins
Director
1 film together
Notably Hardball
John Boorman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Tailor of Panama
Mark Steven Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably Daredevil
Marc Forster
Director
1 film together
Notably Stay
Ben Affleck
Director
1 film together
Notably Gone Baby Gone
Tarsem Singh
Director
1 film together
Notably Immortals
Fisher Stevens
Director
1 film together
Notably Stand Up Guys
Kirk Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Darren Aronofsky
Director
6 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 6 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Requiem for a DreamBrian De Palma
Director
2 films together · 7.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ScarfaceEdward Zwick
Director
2 films together · 7.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
GloryRidley Scott
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
HannibalBen 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
Gone Baby GoneJohn McTiernan
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 Thomas Crown AffairBarry Levinson
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DinerClint Eastwood
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Absolute PowerTom Shadyac
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ace Ventura: Pet DetectiveMarc Forster
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StayPeter Kassovitz
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jakob the LiarBrian Robbins
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HardballFrancis Ford Coppola
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 Cotton ClubPeter Hyams
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
End of DaysJohn Harrison
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tales from the Darkside: The MovieTarsem Singh
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ImmortalsKirk Jones
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2Fisher Stevens
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Stand Up GuysJohn Boorman
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 Tailor of PanamaMark Steven Johnson
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DaredevilSix 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
Scarface
as Shadow
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 Wrestler
as Lenny
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Scarface
as Shadow
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Cotton Club
as Charlie Workman (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Scarface
as Shadow
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. Mark Margolis 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
40 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.
Drama Legend
Awarded
23 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
Scarface
as Shadow
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Scarface
as Shadow
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Wrestler
as Lenny
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Gone Baby Gone
as Leon Trett
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Scarface
as Shadow
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
1492: Conquest of Paradise
as Bobadilla
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Jakob the Liar
as Fajngold
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
End of Days
as Pope
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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Works with the same directors — Ridley Scott
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Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
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Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
Which Mark Margolis performance holds up best?
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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