Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1541
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Michael Cera 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.
Michael Cera appears in 26 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Michael. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 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 action, science fiction, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Edgar Wright, Wes Anderson, Michael Angarano and others, Michael Cera 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.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) as Scott Pilgrim · Superbad (2007) as Evan · The Lego Batman Movie (2017) as Robin / Dick Grayson (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #1541 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
26
2002–2025
Career length
23 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.5
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.5
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Most frequent director
Edgar Wright
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Edgar Wright
Most common genre
Comedy
21 titles
Average runtime
1h 41m
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
2020s
6.5 average MV
The 2020s are where the work and the material meet. The Running Man, The Phoenician Scheme, Sacramento — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2020s
6.5
Across 10 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2020s
6.4
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Year One, Youth in Revolt, Extreme Movie.
Most productive era
2020s
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 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.73 films | 6.62 films | 5.94 films |
| Action | — | 7.03 films | 6.82 films |
| Thriller | 6.71 film | 5.11 film | 6.91 film |
| Comedy | 6.27 films | 6.56 films | 6.58 films |
| Crime | 6.71 film | 7.21 film | 6.51 film |
| Romance | 6.64 films | 6.82 films | 7.21 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2002Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Chuck (8 & 11 years).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2010Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
7.5 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
2025Sacramento
The current state of the argument, as Glenn.
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.
26 of 26 films
as Scott Pilgrim
Directed by Edgar Wright
as Armen (voice)
Directed by Unknown
as Robin / Dick Grayson (voice)
Directed by Unknown
as Paulie Bleeker
Directed by Jason Reitman
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
Scott Pilgrim
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Scott Pilgrim gives Michael Cera a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Armen (voice)
Under the Boardwalk (2023)
Performance score7.8
Under the Boardwalk asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Armen (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Evan
Superbad (2007)
Performance score7.7
Superbad asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Evan is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Robin / Dick Grayson (voice)
The Lego Batman Movie (2017)
Performance score7.6
The Lego Batman Movie asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Robin / Dick Grayson (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 Scott Pilgrim
Start here. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the clearest statement of what Michael Cera does — accessible, 113 minutes, and rated 7.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Michael 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.
Superbad (2007)
Keeps the comedy register of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World but asks for a colder reading of it.
Juno (2007)
Keeps the comedy register of Superbad but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Lego Batman Movie (2017)
Keeps the comedy register of Juno but asks for a colder reading of it.
Under the Boardwalk (2023)
Same director as The Lego Batman Movie, 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.
Edgar Wright
Director
2 films together
Notably Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
George Clooney
Director
1 film together
Notably Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Greg Mottola
Director
1 film together
Notably Superbad
Jason Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably Juno
Peter Sollett
Director
1 film together
Notably Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Miguel Arteta
Director
1 film together
Notably Youth in Revolt
Harold Ramis
Director
1 film together
Notably Year One
Evan Goldberg
Director
1 film together
Notably This Is the End
Sofia Coppola
Director
1 film together
Notably A Very Murray Christmas
Conrad Vernon
Director
1 film together
Notably Sausage Party
Ken Marino
Director
1 film together
Notably How to Be a Latin Lover
Aaron Sorkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Molly's Game
Chris Bailey
Director
1 film together
Notably Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
Dustin Guy Defa
Director
1 film together
Notably The Adults
Kristoffer Borgli
Director
1 film together
Notably Dream Scenario
Greta Gerwig
Director
1 film together
Notably Barbie
Michael Angarano
Director
1 film together
Notably Sacramento
Wes Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Phoenician Scheme
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Edgar Wright
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
Scott Pilgrim vs. the WorldGreg Mottola
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SuperbadAaron Sorkin
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Molly's GameJason Reitman
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
JunoGreta Gerwig
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BarbieKen Marino
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
How to Be a Latin LoverKristoffer Borgli
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dream ScenarioGeorge Clooney
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Confessions of a Dangerous MindChris Bailey
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Paws of Fury: The Legend of HankWes Anderson
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 Phoenician SchemePeter Sollett
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nick and Norah's Infinite PlaylistMichael Angarano
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SacramentoDustin Guy Defa
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 AdultsEvan Goldberg
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
This Is the EndMiguel Arteta
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Youth in RevoltConrad Vernon
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sausage PartySofia Coppola
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Very Murray ChristmasHarold Ramis
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Year OneSix 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
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
as Scott Pilgrim
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Under the Boardwalk
as Armen (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
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
as Scott Pilgrim
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Barbie
as Allan
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
as Scott Pilgrim
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. Michael Cera 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
23 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
21 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
Barbie
as Allan
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Running Man
as Elton Perrakis
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Under the Boardwalk
as Armen (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Cryptozoo
as Matthew (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Lego Batman Movie
as Robin / Dick Grayson (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
as Hank (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Under the Boardwalk
as Armen (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Barbie
as Allan
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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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Harvey Keitel
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Tom Wilkinson
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
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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