Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#6027
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Michael Rispoli represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 30 years in, and Michael is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Michael Rispoli appears in 23 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Michael. Cherry is the clearest case: a film rated 7.3 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, crime, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Stephen Chbosky, Barry Levinson, Anthony Russo and others, Michael Rispoli 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.
Cherry (2021) as Tommy · Kick-Ass (2010) as Big Joe · Invincible (2006) as Max Cantrell
Career snapshot
Ranked #6027 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
23
1995–2025
Career length
30 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.3
Cherry
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.3
Cherry
Most frequent director
Stephen Chbosky
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Stephen Chbosky
Most common genre
Drama
15 titles
Average runtime
1h 52m
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
6.5
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
1990s
6.5 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Summer of Sam, Rounders, Snake Eyes — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.5
Across 8 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.5
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. Summer of Sam, Rounders, Snake Eyes.
Most productive era
1990s
8 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 | 6.55 films | 6.33 films | 5.75 films | 6.82 films |
| Action | 6.01 film | 6.41 film | 6.33 films | — |
| Thriller | 6.14 films | 6.22 films | 4.91 film | — |
| Comedy | 6.73 films | 6.02 films | 6.12 films | 5.82 films |
| Crime | 6.45 films | 6.22 films | 6.14 films | 6.82 films |
| Romance | 7.01 film | — | — | 4.91 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1995To Die For
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Ben DeLuca.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2021Cherry
7.3 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
2025The Alto Knights
The current state of the argument, as Albert Anastasia.
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.
23 of 23 films
as Max Cantrell
Directed by Ericson Core
as Big Joe
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
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
Tommy
Cherry (2021)
Performance score7.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Tommy gives Michael Rispoli a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Max Cantrell
Invincible (2006)
Performance score7.1
Invincible asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Max Cantrell is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Big Joe
Kick-Ass (2010)
Performance score7.0
Kick-Ass asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Big Joe is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Grama
Rounders (1998)
Performance score6.9
Rounders asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Grama 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 Tommy
Start here. Cherry is the clearest statement of what Michael Rispoli does — accessible, 142 minutes, and rated 7.3 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.
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
A deliberate change of key after Cherry — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Rounders (1998)
A deliberate change of key after While You Were Sleeping — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Invincible (2006)
Keeps the drama register of Rounders but asks for a colder reading of it.
Kick-Ass (2010)
A deliberate change of key after Invincible — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Jon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together
Notably While You Were Sleeping
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably To Die For
David R. Ellis
Director
1 film together
Notably Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco
Brian Gibson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Juror
Mick Jackson
Director
1 film together
Notably Volcano
Brian De Palma
Director
1 film together
Notably Snake Eyes
John Dahl
Director
1 film together
Notably Rounders
Spike Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Summer of Sam
Danny DeVito
Director
1 film together
Notably Death to Smoochy
Gore Verbinski
Director
1 film together
Notably The Weather Man
Ericson Core
Director
1 film together
Notably Invincible
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Matthew Vaughn
Director
1 film together
Notably Kick-Ass
Bruce Robinson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Rum Diary
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably Pain & Gain
Don Argott
Director
1 film together
Notably Framing John DeLorean
Anthony Russo
Director
1 film together
Notably Cherry
Barry Levinson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Alto Knights
Stephen Chbosky
Director
1 film together
Notably Nonnas
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Anthony Russo
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CherryMatthew Vaughn
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kick-AssEricson Core
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
InvincibleJohn Dahl
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RoundersJon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
While You Were SleepingStephen Chbosky
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NonnasDavid R. Ellis
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San FranciscoGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
To Die ForSpike Lee
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Summer of SamTony Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3Michael Bay
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pain & GainBarry Levinson
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 Alto KnightsBrian De Palma
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Snake EyesDon Argott
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Framing John DeLoreanGore Verbinski
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 Weather ManMick Jackson
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VolcanoBruce Robinson
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Rum DiaryDanny DeVito
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Death to SmoochyBrian Gibson
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The JurorSix 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
Cherry
as Tommy
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Invincible
as Max Cantrell
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Cherry
as Tommy
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Nonnas
as Al
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Cherry
as Tommy
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 Rispoli 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.
Drama Legend
Awarded
15 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
Cherry
as Tommy
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Kick-Ass
as Big Joe
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Invincible
as Max Cantrell
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Snake Eyes
as Jimmy George
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Kick-Ass
as Big Joe
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
as John Johnson
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco
as Jack
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Faraway Eyes
as Angelo
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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