Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#990
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Neil Patrick Harris represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 29 years in, and Neil is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Neil Patrick Harris appears in 23 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Neil. Gone Girl is the clearest case: a film rated 8.1 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, horror, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Jenn Wexler, Tom Gormican, Lana Wachowski and others, Neil Patrick Harris 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.
Gone Girl (2014) as Desi Collings · Serenity (2005) as Screaming Reaver (uncredited) · Doctor Who at the Proms (2024) as The Toymaker (archive footage)
Career snapshot
Ranked #990 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
23
1997–2026
Career length
29 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
Gone Girl
Average Nutevio score
5.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
Gone Girl
Most frequent director
Jenn Wexler
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Jenn Wexler
Most common genre
Comedy
13 titles
Average runtime
1h 42m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
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
1990s
7.2 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Starship Troopers — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.2
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.1
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. Starship Troopers.
Most productive era
2010s
11 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 | — | — | 6.63 films | 0.01 film |
| Action | 7.21 film | 6.73 films | 5.21 film | 4.43 films |
| Thriller | 7.21 film | 7.41 film | 8.11 film | 0.01 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.43 films | 5.97 films | 4.43 films |
| Crime | — | — | — | 6.81 film |
| Romance | — | — | 6.31 film | — |
| Horror | — | — | — | 0.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Colonel Carl Jenkins.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2014Gone Girl
8.1 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
2026Sunny Dancer
The current state of the argument, as Patrick.
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 Desi Collings
Directed by David Fincher
as Colonel Carl Jenkins
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
as Barry Allen / The Flash (voice)
Directed by Dave Bullock
as Screaming Reaver (uncredited)
Directed by Joss Whedon
as The Toymaker (archive footage)
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
Desi Collings
Gone Girl (2014)
Performance score8.3
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Desi Collings gives Neil Patrick Harris a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Colonel Carl Jenkins
Starship Troopers (1997)
Performance score7.3
Starship Troopers asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Colonel Carl Jenkins is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Barry Allen / The Flash (voice)
Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
Performance score7.2
Justice League: The New Frontier asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Barry Allen / The Flash (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Screaming Reaver (uncredited)
Serenity (2005)
Performance score7.2
Serenity asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Screaming Reaver (uncredited) 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 Desi Collings
Start here. Gone Girl is the clearest statement of what Neil Patrick Harris does — accessible, 149 minutes, and rated 8.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Neil 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.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Keeps the thriller register of Gone Girl but asks for a colder reading of it.
Serenity (2005)
Keeps the action register of Starship Troopers but asks for a colder reading of it.
Justice League: The New Frontier (2008)
Keeps the action register of Serenity but asks for a colder reading of it.
Doctor Who at the Proms (2024)
A deliberate change of key after Justice League: The New Frontier — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Paul Verhoeven
Director
1 film together
Notably Starship Troopers
Malcolm D. Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Undercover Brother
Danny Leiner
Director
1 film together
Notably Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
Joss Whedon
Director
1 film together
Notably Serenity
Dave Bullock
Director
1 film together
Notably Justice League: The New Frontier
Phil Lord
Director
1 film together
Notably Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Brad Peyton
Director
1 film together
Notably Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Daniel Barnz
Director
1 film together
Notably Beastly
James Bobin
Director
1 film together
Notably The Muppets
Jon Hurwitz
Director
1 film together
Notably American Reunion
Cody Cameron
Director
1 film together
Notably Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Seth MacFarlane
Director
1 film together
Notably A Million Ways to Die in the West
David Fincher
Director
1 film together
Notably Gone Girl
Alexander Payne
Director
1 film together
Notably Downsizing
Bryce Dallas Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Dads
Michael Dowse
Director
1 film together
Notably 8-Bit Christmas
Lana Wachowski
Director
1 film together
Notably The Matrix Resurrections
Tom Gormican
Director
1 film together
Notably The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Jenn Wexler
Director
1 film together
Notably The Last Temptation of Becky
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
David Fincher
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gone GirlJoss Whedon
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SerenityPaul Verhoeven
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Starship TroopersBryce Dallas Howard
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DadsTom Gormican
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 Unbearable Weight of Massive TalentPhil Lord
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cloudy with a Chance of MeatballsDave Bullock
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Justice League: The New FrontierJames Bobin
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The MuppetsDanny Leiner
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harold & Kumar Go to White CastleCody Cameron
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2Michael Dowse
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
8-Bit ChristmasLana Wachowski
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Matrix ResurrectionsJon Hurwitz
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American ReunionDaniel Barnz
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BeastlySeth MacFarlane
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Million Ways to Die in the WestMalcolm D. Lee
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Undercover BrotherAlexander Payne
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DownsizingBrad Peyton
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty GaloreJenn Wexler
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 Last Temptation of BeckySix 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
Gone Girl
as Desi Collings
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Beastly
as Will Fratalli
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Gone Girl
as Desi Collings
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Doctor Who at the Proms
as The Toymaker (archive footage)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Gone Girl
as Desi Collings
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. Neil Patrick Harris 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
29 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
13 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
Gone Girl
as Desi Collings
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Gone Girl
as Desi Collings
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Beastly
as Will Fratalli
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Gone Girl
as Desi Collings
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Serenity
as Screaming Reaver (uncredited)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Matrix Resurrections
as The Analyst
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Muppets
as Neil Patrick Harris
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Gone Girl
as Desi Collings
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 — David Fincher
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Works with the same directors — David Fincher
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Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Richmond Arquette
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Bob Stephenson
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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