Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#4099
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Nick Swardson 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.
Nick Swardson appears in 27 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Nick. Leo is the clearest case: a film rated 7.4 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, family, animation. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Kyle Newacheck, David Wachtenheim, Josh Duhamel and others, Nick Swardson 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.
Leo (2023) as Cinnabun (voice) · Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) as Kelsey (voice) · Just Go with It (2011) as Eddie Simms
Career snapshot
Ranked #4099 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
27
2006–2025
Career length
19 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.4
Leo
Average Nutevio score
5.8
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.3
Leo
Most frequent director
Dennis Dugan
5 films together
Longest collaboration
5×
With Dennis Dugan
Most common genre
Comedy
27 titles
Average runtime
1h 40m
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
2000s
6.1 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Bolt, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Bedtime Stories — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.1
Across 9 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.1
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. Bolt, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Bedtime Stories.
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 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.32 films | — | — |
| Action | 5.82 films | 5.64 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.19 films | 5.711 films | 5.67 films |
| Crime | 5.81 film | — | 5.71 film |
| Romance | 6.03 films | 6.71 film | 6.11 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2006Click
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Bed, Bath & Beyond Guy.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2023Leo
7.4 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
2025Happy Gilmore 2
The current state of the argument, as Ben Daggett.
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.
27 of 27 films
as Cinnabun (voice)
Directed by David Wachtenheim
as Eddie Simms
Directed by Dennis Dugan
as Kelsey (voice)
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky
as Nate
Directed by Tyler Spindel
as Blake (voice)
Directed by Byron Howard
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
Cinnabun (voice)
Leo (2023)
Performance score7.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Cinnabun (voice) gives Nick Swardson a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Eddie Simms
Just Go with It (2011)
Performance score6.9
Just Go with It asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Eddie Simms is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Kelsey (voice)
Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)
Performance score6.7
Hotel Transylvania 2 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Kelsey (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Nate
The Wrong Missy (2020)
Performance score6.6
The Wrong Missy asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Nate 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 Cinnabun (voice)
Start here. Leo is the clearest statement of what Nick Swardson does — accessible, 102 minutes, and rated 7.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Nick 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.
Bolt (2008)
Keeps the comedy register of Leo but asks for a colder reading of it.
Just Go with It (2011)
Keeps the comedy register of Bolt but asks for a colder reading of it.
Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)
Keeps the comedy register of Just Go with It but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Wrong Missy (2020)
Keeps the comedy register of Hotel Transylvania 2 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Dennis Dugan
Director
5 films together
Notably Just Go with It
Frank Coraci
Director
2 films together
Notably Click
Tyler Spindel
Director
2 films together
Notably The Wrong Missy
Josh Duhamel
Director
2 films together
Notably Buddy Games: Spring Awakening
Terry Zwigoff
Director
1 film together
Notably Art School Confidential
Josh Gordon
Director
1 film together
Notably Blades of Glory
Robert Ben Garant
Director
1 film together
Notably Reno 911!: Miami
Fred Wolf
Director
1 film together
Notably The House Bunny
Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together
Notably Bedtime Stories
Byron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Bolt
Ruben Fleischer
Director
1 film together
Notably 30 Minutes or Less
Ross Shuman
Director
1 film together
Notably Hell and Back
Genndy Tartakovsky
Director
1 film together
Notably Hotel Transylvania 2
Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together
Notably Pixels
Steven Brill
Director
1 film together
Notably The Do-Over
Christian Hoffman
Director
1 film together
Notably Reno 911!: It's a Wonderful Heist
Jordan VanDina
Director
1 film together
Notably It's a Wonderful Binge
David Wachtenheim
Director
1 film together
Notably Leo
Kyle Newacheck
Director
1 film together
Notably Happy Gilmore 2
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Dennis Dugan
Director
5 films together · 5.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 5 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Just Go with ItFrank Coraci
Director
2 films together · 5.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
ClickJosh Duhamel
Director
2 films together · 5.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Buddy Games: Spring AwakeningTyler Spindel
Director
2 films together · 4.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Wrong MissyDavid Wachtenheim
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LeoGenndy Tartakovsky
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hotel Transylvania 2Byron Howard
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BoltKyle Newacheck
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Happy Gilmore 2Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bedtime StoriesJosh Gordon
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Blades of GloryTerry Zwigoff
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Art School ConfidentialChris Columbus
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PixelsRuben Fleischer
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
30 Minutes or LessRobert Ben Garant
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Reno 911!: MiamiChristian Hoffman
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Reno 911!: It's a Wonderful HeistSteven Brill
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 Do-OverFred Wolf
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 House BunnyRoss Shuman
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hell and BackJordan VanDina
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
It's a Wonderful BingeSix 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
Leo
as Cinnabun (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Bedtime Stories
as Engineer
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Leo
as Cinnabun (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Pixels
as Pac-Man Victim (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Leo
as Cinnabun (voice)
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. Nick Swardson 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.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
27 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
Leo
as Cinnabun (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Leo
as Cinnabun (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Bedtime Stories
as Engineer
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Hotel Transylvania 2
as Kelsey (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Leo
as Cinnabun (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Ridiculous 6
as Nelly Patch
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Bedtime Stories
as Engineer
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Click
as Bed, Bath & Beyond Guy
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: animation and family
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Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Harvey Keitel
Built a career in the same territory: comedy and adventure
Tom Wilkinson
Built a career in the same territory: comedy and adventure
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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