Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#139
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Nicolas Cage represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 46 years in, and Nicolas is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Nicolas Cage appears in 82 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Nicolas. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the clearest case: a film rated 8.7 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 mystery, horror, action. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Osgood Perkins, Bob Persichetti, David O. Russell and others, Nicolas Cage 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.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) as Spider-Man Noir (voice) · The Croods: A New Age (2020) as Grug (voice) · Love, Antosha (2019) as Narrator (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #139 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
82
1982–2028
Career length
46 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.7
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Average Nutevio score
6.0
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.4
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Most frequent director
Jon Turteltaub
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Jon Turteltaub
Most common genre
Action
36 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
6.8
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
1990s
6.9 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Bringing Out the Dead, City of Angels, Snake Eyes — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.9
Across 9 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.8
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. Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, Peggy Sue Got Married.
Most productive era
2010s
23 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 | 6.76 films | 6.84 films | 6.68 films | 5.76 films | 4.85 films |
| Action | — | 7.13 films | 6.210 films | 6.013 films | 5.310 films |
| Thriller | — | 6.84 films | 6.210 films | 5.514 films | 5.88 films |
| Comedy | 6.74 films | 6.71 film | 6.46 films | 6.24 films | 6.66 films |
| Crime | 6.83 films | 6.84 films | 6.66 films | 6.07 films | 6.43 films |
| Romance | 6.93 films | 7.04 films | 6.42 films | — | — |
| Horror | — | — | 5.72 films | 5.82 films | 5.38 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1982Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Brad's Bud.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2018Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
8.7 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
The current state of the argument, as Longlegs.
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.
82 of 82 films
as Spider-Man Noir (voice)
Directed by Peter Ramsey
as Grug (voice)
Directed by Joel Crawford
as Yuri Orlov
Directed by Andrew Niccol
as Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman
Directed by Spike Jonze
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
Spider-Man Noir (voice)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Spider-Man Noir (voice) gives Nicolas Cage a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Grug (voice)
The Croods: A New Age (2020)
Performance score8.0
The Croods: A New Age asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Grug (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Yuri Orlov
Lord of War (2005)
Performance score8.0
Lord of War asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Yuri Orlov is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman
Adaptation. (2002)
Performance score7.9
Adaptation. asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman 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 Spider-Man Noir (voice)
Start here. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the clearest statement of what Nicolas Cage does — accessible, 117 minutes, and rated 8.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Nicolas 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.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
A deliberate change of key after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Adaptation. (2002)
Keeps the drama register of Leaving Las Vegas but asks for a colder reading of it.
Lord of War (2005)
Keeps the crime register of Adaptation. but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Croods: A New Age (2020)
A deliberate change of key after Lord of War — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
3 films together
Notably Rumble Fish
Jon Turteltaub
Director
3 films together
Notably National Treasure
John Woo
Director
2 films together
Notably Face/Off
Oliver Stone
Director
2 films together
Notably Snowden
Brian Taylor
Director
2 films together
Notably Mom and Dad
Osgood Perkins
Director
2 films together
Notably Longlegs
Amy Heckerling
Director
1 film together
Notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Alan Parker
Director
1 film together
Notably Birdy
Norman Jewison
Director
1 film together
Notably Moonstruck
Joel Coen
Director
1 film together
Notably Raising Arizona
David Lynch
Director
1 film together
Notably Wild at Heart
Andrew Bergman
Director
1 film together
Notably It Could Happen to You
Mike Figgis
Director
1 film together
Notably Leaving Las Vegas
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably The Rock
Simon West
Director
1 film together
Notably Con Air
Brian De Palma
Director
1 film together
Notably Snake Eyes
Brad Silberling
Director
1 film together
Notably City of Angels
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably Bringing Out the Dead
Brett Ratner
Director
1 film together
Notably The Family Man
John Madden
Director
1 film together
Notably Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Spike Jonze
Director
1 film together
Notably Adaptation.
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Matchstick Men
Gore Verbinski
Director
1 film together
Notably The Weather Man
Andrew Niccol
Director
1 film together
Notably Lord of War
Neil LaBute
Director
1 film together
Notably The Wicker Man
John A. Davis
Director
1 film together
Notably The Ant Bully
Lee Tamahori
Director
1 film together
Notably Next
Quentin Tarantino
Director
1 film together
Notably Grindhouse
Mark Steven Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably Ghost Rider
Danny Pang Phat
Director
1 film together
Notably Bangkok Dangerous
Werner Herzog
Director
1 film together
Notably Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Alex Proyas
Director
1 film together
Notably Knowing
Matthew Vaughn
Director
1 film together
Notably Kick-Ass
Roger Donaldson
Director
1 film together
Notably Seeking Justice
Joel Schumacher
Director
1 film together
Notably Trespass
Patrick Lussier
Director
1 film together
Notably Drive Angry
Kirk DeMicco
Director
1 film together
Notably The Croods
Vic Armstrong
Director
1 film together
Notably Left Behind
Panos Cosmatos
Director
1 film together
Notably Mandy
Tim Hunter
Director
1 film together
Notably Looking Glass
Aaron Horvath
Director
1 film together
Notably Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
Peter Ramsey
Director
1 film together
Notably Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Stephen S. Campanelli
Director
1 film together
Notably Grand Isle
Garret Price
Director
1 film together
Notably Love, Antosha
Joel Crawford
Director
1 film together
Notably The Croods: A New Age
Ken Sanzel
Director
1 film together
Notably Kill Chain
Sion Sono
Director
1 film together
Notably Prisoners of the Ghostland
Michael Sarnoski
Director
1 film together
Notably Pig
Tom Gormican
Director
1 film together
Notably The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Gabe Polsky
Director
1 film together
Notably Butcher's Crossing
Kristoffer Borgli
Director
1 film together
Notably Dream Scenario
David O. Russell
Director
1 film together
Notably Madden
Bob Persichetti
Director
1 film together
Notably Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
3 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Rumble FishJon Turteltaub
Director
3 films together · 6.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
National TreasureJohn Woo
Director
2 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Face/OffOliver Stone
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
SnowdenBrian Taylor
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
Mom and DadOsgood Perkins
Director
2 films together · 3.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
LonglegsPeter Ramsey
Director
1 film together · 8.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-VerseJoel Crawford
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Croods: A New AgeGarret Price
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Love, AntoshaAndrew Niccol
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lord of WarSpike Jonze
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Adaptation.Mike Figgis
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Leaving Las VegasAaron Horvath
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Teen Titans Go! To the MoviesMichael Bay
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The RockMatthew 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-AssQuentin Tarantino
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GrindhouseRidley Scott
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Matchstick MenDavid Lynch
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wild at HeartJoel Coen
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Raising ArizonaKirk DeMicco
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The CroodsSimon West
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Con AirAlan Parker
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BirdyTom 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 TalentBrett Ratner
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 Family ManBrad Silberling
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
City of AngelsNorman Jewison
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MoonstruckAmy Heckerling
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fast Times at Ridgemont HighKristoffer 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 ScenarioAndrew Bergman
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
It Could Happen to YouMichael Sarnoski
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PigMartin Scorsese
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bringing Out the DeadAlex Proyas
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
KnowingPanos Cosmatos
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MandyWerner Herzog
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New OrleansBrian 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 EyesLee Tamahori
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NextGore 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 ManJohn Madden
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Captain Corelli's MandolinGabe Polsky
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Butcher's CrossingRoger Donaldson
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Seeking JusticeMark Steven Johnson
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ghost RiderJohn A. Davis
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Ant BullyPatrick Lussier
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Drive AngryJoel Schumacher
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TrespassStephen S. Campanelli
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Grand IsleDanny Pang Phat
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bangkok DangerousKen Sanzel
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kill ChainSion Sono
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Prisoners of the GhostlandTim Hunter
Director
1 film together · 4.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Looking GlassNeil LaBute
Director
1 film together · 4.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Wicker ManVic Armstrong
Director
1 film together · 4.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Left BehindBob Persichetti
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-VerseDavid O. Russell
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MaddenSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
29 wins · 3 nominations
1 win · 1 nomination · latest 1996
as Actor
as Actor
1 win · latest 1996
as Actor
1 win · latest 1996
as Actor
4 wins · latest 2001
as Actor
as Actor
as Actor
as Actor
2 wins · latest 1998
as Actor
as Actor
2 wins · latest 1998
as Actor
as Actor
2 wins · latest 2009
as Actor
as Actor
1 win · latest 1995
as Actor
1 win · latest 1996
as Actor
1 win · latest 2003
as Actor
1 win · latest 1996
as Actor
1 win · latest 2007
as Actor
1 win · latest 1995
as Actor
1 win · latest 1995
as Actor
1 win · 1 nomination · latest 1996
as Actor
as Actor
1 win · latest 1995
as Actor
1 win · latest 2023
as Actor
1 win · latest 1995
as Actor
1 win · latest 1989
as Actor
1 win · latest 2018
as Actor
1 win · latest 2021
as Actor
1 win · latest 2001
as Actor
1 win · latest 2005
as Actor
No wins yet · 1 nomination
as Actor
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
as Spider-Man Noir (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
Leaving Las Vegas
as Ben Sanderson
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
as Spider-Man Noir (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Grindhouse
as Fu Manchu (segment "Werewolf Women of the SS") (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
as Spider-Man Noir (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. Nicolas Cage 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
46 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.
Action Legend
Awarded
36 catalogue titles in action, 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
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
as Spider-Man Noir (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
as Spider-Man Noir (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
World Trade Center
as John McLoughlin
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Between Worlds
as Joe
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
as Spider-Man Noir (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Gunslingers
as Ben
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Family Man
as Jack Campbell
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
as Spider-Man Noir (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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 — Quentin Tarantino
Harry Dean Stanton
Works with the same directors — Ridley Scott
Have your say
Community
Which Nicolas Cage 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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