Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1931
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Patricia Arquette represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 39 years in, and Patricia is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Patricia Arquette appears in 19 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Patricia. Kiss the Ground is the clearest case: a film rated 7.7 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 action, comedy, horror. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Patricia Arquette, Rebecca Harrell Tickell, Josh Cooley and others, Patricia Arquette 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.
Kiss the Ground (2020) as Self - Actor / Founder, GiveLove.org · Toy Story 4 (2019) as Harmony’s Mom (voice) · Boyhood (2014) as Mom
Career snapshot
Ranked #1931 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
19
1987–2026
Career length
39 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.7
Kiss the Ground
Average Nutevio score
6.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.7
Kiss the Ground
Most frequent director
Richard Linklater
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Richard Linklater
Most common genre
Comedy
10 titles
Average runtime
1h 48m
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
6.7
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
2010s
7.1 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Toy Story 4, Otherhood, Boyhood — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
7.1
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
7.0
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. Uncle Buck, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
Most productive era
1990s
6 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 | 6.81 film | 6.74 films | 6.33 films | 7.51 film | 2.01 film |
| Action | — | 7.51 film | — | — | 7.01 film |
| Thriller | 6.71 film | 6.11 film | — | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.81 film | 6.82 films | 6.24 films | 6.92 films | 7.01 film |
| Crime | — | 7.51 film | — | — | — |
| Romance | — | 7.51 film | — | — | — |
| Horror | 6.71 film | 6.11 film | — | — | 7.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1987A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Kristen Parker.
Career peak
1993True Romance
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Highest rated performance
2019Toy Story 4
7.7 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Lily Woodhouse.
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.
19 of 19 films
as Alabama Whitman
Directed by Tony Scott
as Self - Actor / Founder, GiveLove.org
Directed by Rebecca Harrell Tickell
as Harmony’s Mom (voice)
Directed by Josh Cooley
as Kathy O'Hara
Directed by Tim Burton
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
Mom
Boyhood (2014)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Mom gives Patricia Arquette a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Alabama Whitman
True Romance (1993)
Performance score7.8
True Romance asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Alabama Whitman is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Self - Actor / Founder, GiveLove.org
Kiss the Ground (2020)
Performance score7.5
Kiss the Ground asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self - Actor / Founder, GiveLove.org is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Harmony’s Mom (voice)
Toy Story 4 (2019)
Performance score7.5
Toy Story 4 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Harmony’s Mom (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 Mom
Start here. Boyhood is the clearest statement of what Patricia Arquette does — accessible, 165 minutes, and rated 7.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Patricia 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.
True Romance (1993)
A deliberate change of key after Boyhood — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Ed Wood (1994)
A deliberate change of key after True Romance — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Toy Story 4 (2019)
Keeps the comedy register of Ed Wood but asks for a colder reading of it.
Kiss the Ground (2020)
A deliberate change of key after Toy Story 4 — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Richard Linklater
Director
2 films together
Notably Boyhood
Chuck Russell
Director
1 film together
Notably A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
John Hughes
Director
1 film together
Notably Uncle Buck
Sean Penn
Director
1 film together
Notably The Indian Runner
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably True Romance
Tim Burton
Director
1 film together
Notably Ed Wood
David O. Russell
Director
1 film together
Notably Flirting with Disaster
Ole Bornedal
Director
1 film together
Notably Nightwatch
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably Bringing Out the Dead
Steven Brill
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Nicky
Michel Gondry
Director
1 film together
Notably Human Nature
Andrew Davis
Director
1 film together
Notably Holes
Cindy Chupack
Director
1 film together
Notably Otherhood
Josh Cooley
Director
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 4
Rebecca Harrell Tickell
Director
1 film together
Notably Kiss the Ground
Patricia Arquette
Director
1 film together
Notably Gonzo Girl
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Richard Linklater
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
BoyhoodRebecca Harrell Tickell
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kiss the GroundJosh Cooley
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Toy Story 4Tony Scott
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
True RomanceTim Burton
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ed WoodAndrew Davis
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HolesJohn Hughes
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Uncle BuckChuck Russell
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream WarriorsMartin 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 DeadSean Penn
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 Indian RunnerDavid O. Russell
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Flirting with DisasterCindy Chupack
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
OtherhoodOle Bornedal
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NightwatchMichel Gondry
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Human NatureSteven Brill
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little NickyPatricia Arquette
Director
1 film together · 2.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gonzo GirlSix 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
True Romance
as Alabama Whitman
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Toy Story 4
as Harmony’s Mom (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
True Romance
as Alabama Whitman
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Toy Story 4
as Harmony’s Mom (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Boyhood
as Mom
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. Patricia Arquette 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
39 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
10 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
Toy Story 4
as Harmony’s Mom (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
True Romance
as Alabama Whitman
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Toy Story 4
as Harmony’s Mom (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Nightwatch
as Katherine
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Toy Story 4
as Harmony’s Mom (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
They Will Kill You
as Lily Woodhouse
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Ed Wood
as Kathy O'Hara
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Toy Story 4
as Harmony’s Mom (voice)
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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Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Mark Ruffalo
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Tom Wilkinson
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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