Patricia Clarkson

Performer

Patricia Clarkson

A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.

Born
29 December 1959
Age
66
Nationality
American
Active
1987–present
Performances
40
In Nutevio
1987–present
Known for
Lilly
Performer Score
7.1
  • Hall of Fame
  • Horror Icon
  • Action Legend
  • Modern Classic
View filmography

Nutevio rank

#886

of 909177 performers

Top 1%

Patricia Clarkson represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 38 years in, and Patricia is still choosing the harder script.
Ranked #886 of 909177 performers in the Nutevio catalogue. Recalculated automatically as titles and credits are imported.

The essay

Reading Patricia Clarkson

Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.

Why this performer matters

Patricia Clarkson appears in 40 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Patricia. The Green Mile is the clearest case: a film rated 9.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.

Signature style

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 drama, history, mystery. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.

Legacy

Working with Rachel Feldman, Maria Schrader, Mike Doyle and others, Patricia Clarkson 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.

Best known for

The Green Mile (1999) as Melinda Moores · The Green Mile (1999) as Melinda Moores · Shutter Island (2010) as Rachel 2

Career snapshot

The career at a glance

Ranked #886 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.

  • Films in Nutevio

    40

    1987–2025

  • Career length

    38 yrs

    Measured across our catalogue

  • Academy Awards

    Unknown

  • Oscar nominations

    Unknown

  • Highest Nutevio score

    9.0

    The Green Mile

  • Average Nutevio score

    6.8

    Across catalogue work

  • Highest IMDb rating

    8.6

    The Green Mile

  • Most frequent director

    Wes Ball

    3 films together

  • Longest collaboration

    With Wes Ball

  • Most common genre

    Drama

    29 titles

  • Average runtime

    1h 53m

    Across catalogue work

  • Golden Globe wins

    Unknown

Nutevio metric

Performer Score

Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.

Nutevio Performer Score

7.1

out of 10

A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.

  • Performance quality7.0
  • Consistency6.5
  • Emotional range7.7
  • Character transformation7.5
  • Cultural impact6.4
  • Iconic roles6.9
  • Career longevity9.5
  • Influence6.4
  • Awards recognition7.1
  • Rewatch value6.4

Nutevio metric

Influence Score

Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.

Nutevio Influence Score

7.2

out of 10

A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.

  • Cultural impact6.5

    How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.

  • Legacy7.1

    What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.

  • Industry recognition6.6

    Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.

  • Career longevity9.3

    Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.

  • Awards6.4

    Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.

  • Iconic performances8.3

    Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.

  • Influence on filmmakers6.5

    Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.

  • Influence on other actors6.5

    The reading other performers now have to answer.

Actor DNA

How they work on screen

A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.

  • Versatility99
  • Transformation99
  • Quiet performance92
  • Emotional range69
  • Screen presence66
  • Drama66
  • Rewatchability65
  • Charisma63
  • Intensity37
  • Villain presence29
  • Comedy28
  • Physical performance23
  • Action21

The shape of a career

Career evolution

Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.

6789101987198819951998199919992001200220022003200320032004200520062007200720082008200820082009201020102011201120132014201420142015201720172018201820192019202220232025
  • Nutevio
  • Performance score
  • IMDb

Peak years

Best era

Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.

Best decade

1990s

7.9 average MV

The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. The Green Mile, The Green Mile, Playing by Heart — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.

Highest average Nutevio score

1990s

7.9

Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.

Highest average IMDb rating

1990s

7.7

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. The Dead Pool, The Untouchables.

Most productive era

2000s

16 films

The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.

Range, mapped

Career heatmap

Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.

The career concentrates in drama during the 2000s, and the scores hold there.
Genre1980s1990s2000s2010s2020s
Drama
8.13 films
6.814 films
6.59 films
6.53 films
Action
6.31 film
7.13 films
Thriller
7.02 films
6.73 films
7.06 films
Comedy
6.61 film
6.75 films
6.46 films
Crime
7.02 films
8.92 films
6.64 films
5.11 film
Romance
6.61 film
6.77 films
6.73 films
Horror
5.71 film

Chronology

Career timeline

Firsts and peaks

Career milestones

The turning points, in the order they happened.

  1. First film in Nutevio

    1987The Untouchables

    Where our catalogue meets this career, as Catherine Ness.

  2. First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak

    1999The Green Mile

    The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.0 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.

  3. Most recent film

    2025Lilly

    The current state of the argument, as Lilly Ledbetter.

Our order

Performances ranked

Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.

1
Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile

1999 · Drama

3h 9m

8.6IMDb
2
Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile

1999 · Fantasy

3h 9m

8.5IMDb
3
Official poster for Shutter Island (2010)

Shutter Island

2010 · Mystery

2h 18m

8.2IMDb
4
Official poster for Dogville (2003)

Dogville

2003 · Crime

2h 58m

7.8IMDb
5
Official poster for The Untouchables (1987)

The Untouchables

1987 · Crime

1h 59m

7.8IMDb
6
Official poster for The Maze Runner (2014)

The Maze Runner

2014 · Action

1h 53m

7.2IMDb
7
Official poster for One Day (2011)

One Day

2011 · Romance

1h 47m

7.4IMDb
8
Official poster for The Station Agent (2003)

The Station Agent

2003 · Comedy

1h 28m

7.3IMDb
9
Official poster for Jumanji (1995)

Jumanji

1995 · Fantasy

1h 44m

7.3IMDb
10
Official poster for She Said (2022)

She Said

2022 · Drama

2h 9m

7.2IMDb
11
Official poster for Phoebe in Wonderland (2008)

Phoebe in Wonderland

2008 · Drama

1h 40m

7.2IMDb
12
Official poster for Lars and the Real Girl (2007)

Lars and the Real Girl

2007 · Romance

1h 47m

7.2IMDb
13
Official poster for Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

2018 · Action

2h 23m

7.1IMDb
14
Official poster for Whatever Works (2009)

Whatever Works

2009 · Romance

1h 32m

7.1IMDb
15
Official poster for Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)

Good Night, and Good Luck.

2005 · Drama

1h 32m

7.1IMDb
16
Official poster for Miracle (2004)

Miracle

2004 · Drama

2h 15m

7.1IMDb
17
Official poster for Far from Heaven (2002)

Far from Heaven

2002 · Romance

1h 47m

7.1IMDb
18
Official poster for Lilly (2025)

Lilly

2025 · Drama

1h 33m

6.8IMDb
19
Official poster for Easy A (2010)

Easy A

2010 · Comedy

1h 33m

6.8IMDb
20
Official poster for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

2008 · Romance

1h 36m

6.8IMDb
21
Official poster for Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

2015 · Action

2h 11m

6.7IMDb
22
Official poster for No Reservations (2007)

No Reservations

2007 · Romance

1h 44m

6.7IMDb
23
Official poster for The East (2013)

The East

2013 · Drama

1h 56m

6.5IMDb
24
Official poster for Friends with Benefits (2011)

Friends with Benefits

2011 · Romance

1h 49m

6.6IMDb
25
Official poster for The Pledge (2001)

The Pledge

2001 · Mystery

2h 4m

6.6IMDb
26
Official poster for Playing by Heart (1998)

Playing by Heart

1998 · Romance

2h 1m

6.6IMDb
27
Official poster for The Bookshop (2017)

The Bookshop

2017 · Drama

1h 50m

6.5IMDb
28
Official poster for Pieces of April (2003)

Pieces of April

2003 · Comedy

1h 21m

6.5IMDb
29
Official poster for The Party (2017)

The Party

2017 · Comedy

1h 11m

6.3IMDb
30
Official poster for Elegy (2008)

Elegy

2008 · Romance

1h 52m

6.3IMDb
31
Official poster for The Dead Pool (1988)

The Dead Pool

1988 · Action

1h 31m

6.3IMDb
32
Official poster for Annie (2014)

Annie

2014 · Comedy

1h 58m

6.2IMDb
33
Official poster for Learning to Drive (2014)

Learning to Drive

2014 · Comedy

1h 45m

6.2IMDb
34
Official poster for Almost Love (2019)

Almost Love

2019 · Romance

1h 34m

6.1IMDb
35
Official poster for Welcome to Collinwood (2002)

Welcome to Collinwood

2002 · Comedy

1h 26m

6.1IMDb
36
Official poster for Married Life (2008)

Married Life

2008 · Romance

1h 30m

5.8IMDb
37
Official poster for All the King's Men (2006)

All the King's Men

2006 · Drama

2h 8m

5.8IMDb
38
Official poster for Delirium (2018)

Delirium

2018 · Horror

1h 36m

5.7IMDb
39
Official poster for Monica (2023)

Monica

2023 · Drama

1h 53m

5.6IMDb
40
Official poster for Out of Blue (2019)

Out of Blue

2019 · Mystery

1h 50m

5.1IMDb

Every title

Filmography

Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.

Genre
Decade
Sort

40 of 40 films

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

as Melinda Moores

Directed by Frank Darabont

  • Masterpiece
  • Cult Classic
IMDb8.6Rotten Tomatoes90%Metacritic823h 9mDrama · Fantasy · Crime
View movie
Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

as Melinda Moores

Directed by Frank Darabont

  • Cult Classic
IMDb8.5Rotten Tomatoes88%Metacritic803h 9mFantasy · Crime · Drama
View movie
Official poster for Shutter Island (2010)

as Rachel 2

Directed by Martin Scorsese

IMDb8.2Rotten Tomatoes84%Metacritic772h 18mMystery · Drama · Thriller
View movie
Official poster for Dogville (2003)

as Vera

Directed by Lars von Trier

IMDb7.8Rotten Tomatoes78%Metacritic722h 58mCrime · Drama · Thriller
View movie
Official poster for She Said (2022)

as Rebecca Corbett

Directed by Maria Schrader

IMDb7.2Rotten Tomatoes72%Metacritic662h 9mDrama · History
View movie

From the library

Complete credits

Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.

The defining work

Signature performances

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

#1

Melinda Moores

The Green Mile (1999)

Performance score8.6

The performance the rest of the career is read through. Melinda Moores gives Patricia Clarkson a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.

View movie
Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

#2

Melinda Moores

The Green Mile (1999)

Performance score8.4

The Green Mile asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Melinda Moores is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.

View movie
Official poster for Shutter Island (2010)

#3

Rachel 2

Shutter Island (2010)

Performance score8.1

Shutter Island asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Rachel 2 is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.

View movie
Official poster for Dogville (2003)

#4

Vera

Dogville (2003)

Performance score7.8

Dogville asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vera is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.

View movie

Start here

The movie journey

A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

Best entry point

The Green Mile

as Melinda Moores

Start here. The Green Mile is the clearest statement of what Patricia Clarkson does — accessible, 189 minutes, and rated 9.0 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.

  1. Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

    The Green Mile (1999)

    Same director as The Green Mile, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.

  2. Official poster for Dogville (2003)

    Dogville (2003)

    Keeps the crime register of The Green Mile but asks for a colder reading of it.

  3. Official poster for Shutter Island (2010)

    Shutter Island (2010)

    Keeps the drama register of Dogville but asks for a colder reading of it.

  4. Official poster for She Said (2022)

    She Said (2022)

    Keeps the drama register of Shutter Island but asks for a colder reading of it.

Company kept

Frequent collaborators

The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.

Behind the camera

Director network

Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.

Six degrees

Connected through cinema

Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.

Categories of our own

Most rewatchable, most emotional, most influential

Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.

Most rewatchable

Official poster for Shutter Island (2010)

Shutter Island

as Rachel 2

The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.

Most emotional performance

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile

as Melinda Moores

Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.

Most influential performance

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile

as Melinda Moores

You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.

Best ensemble performance

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile

as Melinda Moores

Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.

Career defining performance

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile

as Melinda Moores

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

Lines that stay

You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Patricia Clarkson has known it for a long time.

Nutevio Editors · On The Green Mile

Head to head

Compare performers

Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.

Compare with
Nutevio Performer Score8.19.0
Career ranking#381 of 681#1 of 681
Awards on fileUnknown3 recorded
Oscar winsUnknown1
Oscar nominationsUnknown5
Average Nutevio score9.09.1
GenresDrama, Fantasy, CrimeAdventure, Drama, Fantasy, History
DirectorsFrank DarabontChristopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese
Performance DNAEmotional range, Quiet performance, DramaTransformation, Drama, Screen presence
Career timeline1999–19992006–2026
Most iconic roleMelinda Moores — The Green MileOdysseus — The Odyssey
Most rewatchable filmThe Green MileInterstellar
Filmography1 catalogue film4 catalogue films

Films together

Nothing in common in the library yet.

Shared directors

Nothing in common in the library yet.

Shared collections

Fantasy Movies, Crime Movies, Drama Movies

Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.

Ours alone

Nutevio Honors

Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.

Career Achievement

Awarded

38 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

29 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.

Our desk

Editor's picks

Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.

Best ending

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile

as Melinda Moores

The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.

Best opening

Official poster for Shutter Island (2010)

Shutter Island

as Rachel 2

A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.

Most emotional

Official poster for She Said (2022)

She Said

as Rebecca Corbett

The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.

Best twist

Official poster for Shutter Island (2010)

Shutter Island

as Rachel 2

A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.

Best visual achievement

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile

as Melinda Moores

Images that would survive with the sound switched off.

Best action sequence

Official poster for Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

as Ava Paige

Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.

Best dialogue

Official poster for Playing by Heart (1998)

Playing by Heart

as Allison

Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.

Most underrated film

Official poster for The Green Mile (1999)

The Green Mile

as Melinda Moores

The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.

Across the library

Collection appearances

Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.

Keep reading

Collections featuring this actor

From the magazine

Related articles

If you like this performer

Similar performers

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Community

Community

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Community discussions

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Reference

Quick facts

Born
29 December 1959
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Age
66
Nationality
American
Years active
1987–present
Known for
Lilly
Genres
Drama, History, Mystery
IMDb
nm0165101
Nutevio rank
#886
of 909177 performers tracked

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