Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#101
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Patton Oswalt represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 27 years in, and Patton is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Patton Oswalt appears in 59 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Patton. Ratatouille 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 comedy, family, animation. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Tyree Dillihay, Brad Bird, Josh Greenbaum and others, Patton Oswalt 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.
Ratatouille (2007) as Remy (voice) · GOAT (2026) as Dennis Cooper (voice) · Magnolia (1999) as Delmer Darion
Career snapshot
Ranked #101 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
59
1999–2026
Career length
27 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
Ratatouille
Average Nutevio score
5.8
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
GOAT
Most frequent director
Robert Ben Garant
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Robert Ben Garant
Most common genre
Comedy
42 titles
Average runtime
1h 32m
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
6.3
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
7.4 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Man on the Moon, Magnolia — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.4
Across 2 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.5
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. Man on the Moon, Magnolia.
Most productive era
2020s
27 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 | 7.42 films | 6.14 films | 6.07 films | 6.21 film |
| Action | — | 5.83 films | 6.44 films | 6.33 films |
| Thriller | — | 5.61 film | 6.32 films | — |
| Comedy | 7.11 film | 6.113 films | 6.312 films | 5.816 films |
| Crime | — | 5.76 films | 6.81 film | 2.92 films |
| Romance | — | 6.02 films | 6.61 film | — |
| Horror | — | 5.91 film | — | 3.02 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1999Man on the Moon
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Blue Collar Guy.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2007Ratatouille
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
2026Buddy
The current state of the argument, as Strappy (voice).
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.
59 of 59 films
as Remy (voice)
Directed by Brad Bird
as Dennis Cooper (voice)
Directed by Tyree Dillihay
as Nom Nom (voice)
Directed by Daniel Chong
as Max (voice)
Directed by Chris Renaud
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
Remy (voice)
Ratatouille (2007)
Performance score8.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Remy (voice) gives Patton Oswalt a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Dennis Cooper (voice)
GOAT (2026)
Performance score7.6
GOAT asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dennis Cooper (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Self
Adam Ray Is Dr. Phil UNLEASHED (2024)
Performance score7.6
Adam Ray Is Dr. Phil UNLEASHED asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Nom Nom (voice)
We Bare Bears: The Movie (2020)
Performance score7.6
We Bare Bears: The Movie asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Nom Nom (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 Remy (voice)
Start here. Ratatouille is the clearest statement of what Patton Oswalt does — accessible, 111 minutes, and rated 8.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Patton 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.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
Keeps the comedy register of Ratatouille but asks for a colder reading of it.
We Bare Bears: The Movie (2020)
Keeps the comedy register of The Secret Life of Pets 2 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Adam Ray Is Dr. Phil UNLEASHED (2024)
Keeps the comedy register of We Bare Bears: The Movie but asks for a colder reading of it.
GOAT (2026)
Keeps the comedy register of Adam Ray Is Dr. Phil UNLEASHED but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Robert Ben Garant
Director
3 films together
Notably Reno 911!: The Hunt for QAnon
Ben Stiller
Director
2 films together
Notably The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Brad Bird
Director
2 films together
Notably Ratatouille
Paul Thomas Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably Magnolia
Miloš Forman
Director
1 film together
Notably Man on the Moon
Nigel Cole
Director
1 film together
Notably Calendar Girls
Tim Story
Director
1 film together
Notably Taxi
David S. Goyer
Director
1 film together
Notably Blade: Trinity
Todd Phillips
Director
1 film together
Notably Starsky & Hutch
Daniel Waters
Director
1 film together
Notably Sex and Death 101
Jim Capobianco
Director
1 film together
Notably Your Friend the Rat
Jody Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Observe and Report
Jason Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably Young Adult
Lorene Scafaria
Director
1 film together
Notably Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Stephen Sommers
Director
1 film together
Notably Odd Thomas
Phil Lord
Director
1 film together
Notably 22 Jump Street
Greg Mottola
Director
1 film together
Notably Keeping Up with the Joneses
James Ponsoldt
Director
1 film together
Notably The Circle
Ben Lewin
Director
1 film together
Notably Please Stand By
Aaron Horvath
Director
1 film together
Notably Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
Boots Riley
Director
1 film together
Notably Sorry to Bother You
Tom Stern
Director
1 film together
Notably Adams
Adam Stein
Director
1 film together
Notably Kim Possible
Chris Renaud
Director
1 film together
Notably The Secret Life of Pets 2
Bryce Dallas Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Dads
Tom Scharpling
Director
1 film together
Notably The Postal Service Zoom Auditions
Daniel Chong
Director
1 film together
Notably We Bare Bears: The Movie
Edgar Wright
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sparks Brothers
Philip Gelatt
Director
1 film together
Notably The Spine of Night
Chloé Zhao
Director
1 film together
Notably Eternals
Scott Mosier
Director
1 film together
Notably Minions & More 2
Patton Oswalt
Director
1 film together
Notably Patton Oswalt: We All Scream
Eric Appel
Director
1 film together
Notably Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Kyle Marvin
Director
1 film together
Notably 80 for Brady
Adam Ray
Director
1 film together
Notably Adam Ray Is Dr. Phil UNLEASHED
Morgan Neville
Director
1 film together
Notably Breakdown: 1975
Steven Kostanski
Director
1 film together
Notably Deathstalker
Casper Kelly
Director
1 film together
Notably Buddy
Josh Greenbaum
Director
1 film together
Notably The Dink
Tyree Dillihay
Director
1 film together
Notably GOAT
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Robert Ben Garant
Director
3 films together · 5.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Reno 911!: The Hunt for QAnonBen Stiller
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
The Secret Life of Walter MittyBrad Bird
Director
2 films together · 4.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
RatatouilleTyree Dillihay
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GOATPaul Thomas Anderson
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MagnoliaDaniel Chong
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
We Bare Bears: The MovieScott Mosier
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Minions & More 2Edgar Wright
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 Sparks BrothersAdam Ray
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Adam Ray Is Dr. Phil UNLEASHEDAaron 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 MoviesMiloš Forman
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Man on the MoonChris Renaud
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Secret Life of Pets 2Stephen Sommers
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Odd ThomasMorgan Neville
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Breakdown: 1975Bryce 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
DadsChloé Zhao
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
EternalsBoots Riley
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sorry to Bother YouBen Lewin
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Please Stand ByPhil 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
22 Jump StreetEric Appel
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Weird: The Al Yankovic StoryLorene Scafaria
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Seeking a Friend for the End of the WorldJim Capobianco
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Your Friend the RatJosh Greenbaum
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 DinkNigel Cole
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Calendar GirlsKyle Marvin
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
80 for BradyGreg Mottola
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Keeping Up with the JonesesDaniel Waters
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sex and Death 101Steven Kostanski
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DeathstalkerPhilip Gelatt
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Spine of NightDavid S. Goyer
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Blade: TrinityPatton Oswalt
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Patton Oswalt: We All ScreamJason Reitman
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Young AdultTodd Phillips
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Starsky & HutchTim Story
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TaxiAdam Stein
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kim PossibleJames Ponsoldt
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The CircleJody Hill
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Observe and ReportTom Stern
Director
1 film together · 3.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AdamsCasper Kelly
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BuddyTom Scharpling
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 Postal Service Zoom AuditionsSix 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
Ratatouille
as Remy (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
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
as Roache
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Ratatouille
as Remy (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Zoolander
as Monkey Photographer
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Ratatouille
as Remy (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. Patton Oswalt 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
27 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
42 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
Ratatouille
as Remy (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Odd Thomas
as Ozzie P. Boone
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
as Roache
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Odd Thomas
as Ozzie P. Boone
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies
as Atom (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Eternals
as Pip the Troll (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Man on the Moon
as Blue Collar Guy
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Dink
as Skip 'Piggy' Pigliani
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: 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
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
Which Patton Oswalt 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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