Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#4064
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Paul Herman represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 31 years in, and Paul is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Paul Herman appears in 28 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Paul. GoodFellas 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 drama, crime, romance. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with David O. Russell, Paul Weitz, Scott Cooper and others, Paul Herman 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.
GoodFellas (1990) as Dealer · Once Upon a Time in America (1984) as Monkey · Casino (1995) as Gambler in Phone Booth
Career snapshot
Ranked #4064 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
28
1984–2015
Career length
31 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.7
GoodFellas
Average Nutevio score
6.8
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.4
GoodFellas
Most frequent director
Martin Scorsese
4 films together
Longest collaboration
4×
With Martin Scorsese
Most common genre
Drama
22 titles
Average runtime
2h 7m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
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
7.0 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Cop Land, Fathers' Day, Sleepers — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.0
Across 8 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
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. New York Stories, The Big Blue, Big.
Most productive era
1980s
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 | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.09 films | 7.37 films | 6.33 films | 6.93 films |
| Action | 6.31 film | 7.02 films | 5.91 film | — |
| Thriller | 6.81 film | 6.83 films | 6.32 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.74 films | 5.72 films | 5.72 films | 6.52 films |
| Crime | 7.04 films | 7.56 films | 6.23 films | 6.91 film |
| Romance | 6.84 films | — | 6.91 film | 6.52 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1984Once Upon a Time in America
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Monkey.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1990GoodFellas
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
2015Joy
The current state of the argument, as Rifle Man.
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.
28 of 28 films
as Dealer
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Monkey
Directed by Sergio Leone
as Gambler in Phone Booth
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Sergeant Heinz
Directed by Michael Mann
as Court Bailiff
Directed by Barry Levinson
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
Dealer
GoodFellas (1990)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Dealer gives Paul Herman a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Monkey
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Performance score8.1
Once Upon a Time in America asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Monkey is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Gambler in Phone Booth
Casino (1995)
Performance score7.8
Casino asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Gambler in Phone Booth is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Sergeant Heinz
Heat (1995)
Performance score7.8
Heat asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sergeant Heinz 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 Dealer
Start here. GoodFellas is the clearest statement of what Paul Herman does — accessible, 145 minutes, and rated 8.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Paul 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.
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Keeps the crime register of GoodFellas but asks for a colder reading of it.
Casino (1995)
Keeps the crime register of Once Upon a Time in America but asks for a colder reading of it.
Heat (1995)
Keeps the crime register of Casino but asks for a colder reading of it.
Sleepers (1996)
Keeps the crime register of Heat but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Martin Scorsese
Director
4 films together
Notably GoodFellas
David O. Russell
Director
3 films together
Notably Silver Linings Playbook
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
2 films together
Notably The Cotton Club
Barry Levinson
Director
2 films together
Notably Sleepers
Stuart Rosenberg
Director
1 film together
Notably The Pope of Greenwich Village
Sergio Leone
Director
1 film together
Notably Once Upon a Time in America
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably The Purple Rose of Cairo
James Foley
Director
1 film together
Notably At Close Range
Penny Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Big
Luc Besson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Big Blue
Roger Donaldson
Director
1 film together
Notably Cadillac Man
Michael Mann
Director
1 film together
Notably Heat
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Fan
Ivan Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably Fathers' Day
James Mangold
Director
1 film together
Notably Cop Land
John Herzfeld
Director
1 film together
Notably 15 Minutes
Harold Ramis
Director
1 film together
Notably Analyze That
Scott Cooper
Director
1 film together
Notably Crazy Heart
Paul Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Fockers
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Martin Scorsese
Director
4 films together · 7.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 4 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
GoodFellasDavid O. Russell
Director
3 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Silver Linings PlaybookBarry Levinson
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
SleepersFrancis Ford Coppola
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Cotton ClubSergio Leone
Director
1 film together · 8.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Once Upon a Time in AmericaMichael Mann
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HeatLuc Besson
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Big BluePenny Marshall
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BigWoody Allen
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 Purple Rose of CairoScott Cooper
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crazy HeartJames Mangold
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cop LandJames Foley
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
At Close RangeStuart Rosenberg
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Pope of Greenwich VillageTony Scott
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 FanHarold Ramis
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Analyze ThatJohn Herzfeld
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
15 MinutesRoger Donaldson
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cadillac ManPaul Weitz
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little FockersIvan Reitman
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fathers' DaySix 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
GoodFellas
as Dealer
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Big Blue
as Taxi Driver in U.S.A
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
GoodFellas
as Dealer
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Joy
as Rifle Man
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
GoodFellas
as Dealer
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. Paul Herman 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
31 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
22 catalogue titles in drama, 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
GoodFellas
as Dealer
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
GoodFellas
as Dealer
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Crazy Heart
as Jack Greene
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Cop Land
as Game Operator
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Heat
as Sergeant Heinz
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Heat
as Sergeant Heinz
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Silver Linings Playbook
as Randy
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
GoodFellas
as Dealer
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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Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Leonardo DiCaprio
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: family and comedy
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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