Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2946
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Paul Scheer works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Paul Scheer appears in 30 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Paul. Emperor is the clearest case: a film rated 7.6 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, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Adam Shankman, Lee Isaac Chung, Yassir Lester and others, Paul Scheer 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.
Emperor (2020) as Duvane Henderson · Balloon (2019) as Officer Hart · Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary (2019) as Self
Career snapshot
Ranked #2946 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
30
2006–2026
Career length
20 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.6
Emperor
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.6
Emperor
Most frequent director
Adam Shankman
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Adam Shankman
Most common genre
Comedy
23 titles
Average runtime
1h 30m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.8
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
2010s
6.5 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary, Balloon, A Futile and Stupid Gesture — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.5
Across 10 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.5
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Bride Wars, Year One, Meet Dave.
Most productive era
2020s
14 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 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 7.13 films | 6.22 films |
| Action | — | 6.51 film | 6.03 films |
| Thriller | — | — | 5.93 films |
| Comedy | 5.86 films | 6.38 films | 5.69 films |
| Crime | — | — | 5.21 film |
| Romance | 6.03 films | 5.91 film | 5.81 film |
| Horror | — | — | 6.41 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Little Pete.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2019Balloon
7.6 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 Male Passenger 1.
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.
30 of 30 films
as Airport Traffic Police
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung
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
Officer Hart
Balloon (2019)
Performance score7.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Officer Hart gives Paul Scheer a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Duvane Henderson
Emperor (2020)
Performance score7.4
Emperor asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Duvane Henderson is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Self
Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary (2019)
Performance score7.2
Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary 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
Raphael
The Disaster Artist (2017)
Performance score7.0
The Disaster Artist asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Raphael 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 Officer Hart
Start here. Balloon is the clearest statement of what Paul Scheer does — accessible, 17 minutes, and rated 7.6 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.
The Disaster Artist (2017)
Keeps the drama register of Balloon but asks for a colder reading of it.
Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary (2019)
A deliberate change of key after The Disaster Artist — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Emperor (2020)
Same director as Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Twisters (2024)
A deliberate change of key after Emperor — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Todd Phillips
Director
1 film together
Notably School for Scoundrels
Brian Robbins
Director
1 film together
Notably Meet Dave
Harold Ramis
Director
1 film together
Notably Year One
Greg Mottola
Director
1 film together
Notably Clear History
Ross Shuman
Director
1 film together
Notably Hell and Back
Jorma Taccone
Director
1 film together
Notably Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
James Franco
Director
1 film together
Notably The Disaster Artist
David Wain
Director
1 film together
Notably A Futile and Stupid Gesture
Donick Cary
Director
1 film together
Notably Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics
BenDavid Grabinski
Director
1 film together
Notably Happily
Zoe Lister-Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably How It Ends
Jordan VanDina
Director
1 film together
Notably It's a Wonderful Binge
Michael Cusack
Director
1 film together
Notably The Paloni Show! Halloween Special!
McG
Director
1 film together
Notably Family Switch
Yassir Lester
Director
1 film together
Notably The Gutter
Lee Isaac Chung
Director
1 film together
Notably Twisters
Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together
Notably Stop! That! Train!
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
James Franco
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Disaster ArtistLee Isaac Chung
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TwistersDonick Cary
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Have a Good Trip: Adventures in PsychedelicsJorma Taccone
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Popstar: Never Stop Never StoppingDavid Wain
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Futile and Stupid GestureMcG
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Family SwitchMichael Cusack
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Paloni Show! Halloween Special!Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Stop! That! Train!Greg 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
Clear HistoryBenDavid Grabinski
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HappilyTodd Phillips
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
School for ScoundrelsRoss Shuman
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hell and BackBrian Robbins
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Meet DaveHarold Ramis
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Year OneYassir Lester
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The GutterJordan VanDina
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
It's a Wonderful BingeZoe Lister-Jones
Director
1 film together · 4.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
How It EndsSix 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
Emperor
as Duvane Henderson
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Balloon
as Officer Hart
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Balloon
as Officer Hart
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
A Futile and Stupid Gesture
as Paul Shaffer
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Balloon
as Officer Hart
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 Scheer 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
20 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
23 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
Balloon
as Officer Hart
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Twisters
as Airport Traffic Police
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Balloon
as Officer Hart
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Balloon
as Officer Hart
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Emperor
as Duvane Henderson
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters
as Rhino (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Hell and Back
as Head Demon (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Stop! That! Train!
as Male Passenger 1
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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