Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#6663
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Peter Coyote represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 43 years in, and Peter is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Peter Coyote appears in 19 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Peter. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is the clearest case: a film rated 8.9 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 documentary, family, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Bobby Roth, Rich Correll, Andrew Niccol and others, Peter Coyote 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.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) as Keys · E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) as Keys · The Girl Who Believes in Miracles (2021) as Sam Donovan
Career snapshot
Ranked #6663 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
19
1981–2024
Career length
43 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.9
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Average Nutevio score
5.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Most frequent director
Steven Spielberg
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Steven Spielberg
Most common genre
Documentary
8 titles
Average runtime
1h 42m
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
6.6
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
1980s
7.8 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Southern Comfort — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.8
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
7.4
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. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Southern Comfort.
Most productive era
2020s
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 | — | 5.61 film | 7.41 film | 6.02 films | 7.41 film |
| Thriller | 6.71 film | 5.92 films | 6.21 film | 6.01 film | — |
| Comedy | — | — | 5.31 film | — | — |
| Sci-Fi | 8.91 film | — | — | — | — |
| Crime | — | — | 6.21 film | — | — |
| Romance | — | 5.61 film | — | 6.11 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1981Southern Comfort
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Poole.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1982E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
8.9 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
2024Good Men
The current state of the argument, as Self.
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 Keys
Directed by Steven Spielberg
as Keys
Directed by Steven Spielberg
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Directed by Alex Gibney
as Kurt Potter
Directed by Unknown
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 28 titles · 28 total credits · active 1981–2025
The American Revolution
2025 · TV · Narrator (voice)
Good Men
2024 · Self
The American Buffalo
2023 · TV · Narrator (voice)
Kennedy
2023 · TV · Narrator (voice)
San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time
2023 · TV · Self - Narrator (voice)
La Californie !
2023 · TV · Self - Actor / Activist
Moment of Contact
2022 · Narrator (voice)
The Girl Who Believes in Miracles
2021 · Sam Donovan
Nepal Beyond
2021 · Narrator
Wandering...But Not Lost
2021 · Narrator
The Phenomenon
2020 · Narrator (voice)
Olompali: A Hippie Odyssey
2019 · narrator
Polanski, le travail à l'oeuvre
2019 · Self
The Vietnam War
2017 · TV · Self - Narrator (voice)
Good Kill
2015 · Langley
Intelligence
2014 · TV · Leland Strand
Hemingway & Gellhorn
2012 · Maxwell Perkins
Perception
2012 · TV · James Alan Pierce
Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief
2008 · President Sterling
Brothers and Sisters
2006 · TV · Mark August
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
2005 · Self - Narrator (voice)
The 4400
2004 · TV · Dennis Ryland
Femme Fatale
2002 · Watts
Erin Brockovich
2000 · Kurt Potter
The defining work
#1
Keys
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Performance score8.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Keys gives Peter Coyote a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Keys
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Performance score7.7
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Keys is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Sam Donovan
The Girl Who Believes in Miracles (2021)
Performance score7.5
The Girl Who Believes in Miracles asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sam Donovan is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Self - Narrator (voice)
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
Performance score7.4
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self - Narrator (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 Keys
Start here. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is the clearest statement of what Peter Coyote does — accessible, 115 minutes, and rated 8.9 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Peter 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.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Same director as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Erin Brockovich (2000)
A deliberate change of key after E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
A deliberate change of key after Erin Brockovich — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Girl Who Believes in Miracles (2021)
A deliberate change of key after Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Steven Spielberg
Director
2 films together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Walter Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Southern Comfort
Barry Levinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Sphere
Sydney Pollack
Director
1 film together
Notably Random Hearts
Brian De Palma
Director
1 film together
Notably Femme Fatale
Alex Gibney
Director
1 film together
Notably Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Craig Shapiro
Director
1 film together
Notably Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief
Philip Kaufman
Director
1 film together
Notably Hemingway & Gellhorn
Andrew Niccol
Director
1 film together
Notably Good Kill
Rich Correll
Director
1 film together
Notably The Girl Who Believes in Miracles
Bobby Roth
Director
1 film together
Notably Good Men
Henry Thomas
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Drew Barrymore
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Robert MacNaughton
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Dee Wallace
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Erika Eleniak
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
K.C. Martel
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
C. Thomas Howell
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Sean Frye
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
David M. O'Dell
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Richard Swingler
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Frank Toth
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Robert Barton
Actor
1 film together
Notably E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Steven Spielberg
Director
2 films together · 8.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
E.T. the Extra-TerrestrialRich Correll
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 Girl Who Believes in MiraclesAlex Gibney
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the RoomWalter Hill
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Southern ComfortBarry Levinson
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SphereBrian De Palma
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Femme FatalePhilip Kaufman
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hemingway & GellhornAndrew Niccol
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Good KillSydney Pollack
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Random HeartsCraig Shapiro
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the ChiefBobby Roth
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Good MenSix 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
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
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. Peter Coyote has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 7.8 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #579 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 8.9 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Family, Sci-Fi, Adventure | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Steven Spielberg | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Emotional range, Screen presence, Rewatchability | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 1982–1982 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Keys — E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Adventure Movies, Sci-Fi Movies
Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
43 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.
Documentary Legend
Awarded
8 catalogue titles in documentary, 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
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Hemingway & Gellhorn
as Maxwell Perkins
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Femme Fatale
as Watts
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Hemingway & Gellhorn
as Maxwell Perkins
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
as Keys
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 3 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
From the magazine
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: sci-fi and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Mark Ruffalo
Built a career in the same territory: crime and mystery
Have your say
Community
Which Peter Coyote performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
Join the conversation
Reference
Continue exploring
Trending performers
Directors they work with
Collections to read next
