Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#46
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Phil LaMarr represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 32 years in, and Phil is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Phil LaMarr appears in 47 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Phil. Pulp Fiction is the clearest case: a film rated 9.2 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, fantasy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Pierre Coffin, Logic, Mike Mitchell and others, Phil LaMarr 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.
Pulp Fiction (1994) as Marvin · Pulp Fiction (1994) as Marvin · Captain Underpants Epic Choice-o-Rama (2020) as Mr. Cleveland / Viper Chai (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #46 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
47
1994–2026
Career length
32 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.2
Pulp Fiction
Average Nutevio score
6.8
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.9
Pulp Fiction
Most frequent director
Brandon Vietti
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Brandon Vietti
Most common genre
Animation
36 titles
Average runtime
1h 33m
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
7.0
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
7.5 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Bio-Dome, Pulp Fiction, Pulp Fiction — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.5
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.3
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
1 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Bio-Dome, Pulp Fiction, Pulp Fiction.
Most productive era
2020s
22 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 | 9.21 film | 6.91 film | 7.03 films | 7.32 films |
| Action | — | 6.86 films | 6.73 films | 6.46 films |
| Thriller | 8.71 film | — | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.62 films | 6.78 films | 6.45 films | 7.015 films |
| Crime | 8.92 films | — | — | 6.91 film |
| Romance | — | — | — | 7.21 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
1994Pulp Fiction
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Marvin. The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.2 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 Howard (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.
47 of 47 films
as Marvin
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
as Marvin
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
as Mr. Cleveland / Viper Chai (voice)
Directed by Todd Grimes
as Additional Voices (voice)
Directed by Aaron Horvath
as Bernard / Teach / Waterballoon Mike (voice)
Directed by Matt Burnett
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 127 titles · 127 total credits · active 1993–2026
Minions & Monsters
2026 · Howard (voice)
Among Us
2026 · TV · Brown (voice)
Paradise Records
2025 · UBS Guy
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy - Pieces of the Past
2025 · TV · Darth Kit Fisto (voice)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
2025 · TV · Mr. Taylor / Mr. Lincoln (voice)
Kung Fu Panda 4
2024 · Disheveled Bunny / Pig Thief / Questioned Bull (voice)
Watchmen: Chapter II
2024 · Comic Book Narrator / Bernie / Male Citizen #1 (voice)
Watchmen: Chapter I
2024 · Comic Book Narrator / Bernie / Security Guard (voice)
Masters of the Universe: Revolution
2024 · TV · Mendor (voice)
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy
2024 · TV · Darth Kit Fisto (voice)
Everybody Still Hates Chris
2024 · TV · (voice)
Good Times
2024 · TV · Mr. Wade (voice)
The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy
2024 · TV · (voice)
Kite Man: Hell Yeah!
2024 · TV · DeSaad / Detective Chimp / Black Manta (voice)
Legends of Evergreen Hills
2024 · TV · Mr. Carter
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
2023 · Additional Voices (voice)
Quiz Lady
2023 · The Brain (voice)
Under the Boardwalk
2023 · Big Sal / Little Junior / Donny / Additional Voices (voice)
The Magician's Elephant
2023 · Fish Monger / Minister of Justice / Old Jailor / Sentry (voice)
Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match
2023 · Brian Van Jones (voice)
Babylon 5: The Road Home
2023 · Dr. Stephen Franklin (voice)
Craig Before the Creek
2023 · Bernard / Teach / Waterballoon Mike (voice)
Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake
2023 · TV · Dog Cake / Nightmare Cake / Beard Guy (voice)
Mulligan
2023 · TV · Axatrax (voice)
The defining work
#1
Marvin
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Performance score8.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Marvin gives Phil LaMarr a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Marvin
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Performance score8.4
Pulp Fiction asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Marvin is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mr. Cleveland / Viper Chai (voice)
Captain Underpants Epic Choice-o-Rama (2020)
Performance score7.8
Captain Underpants Epic Choice-o-Rama asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mr. Cleveland / Viper Chai (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Additional Voices (voice)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Performance score7.6
The Super Mario Bros. Movie asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Additional Voices (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 Marvin
Start here. Pulp Fiction is the clearest statement of what Phil LaMarr does — accessible, 154 minutes, and rated 9.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Phil 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.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Same director as Pulp Fiction, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Captain Underpants Epic Choice-o-Rama (2020)
Keeps the comedy register of Pulp Fiction but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Keeps the comedy register of Captain Underpants Epic Choice-o-Rama but asks for a colder reading of it.
Craig Before the Creek (2023)
Keeps the comedy register of The Super Mario Bros. Movie but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Quentin Tarantino
Director
2 films together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Ethan Spaulding
Director
2 films together
Notably Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare
Brandon Vietti
Director
2 films together
Notably Watchmen: Chapter I
Jason Bloom
Director
1 film together
Notably Bio-Dome
Craig McCracken
Director
1 film together
Notably The Powerpuff Girls Movie
Andrew R. Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably The Animatrix
Scott Jeralds
Director
1 film together
Notably Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster
Sam Raimi
Director
1 film together
Notably Spider-Man 2
Bibo Bergeron
Director
1 film together
Notably Shark Tale
Pete Michels
Director
1 film together
Notably Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
Adam McKay
Director
1 film together
Notably Step Brothers
Byron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Bolt
Eric Darnell
Director
1 film together
Notably Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Fuminori Kizaki
Director
1 film together
Notably Afro Samurai: Resurrection
Dominic Polcino
Director
1 film together
Notably Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
Brad Peyton
Director
1 film together
Notably Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore
Shawn Levy
Director
1 film together
Notably Real Steel
Anthony Silverston
Director
1 film together
Notably Khumba
Jason Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably Men, Women & Children
Brad Bird
Director
1 film together
Notably Incredibles 2
Jon Favreau
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lion King
Chris Buck
Director
1 film together
Notably Frozen II
Sam Liu
Director
1 film together
Notably Superman: Red Son
Todd Grimes
Director
1 film together
Notably Captain Underpants Epic Choice-o-Rama
José Luis Ucha
Director
1 film together
Notably My Little Pony: A New Generation
Jean-Philippe Vine
Director
1 film together
Notably Ron's Gone Wrong
Albert Calleros
Director
1 film together
Notably Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe
Katie Rice
Director
1 film together
Notably Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse
Loren Bouchard
Director
1 film together
Notably The Bob's Burgers Movie
Matt Burnett
Director
1 film together
Notably Craig Before the Creek
Matt Peters
Director
1 film together
Notably Babylon 5: The Road Home
Jessica Yu
Director
1 film together
Notably Quiz Lady
Aaron Horvath
Director
1 film together
Notably The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Mike Mitchell
Director
1 film together
Notably Kung Fu Panda 4
Logic
Director
1 film together
Notably Paradise Records
Pierre Coffin
Director
1 film together
Notably Minions & Monsters
Christopher Walken
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
John Travolta
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Samuel L. Jackson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Uma Thurman
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Bruce Willis
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Ving Rhames
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Harvey Keitel
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Eric Stoltz
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Tim Roth
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Amanda Plummer
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Maria de Medeiros
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino
Actor
1 film together
Notably Pulp Fiction
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Quentin Tarantino
Director
2 films together · 8.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Pulp FictionBrandon Vietti
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Watchmen: Chapter IEthan Spaulding
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! Camp ScareTodd Grimes
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Captain Underpants Epic Choice-o-RamaAaron Horvath
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Super Mario Bros. MovieMatt Burnett
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Craig Before the CreekJean-Philippe Vine
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ron's Gone WrongJosé Luis Ucha
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Little Pony: A New GenerationBrad Bird
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Incredibles 2Sam Raimi
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Spider-Man 2Shawn Levy
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Real SteelScott Jeralds
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness MonsterChris Buck
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Frozen IIDominic Polcino
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something, Dark SideAndrew R. Jones
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 AnimatrixSam Liu
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Superman: Red SonJon Favreau
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 Lion KingMike Mitchell
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kung Fu Panda 4Matt Peters
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Babylon 5: The Road HomeLoren Bouchard
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Bob's Burgers MovieAlbert Calleros
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the UniverseFuminori Kizaki
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Afro Samurai: ResurrectionPete Michels
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Stewie Griffin: The Untold StoryCraig McCracken
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Powerpuff Girls MoviePierre Coffin
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Minions & MonstersJessica Yu
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Quiz LadyEric Darnell
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Madagascar: Escape 2 AfricaByron Howard
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BoltAdam McKay
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Step BrothersJason Reitman
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Men, Women & ChildrenBibo Bergeron
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shark TaleAnthony Silverston
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
KhumbaKatie Rice
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the MultiverseBrad Peyton
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty GaloreLogic
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Paradise RecordsJason Bloom
Director
1 film together · 4.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bio-DomeSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
1 win
1 win · latest 1995
Pulp Fiction
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Pulp Fiction
as Marvin
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Under the Boardwalk
as Big Sal / Little Junior / Donny / Additional Voices (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Pulp Fiction
as Marvin
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Spider-Man 2
as Train Passenger (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Pulp Fiction
as Marvin
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. Phil LaMarr has known it for a long time.”
“They call it a Royale with cheese.”
“English, motherf—er, do you speak it?”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.0 | 8.9 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #439 of 681 | #2 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 4 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 2 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 6 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.2 | 9.3 |
| Genres | Crime, Drama | Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama, Thriller |
| Directors | Quentin Tarantino | Christopher Nolan |
| Performance DNA | Drama, Quiet performance, Screen presence | Transformation, Screen presence, Rewatchability |
| Career timeline | 1994–1994 | 2006–2014 |
| Most iconic role | Marvin — Pulp Fiction | Professor Brand — Interstellar |
| Most rewatchable film | Pulp Fiction | The Dark Knight |
| 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
Top 250 Movies of All Time, Crime Movies, Drama Movies
Michael Caine 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
32 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.
Animation Legend
Awarded
36 catalogue titles in animation, 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
Pulp Fiction
as Marvin
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Pulp Fiction
as Marvin
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Under the Boardwalk
as Big Sal / Little Junior / Donny / Additional Voices (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster
as Angus Haggart / Volunteer #2 (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Pulp Fiction
as Marvin
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Kung Fu Panda 4
as Disheveled Bunny / Pig Thief / Questioned Bull (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Under the Boardwalk
as Big Sal / Little Junior / Donny / Additional Voices (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Minions & Monsters
as Howard (voice)
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 4 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
From the magazine
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
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
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Harvey Keitel
Works with the same directors — Quentin Tarantino
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Have your say
Community
Which Phil LaMarr 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
