Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1408
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Philip Baker Hall represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 48 years in, and Philip is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Philip Baker Hall appears in 38 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Philip. Dear Chickens is the clearest case: a film rated 10.0 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, drama, romance. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Mark Pellington, Greg Mottola, Jason Bateman and others, Philip Baker Hall 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.
Dear Chickens (2018) as Emil · Zodiac (2007) as Sherwood Morrill · The Truman Show (1998) as Network Executive
Career snapshot
Ranked #1408 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
38
1970–2018
Career length
48 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
10.0
Dear Chickens
Average Nutevio score
6.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
10.0
Dear Chickens
Most frequent director
David Fincher
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With David Fincher
Most common genre
Comedy
19 titles
Average runtime
1h 52m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
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
7.3
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
7.0 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. The Talented Mr. Ripley, Magnolia, The Insider — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.0
Across 9 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
1970s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Coma, Zabriskie Point.
Most productive era
2000s
15 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 | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.01 film | 6.91 film | 7.45 films | 6.78 films | 7.74 films |
| Action | — | — | 7.03 films | 6.43 films | — |
| Thriller | 6.71 film | 7.01 film | 6.66 films | 6.68 films | 6.11 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.93 films | 7.82 films | 6.17 films | 6.97 films |
| Crime | — | 7.01 film | 7.22 films | 7.26 films | — |
| Romance | — | 6.91 film | — | 6.22 films | 6.02 films |
| Horror | 6.71 film | — | 5.11 film | 5.62 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1970Zabriskie Point
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Diner Owner (uncredited).
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak · Most recent film
2018Dear Chickens
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 10.0 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. The current state of the argument, as Emil.
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.
38 of 38 films
as Emil
Directed by Unknown
as Sherwood Morrill
Directed by David Fincher
as Network Executive
Directed by Peter Weir
as Jimmy Gator
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
as Tom Edison Sr.
Directed by Lars von Trier
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 43 titles · 43 total credits · active 1970–2020
Messiah
2020 · TV · Zelman Katz
Dear Chickens
2018 · Emil
The Last Word
2017 · Edward
Second Chance
2016 · TV · Jimmy Pritchard (75 years old)
Playing It Cool
2014 · Granddad
Clear History
2013 · McKenzie
Bad Words
2013 · Dr. Bowman
People Like Us
2012 · Ike Rafferty
50/50
2011 · Alan
Mr. Popper's Penguins
2011 · Franklin
All Good Things
2010 · Malvern Bump
Fired Up!
2009 · Coach Byrnes
Modern Family
2009 · TV · Walt Kleezak
Zodiac
2007 · Sherwood Morrill
Rush Hour 3
2007 · Capt. William Diel
You Kill Me
2007 · Roman Krzeminski
The Shaggy Dog
2006 · Lance Strictland
The Amityville Horror
2005 · Father Callaway
The Matador
2005 · Mr. Randy
In Good Company
2004 · Eugene Kalb
Bruce Almighty
2003 · Jack Baylor
Dogville
2003 · Tom Edison Sr.
The Sum of All Fears
2002 · Defense Secretary Becker
Everwood
2002 · TV · Dr. Donald Douglas
The defining work
#1
Emil
Dear Chickens (2018)
Performance score9.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Emil gives Philip Baker Hall a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Sherwood Morrill
Zodiac (2007)
Performance score8.4
Zodiac asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sherwood Morrill is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Network Executive
The Truman Show (1998)
Performance score8.1
The Truman Show asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Network Executive is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Jimmy Gator
Magnolia (1999)
Performance score8.0
Magnolia asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jimmy Gator 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 Emil
Start here. Dear Chickens is the clearest statement of what Philip Baker Hall does — accessible, 15 minutes, and rated 10.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Philip 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 Truman Show (1998)
Keeps the comedy register of Dear Chickens but asks for a colder reading of it.
Magnolia (1999)
Keeps the drama register of The Truman Show but asks for a colder reading of it.
Dogville (2003)
Keeps the drama register of Magnolia but asks for a colder reading of it.
Zodiac (2007)
Keeps the crime register of Dogville but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Brett Ratner
Director
2 films together
Notably Rush Hour
David Fincher
Director
2 films together
Notably Zodiac
Michelangelo Antonioni
Director
1 film together
Notably Zabriskie Point
Michael Crichton
Director
1 film together
Notably Coma
Martin Brest
Director
1 film together
Notably Midnight Run
Ivan Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably Ghostbusters II
Cameron Crowe
Director
1 film together
Notably Say Anything...
John Schlesinger
Director
1 film together
Notably Eye for an Eye
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably The Rock
Wolfgang Petersen
Director
1 film together
Notably Air Force One
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably Psycho
Peter Weir
Director
1 film together
Notably The Truman Show
Michael Mann
Director
1 film together
Notably The Insider
Paul Thomas Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably Magnolia
Anthony Minghella
Director
1 film together
Notably The Talented Mr. Ripley
Janusz Kamiński
Director
1 film together
Notably Lost Souls
William Friedkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Rules of Engagement
Rod Lurie
Director
1 film together
Notably The Contender
Phil Alden Robinson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sum of All Fears
Lars von Trier
Director
1 film together
Notably Dogville
Tom Shadyac
Director
1 film together
Notably Bruce Almighty
Paul Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably In Good Company
Richard Shepard
Director
1 film together
Notably The Matador
Andrew Douglas
Director
1 film together
Notably The Amityville Horror
Brian Robbins
Director
1 film together
Notably The Shaggy Dog
John Dahl
Director
1 film together
Notably You Kill Me
Will Gluck
Director
1 film together
Notably Fired Up!
Andrew Jarecki
Director
1 film together
Notably All Good Things
Mark Waters
Director
1 film together
Notably Mr. Popper's Penguins
Jonathan Levine
Director
1 film together
Notably 50/50
Alex Kurtzman
Director
1 film together
Notably People Like Us
Jason Bateman
Director
1 film together
Notably Bad Words
Greg Mottola
Director
1 film together
Notably Clear History
Mark Pellington
Director
1 film together
Notably The Last Word
Zach Grenier
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Richmond Arquette
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Bob Stephenson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Jake Gyllenhaal
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Mark Ruffalo
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Anthony Edwards
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Robert Downey Jr.
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Chloë Sevigny
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Elias Koteas
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
John Carroll Lynch
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Brian Cox
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Dermot Mulroney
Actor
1 film together
Notably Zodiac
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
David Fincher
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
ZodiacBrett Ratner
Director
2 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Rush HourPeter Weir
Director
1 film together · 8.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Truman ShowLars von Trier
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DogvillePaul 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
MagnoliaMichael Mann
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The InsiderJonathan Levine
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
50/50Anthony Minghella
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 Talented Mr. RipleyMichael Bay
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 RockMartin Brest
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Midnight RunMichelangelo Antonioni
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Zabriskie PointTom Shadyac
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bruce AlmightyCameron Crowe
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Say Anything...Alex Kurtzman
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
People Like UsRod Lurie
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ContenderIvan Reitman
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ghostbusters IIMichael Crichton
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ComaMark Pellington
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Last WordWolfgang Petersen
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Air Force OneJason Bateman
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bad WordsPhil Alden Robinson
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 Sum of All FearsRichard Shepard
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 MatadorWilliam Friedkin
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rules of EngagementJohn Schlesinger
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Eye for an EyeJohn Dahl
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
You Kill MeGreg 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 HistoryAndrew Jarecki
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
All Good ThingsWill Gluck
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fired Up!Andrew Douglas
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Amityville HorrorPaul Weitz
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
In Good CompanyMark Waters
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mr. Popper's PenguinsJanusz Kamiński
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lost SoulsGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PsychoBrian Robbins
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 Shaggy DogSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Performer
Philip Baker Hall
Where this journey starts
Director
David Fincher
2 collaborations, averaging 8.3
Film
Zodiac
Their highest-rated film together (2007)
Performer
Robert Downey Jr.
Shares the frame in Zodiac
Film
Oppenheimer
Where Robert goes next, and where you can too
Performer
Matt Damon
Three steps from where you began
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Zodiac
as Sherwood Morrill
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Say Anything...
as IRS Boss
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Dear Chickens
as Emil
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Rock
as Chief Justice (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Dear Chickens
as Emil
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. Philip Baker Hall 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 | 7.9 | 8.7 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #506 of 681 | #7 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 4 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 8.8 | 9.4 |
| Genres | Crime, Mystery, Drama | Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller |
| Directors | David Fincher | Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Frank Darabont |
| Performance DNA | Quiet performance, Drama, Intensity | Screen presence, Drama, Rewatchability |
| Career timeline | 2007–2007 | 1994–2008 |
| Most iconic role | Sherwood Morrill — Zodiac | Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding — The Shawshank Redemption |
| Most rewatchable film | Zodiac | The Shawshank Redemption |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 3 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
David Fincher
Shared collections
Best Detective Movies, Best Psychological Thrillers, Top 100 Crime Movies, Mystery Movies, Crime Movies, Drama Movies
Collaborators in common
David Fincher
Morgan Freeman 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
48 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
19 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
Dear Chickens
as Emil
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Zodiac
as Sherwood Morrill
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
In Good Company
as Eugene Kalb
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Zodiac
as Sherwood Morrill
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Dear Chickens
as Emil
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Rock
as Chief Justice (uncredited)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Dear Chickens
as Emil
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Zodiac
as Sherwood Morrill
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 6 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
genre
Best Detective Movies
Features Zodiac at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Best Psychological Thrillers
Features Zodiac
Read the collectiongenre
Top 100 Crime Movies
Features Zodiac
Read the collectiongenre
Mystery Movies
Features Zodiac
Read the collectiongenre
Crime Movies
Features Zodiac
Read the collectiongenre
Drama Movies
Features Zodiac
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
If you like this performer
Morgan Freeman
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Edward Norton
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Brad Pitt
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Ted Levine
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Robert De Niro
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Have your say
Community
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