Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2023
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Ray Liotta represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 36 years in, and Ray is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Ray Liotta appears in 45 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Ray. The Making of "Marriage Story" 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 documentary, action, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Colin Hanks, Charlie Day, Elizabeth Banks and others, Ray Liotta 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.
The Making of "Marriage Story" (2020) as Self · Goodfellas (1990) as Henry Hill · GoodFellas (1990) as Henry Hill
Career snapshot
Ranked #2023 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
45
1989–2025
Career length
36 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
10.0
The Making of "Marriage Story"
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
10.0
The Making of "Marriage Story"
Most frequent director
Joe Carnahan
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Joe Carnahan
Most common genre
Crime
23 titles
Average runtime
1h 47m
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
7.0
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
7.4 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Muppets from Space, Cop Land, Unlawful Entry — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.4
Across 5 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. Muppets from Space, Cop Land, Unlawful Entry.
Most productive era
2010s
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 | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.01 film | 8.33 films | 6.59 films | 6.58 films | 6.31 film |
| Action | — | — | 6.33 films | 6.23 films | 6.91 film |
| Thriller | — | 6.52 films | 6.75 films | 6.07 films | 6.24 films |
| Comedy | — | 6.11 film | 6.06 films | 6.06 films | 5.53 films |
| Crime | — | 8.33 films | 6.59 films | 6.37 films | 6.44 films |
| Romance | — | — | 6.12 films | 6.32 films | — |
| Horror | — | — | — | — | 5.91 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1989Field of Dreams
Where our catalogue meets this career, as "Shoeless" Joe Jackson.
First Nutevio masterpiece
1990Goodfellas
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2020The Making of "Marriage Story"
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.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Self - Actor (archive footage).
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.
45 of 45 films
as Henry Hill
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Henry Hill
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Directed by Colin Hanks
as Jay Marotta
Directed by Noah Baumbach
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 49 titles · 50 total credits · active 1989–2025
John Candy: I Like Me
2025 · Self - Actor (archive footage)
1992
2024 · Lowell
Fool's Paradise
2023 · The Producer
Dangerous Waters
2023 · The Captain
Cocaine Bear
2023 · Syd
Black Bird
2022 · TV · James 'Big Jim' Keene
The Many Saints of Newark
2021 · "Hollywood Dick" Moltisanti / Salvatore “Sally” Moltisanti
No Sudden Move
2021 · Frank Capelli
Hubie Halloween
2020 · Mr. Landolfa
The Making of "Marriage Story"
2020 · Self
GoodFellas: Behind Closed Doors
2020 · Self (Archive Footage)
Marriage Story
2019 · Jay Marotta
Hanna
2019 · TV · Gordon Evans
Shades of Blue
2016 · TV · Bill Wozniak
Blackway
2015 · Richard Blackway
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
2014 · Joey
Muppets Most Wanted
2014 · Big Papa
Kill the Messenger
2014 · John Cullen
Better Living Through Chemistry
2014 · Jack Roberts
Stretch
2014 · Self
The Place Beyond the Pines
2013 · Peter Deluca
Killing Them Softly
2012 · Markie Trattman
Wanderlust
2012 · Ray Liotta (uncredited)
The Iceman
2012 · Roy Demeo
The defining work
#1
Self
The Making of "Marriage Story" (2020)
Performance score9.7
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self gives Ray Liotta a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Henry Hill
Goodfellas (1990)
Performance score9.4
Goodfellas asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Henry Hill is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Henry Hill
GoodFellas (1990)
Performance score8.8
GoodFellas asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Henry Hill is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Self - Actor (archive footage)
John Candy: I Like Me (2025)
Performance score7.7
John Candy: I Like Me asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self - Actor (archive footage) 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 Self
Start here. The Making of "Marriage Story" is the clearest statement of what Ray Liotta does — accessible, 97 minutes, and rated 10.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Ray 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.
Goodfellas (1990)
A deliberate change of key after The Making of "Marriage Story" — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
GoodFellas (1990)
Same director as Goodfellas, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Marriage Story (2019)
Keeps the drama register of GoodFellas but asks for a colder reading of it.
John Candy: I Like Me (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Marriage Story — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Joe Carnahan
Director
3 films together
Notably Narc
Martin Scorsese
Director
2 films together
Notably Goodfellas
Phil Alden Robinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Field of Dreams
Jonathan Kaplan
Director
1 film together
Notably Unlawful Entry
James Mangold
Director
1 film together
Notably Cop Land
Tim Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Muppets from Space
Ted Demme
Director
1 film together
Notably Blow
David Mirkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Heartbreakers
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Hannibal
Nick Cassavetes
Director
1 film together
Notably John Q
Guy Ritchie
Director
1 film together
Notably Revolver
Stuart Townsend
Director
1 film together
Notably Battle in Seattle
Uwe Boll
Director
1 film together
Notably In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
Simon J. Smith
Director
1 film together
Notably Bee Movie
Jody Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Observe and Report
Wayne Kramer
Director
1 film together
Notably Crossing Over
Miguel Arteta
Director
1 film together
Notably Youth in Revolt
Shawn Levy
Director
1 film together
Notably Date Night
Burr Steers
Director
1 film together
Notably Charlie St. Cloud
David Wain
Director
1 film together
Notably Wanderlust
Andrew Dominik
Director
1 film together
Notably Killing Them Softly
Derek Cianfrance
Director
1 film together
Notably The Place Beyond the Pines
Michael Cuesta
Director
1 film together
Notably Kill the Messenger
James Bobin
Director
1 film together
Notably Muppets Most Wanted
Frank Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Noah Baumbach
Director
1 film together
Notably Marriage Story
Steven Brill
Director
1 film together
Notably Hubie Halloween
Alan Taylor
Director
1 film together
Notably The Many Saints of Newark
Elizabeth Banks
Director
1 film together
Notably Cocaine Bear
Charlie Day
Director
1 film together
Notably Fool's Paradise
Colin Hanks
Director
1 film together
Notably John Candy: I Like Me
Robert De Niro
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Joe Pesci
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Lorraine Bracco
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Paul Sorvino
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Frank Sivero
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Tony Darrow
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Mike Starr
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Frank Vincent
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Chuck Low
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Frank DiLeo
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Henny Youngman
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Gina Mastrogiacomo
Actor
1 film together
Notably Goodfellas
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Joe Carnahan
Director
3 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
NarcMartin Scorsese
Director
2 films together · 9.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
GoodfellasColin Hanks
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
John Candy: I Like MeNoah Baumbach
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Marriage StoryTed Demme
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BlowNick Cassavetes
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
John QDerek Cianfrance
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Place Beyond the PinesBurr Steers
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Charlie St. CloudPhil Alden Robinson
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Field of DreamsRidley Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HannibalJames 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 LandMichael Cuesta
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kill the MessengerFrank Miller
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sin City: A Dame to Kill ForGuy Ritchie
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RevolverAlan Taylor
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 Many Saints of NewarkJames Bobin
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Muppets Most WantedStuart Townsend
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Battle in SeattleJonathan Kaplan
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Unlawful EntrySimon J. Smith
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bee MovieShawn Levy
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Date NightMiguel Arteta
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Youth in RevoltWayne Kramer
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crossing OverDavid Mirkin
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HeartbreakersTim Hill
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Muppets from SpaceElizabeth Banks
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cocaine BearAndrew Dominik
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Killing Them SoftlySteven Brill
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hubie HalloweenDavid Wain
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WanderlustJody Hill
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Observe and ReportUwe Boll
Director
1 film together · 4.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege TaleCharlie Day
Director
1 film together · 4.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fool's ParadiseSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
1 win
1 win · latest 1991
Goodfellas
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
The Making of "Marriage Story"
as Self
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Charlie St. Cloud
as Florio Ferrente
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 Henry Hill
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Date Night
as Joe Miletto (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Making of "Marriage Story"
as Self
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. Ray Liotta has known it for a long time.”
“As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”
“Funny how? Like I'm a clown? I amuse you?”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.3 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #109 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.3 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Crime, Drama | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Martin Scorsese | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Drama, Quiet performance, Screen presence | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 1990–1990 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Henry Hill — Goodfellas | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | Goodfellas | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Martin Scorsese
Shared collections
Top 100 Crime Movies, Top 250 Movies of All Time, Crime Movies, Drama Movies
Collaborators in common
Martin Scorsese
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
36 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.
Crime Legend
Awarded
23 catalogue titles in crime, 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
The Making of "Marriage Story"
as Self
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Goodfellas
as Henry Hill
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Charlie St. Cloud
as Florio Ferrente
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Unlawful Entry
as Officer Pete Davis
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Making of "Marriage Story"
as Self
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Wild Hogs
as Jack
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Youth in Revolt
as Lance Wescott
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Goodfellas
as Henry Hill
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
Genre guide
The evolution of Ray Liotta, read through top 100 crime movies
8 min read
Ranking
Why The Making of "Marriage Story" still sets the terms for top 250 movies of all time
8 min read
Genre guide
Crime Movies: where Liotta fits
12 min read
Genre guide
The Making of "Marriage Story", explained
21 min read
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
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: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Harry Dean Stanton
Works with the same directors — Ridley Scott
Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Have your say
Community
Which Ray Liotta 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
