Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#3239
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Richard Griffiths represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 33 years in, and Richard is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Richard Griffiths appears in 18 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Richard. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the clearest case: a film rated 8.3 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 romance, fantasy, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Richard Curtis, Martin Scorsese, Rob Marshall and others, Richard Griffiths 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.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) as Vernon Dursley · Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) as Vernon Dursley · About Time (2013) as Lawyer in Play (uncredited)
Career snapshot
Ranked #3239 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
18
1980–2013
Career length
33 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.3
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Average Nutevio score
7.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Most frequent director
David Yates
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With David Yates
Most common genre
Fantasy
9 titles
Average runtime
2h 8m
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
6.9
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
7.4 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. About Time, Hugo, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
7.4
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
7.3
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. Gandhi, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Chariots of Fire.
Most productive era
2000s
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.93 films | — | 6.43 films | 7.62 films |
| Action | 6.81 film | — | — | 6.61 film |
| Thriller | — | 7.31 film | — | — |
| Comedy | — | — | 6.53 films | — |
| Romance | 6.51 film | — | 6.33 films | 8.01 film |
| Horror | — | 7.31 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1980Superman II
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Terrorist.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2004Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
8.3 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
2013About Time
The current state of the argument, as Lawyer in Play (uncredited).
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.
18 of 18 films
as Vernon Dursley
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
as Vernon Dursley
Directed by Chris Columbus
as Lawyer in Play (uncredited)
Directed by Richard Curtis
as Vernon Dursley
Directed by David Yates
as Vernon Dursley
Directed by Chris Columbus
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Vernon Dursley
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Performance score8.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Vernon Dursley gives Richard Griffiths a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Vernon Dursley
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Performance score7.9
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vernon Dursley is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Lawyer in Play (uncredited)
About Time (2013)
Performance score7.8
About Time asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lawyer in Play (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Vernon Dursley
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Performance score7.8
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vernon Dursley 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 Vernon Dursley
Start here. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the clearest statement of what Richard Griffiths does — accessible, 141 minutes, and rated 8.3 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Richard 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.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Keeps the fantasy register of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban but asks for a colder reading of it.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Same director as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Keeps the fantasy register of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets but asks for a colder reading of it.
About Time (2013)
Keeps the fantasy register of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Chris Columbus
Director
2 films together
Notably Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
David Yates
Director
2 films together
Notably Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Richard Lester
Director
1 film together
Notably Superman II
Hugh Hudson
Director
1 film together
Notably Chariots of Fire
Karel Reisz
Director
1 film together
Notably The French Lieutenant's Woman
Richard Attenborough
Director
1 film together
Notably Gandhi
Tim Burton
Director
1 film together
Notably Sleepy Hollow
Roland Joffé
Director
1 film together
Notably Vatel
Alfonso Cuarón
Director
1 film together
Notably Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Garth Jennings
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Roger Michell
Director
1 film together
Notably Venus
Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together
Notably Bedtime Stories
Sandra Goldbacher
Director
1 film together
Notably Ballet Shoes
Rob Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably Hugo
Richard Curtis
Director
1 film together
Notably About Time
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Chris Columbus
Director
2 films together · 8.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneDavid Yates
Director
2 films together · 8.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1Alfonso Cuarón
Director
1 film together · 8.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanRichard Curtis
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
About TimeRichard Attenborough
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GandhiTim Burton
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sleepy HollowMartin Scorsese
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HugoRichard Lester
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Superman IIGarth Jennings
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 Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyHugh Hudson
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Chariots of FireRob Marshall
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger TidesRoger Michell
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VenusKarel Reisz
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The French Lieutenant's WomanSandra Goldbacher
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ballet ShoesAdam Shankman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bedtime StoriesRoland Joffé
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VatelSix 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
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
as Vernon Dursley
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
About Time
as Lawyer in Play (uncredited)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
as Vernon Dursley
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
About Time
as Lawyer in Play (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
as Vernon Dursley
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. Richard Griffiths 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
33 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.
Fantasy Legend
Awarded
9 catalogue titles in fantasy, 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
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
as Vernon Dursley
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Sleepy Hollow
as Bürgermeister Phillipse
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
About Time
as Lawyer in Play (uncredited)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Sleepy Hollow
as Bürgermeister Phillipse
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
as Vernon Dursley
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
as King George
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Bedtime Stories
as Barry Nottingham
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
as Vernon Dursley
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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