Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#520
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Richard Kind 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 Kind appears in 37 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Richard. Inside Out is the clearest case: a film rated 8.1 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 action, mystery, science fiction. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Mark Waters, David Wain, Jon Watts and others, Richard Kind 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.
Inside Out (2015) as Bing Bong (voice) · Toy Story 3 (2010) as Bookworm (voice) · tick, tick... BOOM! (2021) as Walter Bloom
Career snapshot
Ranked #520 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
37
1994–2027
Career length
33 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
Inside Out
Average Nutevio score
5.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
Inside Out
Most frequent director
John Lasseter
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With John Lasseter
Most common genre
Comedy
27 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
6.4
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
7.1 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. A Bug's Life, Stargate — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.1
Across 2 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
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. A Bug's Life, Stargate.
Most productive era
2020s
16 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 | — | 7.02 films | 6.77 films | 3.82 films |
| Action | 7.11 film | — | — | 3.83 films |
| Thriller | — | 6.71 film | 6.62 films | 1.83 films |
| Comedy | 7.11 film | 6.38 films | 6.87 films | 5.311 films |
| Crime | — | 6.72 films | 5.91 film | 6.72 films |
| Romance | — | 5.92 films | — | 4.03 films |
| Horror | — | — | — | 1.83 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1994Stargate
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Gary Meyers.
Highest rated performance
2010Toy Story 3
8.1 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2015Inside Out
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2027The Auction
The current state of the argument, as Wendall Woods.
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.
37 of 37 films
as Bing Bong (voice)
Directed by Pete Docter
as Bookworm (voice)
Directed by Lee Unkrich
as Walter Bloom
Directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda
as Max Klein
Directed by Ben Affleck
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Bing Bong (voice)
Inside Out (2015)
Performance score8.3
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Bing Bong (voice) gives Richard Kind a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Bookworm (voice)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Performance score7.8
Toy Story 3 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bookworm (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Walter Bloom
tick, tick... BOOM! (2021)
Performance score7.4
tick, tick... BOOM! asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Walter Bloom is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Max Klein
Argo (2012)
Performance score7.2
Argo asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Max Klein 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 Bing Bong (voice)
Start here. Inside Out is the clearest statement of what Richard Kind does — accessible, 95 minutes, and rated 8.1 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.
The Station Agent (2003)
Keeps the comedy register of Inside Out but asks for a colder reading of it.
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Keeps the comedy register of The Station Agent but asks for a colder reading of it.
Argo (2012)
A deliberate change of key after Toy Story 3 — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
tick, tick... BOOM! (2021)
Keeps the drama register of Argo but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
John Lasseter
Director
3 films together
Notably Cars
George Clooney
Director
2 films together
Notably Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Roland Emmerich
Director
1 film together
Notably Stargate
Tom McCarthy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Station Agent
Susan Stroman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Producers
Nora Ephron
Director
1 film together
Notably Bewitched
Christopher Guest
Director
1 film together
Notably For Your Consideration
Rob Schneider
Director
1 film together
Notably Big Stan
Craig Shapiro
Director
1 film together
Notably Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Hereafter
Lee Unkrich
Director
1 film together
Notably Toy Story 3
Ben Affleck
Director
1 film together
Notably Argo
Phil Alden Robinson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Angriest Man in Brooklyn
Pete Docter
Director
1 film together
Notably Inside Out
Rhys Thomas
Director
1 film together
Notably John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch
Joey Soloway
Director
1 film together
Notably Transparent: Musicale Finale
Jay Roach
Director
1 film together
Notably Bombshell
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably Rifkin's Festival
Jamie Babbit
Director
1 film together
Notably The Stand In
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Director
1 film together
Notably tick, tick... BOOM!
David Silverman
Director
1 film together
Notably Extinct
Tom DeLonge
Director
1 film together
Notably Monsters of California
Randall Zisk
Director
1 film together
Notably Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie
Tyler Spindel
Director
1 film together
Notably The Out-Laws
Ari Aster
Director
1 film together
Notably Beau Is Afraid
Jon Watts
Director
1 film together
Notably Wolfs
David Wain
Director
1 film together
Notably Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass
Mark Waters
Director
1 film together
Notably Hershey
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
John Lasseter
Director
3 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
CarsGeorge Clooney
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Confessions of a Dangerous MindPete Docter
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Inside OutLee Unkrich
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Toy Story 3Lin-Manuel Miranda
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
tick, tick... BOOM!Ben Affleck
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ArgoTom McCarthy
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Station AgentRoland Emmerich
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StargateRhys Thomas
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch BunchRandall Zisk
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk MovieJay Roach
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BombshellAri Aster
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beau Is AfraidJoey Soloway
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transparent: Musicale FinaleRob Schneider
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Big StanJon Watts
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WolfsDavid Silverman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ExtinctClint Eastwood
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HereafterSusan Stroman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ProducersWoody Allen
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rifkin's FestivalTyler Spindel
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Out-LawsChristopher Guest
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
For Your ConsiderationPhil Alden Robinson
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Angriest Man in BrooklynTom DeLonge
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Monsters of CaliforniaJamie Babbit
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Stand InCraig 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 ChiefDavid Wain
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex PassNora Ephron
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BewitchedMark Waters
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HersheySix 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
Toy Story 3
as Bookworm (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
tick, tick... BOOM!
as Walter Bloom
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Toy Story 3
as Bookworm (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
as Casting Executive Man
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Inside Out
as Bing Bong (voice)
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 Kind 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.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
27 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
Toy Story 3
as Bookworm (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie
as Funeral Director #1 / #2
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Hershey
as Joseph Royer
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie
as Funeral Director #1 / #2
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Inside Out
as Bing Bong (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Stargate
as Gary Meyers
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Inside Out
as Bing Bong (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Toy Story 3
as Bookworm (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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: 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
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
Which Richard Kind 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
