Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1268
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Sahajak Boonthanakit represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 27 years in, and Sahajak is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Sahajak Boonthanakit appears in 27 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Sahajak. Gladiator Underground is the clearest case: a film rated 7.6 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, crime, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Kenji Tanigaki, Sathanapong Limwongthong, Jeff Wadlow and others, Sahajak Boonthanakit 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.
Gladiator Underground (2025) · Thirteen Lives (2022) as Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn · Bad Genius (2017) as Pat's Father
Career snapshot
Ranked #1268 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
27
1999–2026
Career length
27 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.6
Gladiator Underground
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
Bad Genius
Most frequent director
Kenji Tanigaki
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Kenji Tanigaki
Most common genre
Thriller
18 titles
Average runtime
1h 44m
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
6.5 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Brokedown Palace — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.5
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.5
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. Brokedown Palace.
Most productive era
2020s
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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.51 film | 6.52 films | 6.36 films | 6.83 films |
| Action | — | — | 6.04 films | 6.66 films |
| Thriller | 6.51 film | 6.51 film | 6.18 films | 5.88 films |
| Comedy | — | — | 7.51 film | 5.94 films |
| Crime | — | — | 6.14 films | 6.54 films |
| Romance | — | 6.52 films | 6.41 film | 6.12 films |
| Horror | — | — | 6.41 film | 4.23 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1999Brokedown Palace
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Sgt. Choy.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2022Thirteen Lives
7.6 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 Captain.
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.
27 of 27 films
Directed by Unknown
as Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn
Directed by Ron Howard
as Pat's Father
Directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya
as Mr. Song
Directed by Kenji Tanigaki
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
Gladiator Underground
Gladiator Underground (2025)
Performance score7.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. The role gives Sahajak Boonthanakit a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn
Thirteen Lives (2022)
Performance score7.4
Thirteen Lives asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Pat's Father
Bad Genius (2017)
Performance score7.3
Bad Genius asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Pat's Father is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Mr. Song
The Furious (2026)
Performance score7.1
The Furious asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mr. Song 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
Start here. Gladiator Underground is the clearest statement of what Sahajak Boonthanakit does — accessible, 91 minutes, and rated 7.6 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Sahajak 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.
Bad Genius (2017)
A deliberate change of key after Gladiator Underground — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Thirteen Lives (2022)
Keeps the drama register of Bad Genius but asks for a colder reading of it.
Art of Eight Limbs (2024)
Keeps the thriller register of Thirteen Lives but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Furious (2026)
Keeps the action register of Art of Eight Limbs but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Jonathan Kaplan
Director
1 film together
Notably Brokedown Palace
Danny Boyle
Director
1 film together
Notably The Beach
Martin Campbell
Director
1 film together
Notably Beyond Borders
Jérôme Salle
Director
1 film together
Notably Largo Winch II
Nicolas Winding Refn
Director
1 film together
Notably Only God Forgives
Ekachai Uekrongtham
Director
1 film together
Notably Skin Trade
John Erick Dowdle
Director
1 film together
Notably No Escape
Stephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together
Notably Gold
Marc Forster
Director
1 film together
Notably All I See Is You
Nattawut Poonpiriya
Director
1 film together
Notably Bad Genius
Sitisiri Mongkolsiri
Director
1 film together
Notably Inhuman Kiss
Don Michael Paul
Director
1 film together
Notably Tremors: Shrieker Island
Roel Reiné
Director
1 film together
Notably Fistful of Vengeance
Ron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Thirteen Lives
Xavier Gens
Director
1 film together
Notably Mayhem!
Mark Waters
Director
1 film together
Notably Mother of the Bride
Jeff Wadlow
Director
1 film together
Notably The Devil's Mouth
Sathanapong Limwongthong
Director
1 film together
Notably Televil
Kenji Tanigaki
Director
1 film together
Notably The Furious
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Ron Howard
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Thirteen LivesNattawut Poonpiriya
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bad GeniusKenji Tanigaki
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 FuriousJohn Erick Dowdle
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
No EscapeXavier Gens
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mayhem!Stephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GoldJeff Wadlow
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 Devil's MouthDanny Boyle
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 BeachJonathan Kaplan
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Brokedown PalaceSitisiri Mongkolsiri
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Inhuman KissMartin Campbell
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beyond BordersDon Michael Paul
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tremors: Shrieker IslandEkachai Uekrongtham
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Skin TradeMark Waters
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mother of the BrideNicolas Winding Refn
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Only God ForgivesJérôme Salle
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Largo Winch IIRoel Reiné
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fistful of VengeanceMarc Forster
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
All I See Is YouSathanapong Limwongthong
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TelevilSix 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
Bad Genius
as Pat's Father
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Thirteen Lives
as Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Thirteen Lives
as Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Beyond Borders
as Port Official
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Gladiator Underground
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. Sahajak Boonthanakit 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
27 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.
Thriller Legend
Awarded
18 catalogue titles in thriller, 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
Gladiator Underground
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Furious
as Mr. Song
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Beyond Borders
as Port Official
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
All I See Is You
as Doctor Fertility
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Gladiator Underground
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Largo Winch II
as Dan Khongpipat
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Bad Genius
as Pat's Father
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
No Escape
as Kenny Rogers
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Robert Downey Jr.
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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