Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#9498
of 909177 performers
Top 5%
Simon Rhee represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 33 years in, and Simon is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Simon Rhee appears in 23 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Simon. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is the clearest case: a film rated 7.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, action. 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 Cathy Yan, Corin Hardy, Rupert Wyatt and others, Simon Rhee 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.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020) as Cell Guard · Blade (1998) as Henchman (uncredited) · Tropic Thunder (2008) as Flaming Dragon Compound Person (uncredited)
Career snapshot
Ranked #9498 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
23
1989–2022
Career length
33 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.0
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Average Nutevio score
6.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
6.9
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Most frequent director
Brett Ratner
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Brett Ratner
Most common genre
Action
19 titles
Average runtime
1h 46m
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
6.6
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
2000s
6.7 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Tropic Thunder, Redbelt, Big Stan — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.7
Across 8 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.6
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. Best of the Best.
Most productive era
2000s
8 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 | 6.51 film | 6.21 film | 6.41 film | 6.21 film | — |
| Action | 6.51 film | 6.56 films | 6.86 films | 6.24 films | 6.62 films |
| Thriller | — | 6.34 films | 6.91 film | 6.25 films | 6.21 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.51 film | 6.84 films | — | — |
| Crime | — | 6.53 films | 6.84 films | 6.13 films | 6.62 films |
| Horror | — | 6.42 films | — | 6.11 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1989Best of the Best
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Dae Han Park.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1998Blade
7.0 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
2022Carter
The current state of the argument, as Bus Passenger.
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.
23 of 23 films
as Henchman (uncredited)
Directed by Stephen Norrington
as Flaming Dragon Compound Person (uncredited)
Directed by Ben Stiller
as Chinese Guard at Hengshan Lu Building (uncredited)
Directed by J.J. Abrams
as Gold Truck Guard
Directed by F. Gary Gray
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
Cell Guard
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Performance score6.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Cell Guard gives Simon Rhee a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Henchman (uncredited)
Blade (1998)
Performance score6.9
Blade asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Henchman (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Flaming Dragon Compound Person (uncredited)
Tropic Thunder (2008)
Performance score6.8
Tropic Thunder asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Flaming Dragon Compound Person (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Chinese Guard at Hengshan Lu Building (uncredited)
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Performance score6.8
Mission: Impossible III asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Chinese Guard at Hengshan Lu Building (uncredited) 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 Cell Guard
Start here. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is the clearest statement of what Simon Rhee does — accessible, 109 minutes, and rated 7.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Simon 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.
Blade (1998)
Keeps the action register of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Italian Job (2003)
Keeps the action register of Blade but asks for a colder reading of it.
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Keeps the action register of The Italian Job but asks for a colder reading of it.
Tropic Thunder (2008)
Keeps the action register of Mission: Impossible III but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Robert Radler
Director
2 films together
Notably Best of the Best
Brett Ratner
Director
2 films together
Notably Rush Hour 2
Mark L. Lester
Director
1 film together
Notably Showdown in Little Tokyo
Roland Emmerich
Director
1 film together
Notably Universal Soldier
Richard Donner
Director
1 film together
Notably Lethal Weapon 4
Stephen Norrington
Director
1 film together
Notably Blade
John Woo
Director
1 film together
Notably Windtalkers
F. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together
Notably The Italian Job
J.J. Abrams
Director
1 film together
Notably Mission: Impossible III
Rob Schneider
Director
1 film together
Notably Big Stan
David Mamet
Director
1 film together
Notably Redbelt
Ben Stiller
Director
1 film together
Notably Tropic Thunder
Rob Cohen
Director
1 film together
Notably Alex Cross
Dan Bradley
Director
1 film together
Notably Red Dawn
Boaz Yakin
Director
1 film together
Notably Safe
Antoine Fuqua
Director
1 film together
Notably Olympus Has Fallen
Rupert Wyatt
Director
1 film together
Notably The Gambler
Corin Hardy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Nun
Cathy Yan
Director
1 film together
Notably Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Brett 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 Hour 2Robert Radler
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
Best of the BestCathy Yan
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)Stephen Norrington
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BladeBen Stiller
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tropic ThunderJ.J. Abrams
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mission: Impossible IIIF. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Italian JobRob Schneider
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Big StanRichard Donner
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lethal Weapon 4Antoine Fuqua
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Olympus Has FallenBoaz Yakin
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SafeJohn Woo
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WindtalkersRoland Emmerich
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Universal SoldierMark L. Lester
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Showdown in Little TokyoDavid Mamet
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RedbeltRupert Wyatt
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 GamblerCorin Hardy
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 NunDan Bradley
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Red DawnRob Cohen
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Alex CrossSix 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
Blade
as Henchman (uncredited)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Redbelt
as Bruno's Henchman
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Blade
as Henchman (uncredited)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Tropic Thunder
as Flaming Dragon Compound Person (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
as Cell Guard
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. Simon Rhee 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.
Action Legend
Awarded
19 catalogue titles in action, 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
Blade
as Henchman (uncredited)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Blade
as Henchman (uncredited)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Redbelt
as Bruno's Henchman
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Alex Cross
as Fan Yau Bodyguard #3
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Mission: Impossible III
as Chinese Guard at Hengshan Lu Building (uncredited)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Mission: Impossible III
as Chinese Guard at Hengshan Lu Building (uncredited)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Gambler
as Mister Lee's Heavy #2
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Alex Cross
as Fan Yau Bodyguard #3
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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