Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#534
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Tina Fey works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Tina Fey appears in 23 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Tina. Soul is the clearest case: a film rated 8.2 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, comedy, mystery. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Morgan Neville, Josh Greenbaum, Kenneth Branagh and others, Tina Fey 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.
Soul (2020) as 22 (voice) · Free Guy (2021) as Vacuuming Mom (voice) · Mean Girls (2004) as Ms. Norbury
Career snapshot
Ranked #534 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
23
2004–2026
Career length
22 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.2
Soul
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love
Most frequent director
Shawn Levy
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Shawn Levy
Most common genre
Comedy
20 titles
Average runtime
1h 39m
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
6.5
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
2020s
6.7 average MV
The 2020s are where the work and the material meet. Lorne, Mean Girls, Will & Harper — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2020s
6.7
Across 11 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2020s
6.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Invention of Lying, Baby Mama, Man of the Year.
Most productive era
2020s
11 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 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.41 film | 6.33 films | 8.21 film |
| Action | — | 6.82 films | — |
| Thriller | 6.11 film | — | 6.71 film |
| Comedy | 6.54 films | 6.48 films | 6.68 films |
| Crime | — | 6.41 film | 6.71 film |
| Romance | 6.23 films | 5.91 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2004Mean Girls
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Ms. Norbury.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2020Soul
8.2 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
2026Lorne
The current state of the argument, as Self.
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 22 (voice)
Directed by Pete Docter
as Roxanne Ritchi (voice)
Directed by Tom McGrath
as Vacuuming Mom (voice)
Directed by Shawn Levy
as 22 (voice)
Directed by Unknown
as Ms. Norbury
Directed by Mark Waters
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
22 (voice)
Soul (2020)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. 22 (voice) gives Tina Fey a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Roxanne Ritchi (voice)
Megamind (2010)
Performance score7.6
Megamind asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Roxanne Ritchi (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Vacuuming Mom (voice)
Free Guy (2021)
Performance score7.4
Free Guy asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vacuuming Mom (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
22 (voice)
22 vs. Earth (2021)
Performance score7.4
22 vs. Earth asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. 22 (voice) 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 22 (voice)
Start here. Soul is the clearest statement of what Tina Fey does — accessible, 101 minutes, and rated 8.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Tina 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.
Mean Girls (2004)
Keeps the drama register of Soul but asks for a colder reading of it.
Megamind (2010)
Keeps the comedy register of Mean Girls but asks for a colder reading of it.
Free Guy (2021)
Keeps the science fiction register of Megamind but asks for a colder reading of it.
22 vs. Earth (2021)
Keeps the comedy register of Free Guy but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Shawn Levy
Director
3 films together
Notably Free Guy
Mark Waters
Director
1 film together
Notably Mean Girls
Barry Levinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Man of the Year
Michael McCullers
Director
1 film together
Notably Baby Mama
Ricky Gervais
Director
1 film together
Notably The Invention of Lying
Tom McGrath
Director
1 film together
Notably Megamind
Paul Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Admission
Adam McKay
Director
1 film together
Notably Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
James Bobin
Director
1 film together
Notably Muppets Most Wanted
Jason Moore
Director
1 film together
Notably Sisters
Glenn Ficarra
Director
1 film together
Notably Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Jay Karas
Director
1 film together
Notably Feeding America Comedy Festival
Oz Rodríguez
Director
1 film together
Notably 30 Rock: A One-Time Special
Pete Docter
Director
1 film together
Notably Soul
Paul Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love
John Slattery
Director
1 film together
Notably Maggie Moore(s)
Kenneth Branagh
Director
1 film together
Notably A Haunting in Venice
Josh Greenbaum
Director
1 film together
Notably Will & Harper
Morgan Neville
Director
1 film together
Notably Lorne
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Shawn Levy
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
Free GuyPete Docter
Director
1 film together · 8.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SoulMark Waters
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mean GirlsTom McGrath
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MegamindJosh Greenbaum
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Will & HarperPaul Miller
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + LoveKenneth Branagh
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Haunting in VeniceMorgan Neville
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LorneGlenn Ficarra
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Whiskey Tango FoxtrotJames Bobin
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Muppets Most WantedOz Rodríguez
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
30 Rock: A One-Time SpecialAdam McKay
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Anchorman 2: The Legend ContinuesRicky Gervais
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 Invention of LyingJay Karas
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Feeding America Comedy FestivalJohn Slattery
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Maggie Moore(s)Jason Moore
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SistersMichael McCullers
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Baby MamaBarry Levinson
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Man of the YearPaul Weitz
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AdmissionSix 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
Soul
as 22 (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
Soul
as 22 (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Soul
as 22 (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
as Jill Janson (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Soul
as 22 (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. Tina Fey 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
22 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
20 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
Soul
as 22 (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
A Haunting in Venice
as Ariadne Oliver
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Soul
as 22 (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
A Haunting in Venice
as Ariadne Oliver
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Soul
as 22 (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Date Night
as Claire Foster
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Soul
as 22 (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Feeding America Comedy Festival
as Self
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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Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
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Reference
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