Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2190
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Toby Kebbell 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.
Toby Kebbell appears in 25 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Toby. Control is the clearest case: a film rated 7.5 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 drama, history, action. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Peter Farrelly, David S. F. Wilson, Niels Arden Oplev and others, Toby Kebbell 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.
Control (2007) as Rob Greton · Match Point (2005) as Policeman · A Monster Calls (2016) as Dad
Career snapshot
Ranked #2190 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
25
2004–2026
Career length
22 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.5
Control
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.5
Control
Most frequent director
Matt Reeves
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Matt Reeves
Most common genre
Drama
15 titles
Average runtime
1h 56m
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
6.3
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
7.0 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. RocknRolla, Control, Match Point — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
7.0
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
7.0
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. RocknRolla, Control, Match Point.
Most productive era
2010s
18 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 | 7.03 films | 6.610 films | 2.62 films |
| Action | 6.62 films | 6.010 films | 6.71 film |
| Thriller | 7.22 films | 6.26 films | 5.31 film |
| Crime | 7.01 film | 5.94 films | — |
| Romance | 6.82 films | — | — |
| Horror | — | — | 5.31 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2004Alexander
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Pausanius.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2007Control
7.5 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
2026I Play Rocky
The current state of the argument, as Robert Chartoff.
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.
25 of 25 films
as Koba
Directed by Matt Reeves
as James Foley
Directed by Niels Arden Oplev
as Dad
Directed by J. A. Bayona
as Geordie Soldier
Directed by Steven Spielberg
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
Koba
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
Performance score7.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Koba gives Toby Kebbell a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Rob Greton
Control (2007)
Performance score7.6
Control asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Rob Greton is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
James Foley
Held for Ransom (2019)
Performance score7.4
Held for Ransom asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. James Foley is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Dad
A Monster Calls (2016)
Performance score7.4
A Monster Calls asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dad 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 Koba
Start here. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the clearest statement of what Toby Kebbell does — accessible, 130 minutes, and rated 7.3 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Toby 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.
Control (2007)
Keeps the drama register of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes but asks for a colder reading of it.
War Horse (2011)
Keeps the drama register of Control but asks for a colder reading of it.
A Monster Calls (2016)
A deliberate change of key after War Horse — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Held for Ransom (2019)
A deliberate change of key after A Monster Calls — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Matt Reeves
Director
2 films together
Notably Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Alexander
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably Match Point
Guy Ritchie
Director
1 film together
Notably RocknRolla
Mike Newell
Director
1 film together
Notably Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Jon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Robert Redford
Director
1 film together
Notably The Conspirator
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably War Horse
Jonathan Liebesman
Director
1 film together
Notably Wrath of the Titans
Zal Batmanglij
Director
1 film together
Notably The East
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably The Counselor
Stephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together
Notably Gold
J. A. Bayona
Director
1 film together
Notably A Monster Calls
Timur Bekmambetov
Director
1 film together
Notably Ben-Hur
Duncan Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably Warcraft
Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Director
1 film together
Notably Kong: Skull Island
Karyn Kusama
Director
1 film together
Notably Destroyer
Rob Cohen
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hurricane Heist
Niels Arden Oplev
Director
1 film together
Notably Held for Ransom
David S. F. Wilson
Director
1 film together
Notably Bloodshot
Peter Farrelly
Director
1 film together
Notably I Play Rocky
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Matt Reeves
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Dawn of the Planet of the ApesWoody Allen
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Match PointJ. A. Bayona
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Monster CallsSteven Spielberg
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
War HorseNiels Arden Oplev
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Held for RansomGuy Ritchie
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RocknRollaDavid S. F. Wilson
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BloodshotJordan Vogt-Roberts
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kong: Skull IslandStephen 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
GoldZal Batmanglij
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The EastRobert Redford
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ConspiratorDuncan Jones
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WarcraftMike Newell
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeJon Turteltaub
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 Sorcerer's ApprenticeOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AlexanderKaryn Kusama
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DestroyerTimur Bekmambetov
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ben-HurJonathan Liebesman
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wrath of the TitansRob Cohen
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Hurricane HeistRidley Scott
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 CounselorPeter Farrelly
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I Play RockySix 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
Control
as Rob Greton
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Match Point
as Policeman
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Control
as Rob Greton
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Alexander
as Pausanius
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
as Koba
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. Toby Kebbell 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.
Drama Legend
Awarded
15 catalogue titles in drama, 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
A Monster Calls
as Dad
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
RocknRolla
as Johnny Quid
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Match Point
as Policeman
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
A Monster Calls
as Dad
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
as Koba
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Bloodshot
as Martin Axe
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
War for the Planet of the Apes
as Koba
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Alexander
as Pausanius
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
Harry Dean Stanton
Works with the same directors — Ridley Scott
Michael Caine
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
Elliot Page
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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