Willem Dafoe

Performer

Willem Dafoe

A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.

Born
22 July 1955
Age
71
Nationality
American
Active
1980–present
Performances
101
In Nutevio
1980–present
Known for
The Souffleur
Performer Score
7.0
  • Hall of Fame
  • Horror Icon
  • Action Legend
  • Modern Classic
View filmography

Nutevio rank

#43

of 909177 performers

Top 1%

Willem Dafoe represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 46 years in, and Willem is still choosing the harder script.
Ranked #43 of 909177 performers in the Nutevio catalogue. Recalculated automatically as titles and credits are imported.

The essay

Reading Willem Dafoe

Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.

Why this performer matters

Willem Dafoe appears in 101 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Willem. The Grand Budapest Hotel is the clearest case: a film rated 8.8 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.

Signature style

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, documentary, horror. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.

Legacy

Working with Kent Jones, Jean Luc Herbulot, Wes Anderson and others, Willem Dafoe 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.

Best known for

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) as Jopling · Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin · Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) as Vulko

Career snapshot

The career at a glance

Ranked #43 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.

  • Films in Nutevio

    101

    1980–2026

  • Career length

    46 yrs

    Measured across our catalogue

  • Academy Awards

    Unknown

  • Oscar nominations

    Unknown

  • Highest Nutevio score

    8.8

    The Grand Budapest Hotel

  • Average Nutevio score

    6.1

    Across catalogue work

  • Highest IMDb rating

    8.1

    Togo

  • Most frequent director

    Wes Anderson

    7 films together

  • Longest collaboration

    With Wes Anderson

  • Most common genre

    Drama

    51 titles

  • Average runtime

    1h 49m

    Across catalogue work

  • Golden Globe wins

    Unknown

Nutevio metric

Performer Score

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.

  • Performance quality6.4
  • Consistency6.4
  • Emotional range7.5
  • Character transformation7.5
  • Cultural impact6.4
  • Iconic roles6.4
  • Career longevity9.8
  • Influence6.4
  • Awards recognition6.7
  • Rewatch value6.4

Nutevio metric

Influence Score

Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.

Nutevio Influence Score

6.8

out of 10

A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.

  • Cultural impact5.8

    How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.

  • Legacy6.7

    What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.

  • Industry recognition6.6

    Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.

  • Career longevity9.8

    Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.

  • Awards6.4

    Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.

  • Iconic performances7.5

    Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.

  • Influence on filmmakers5.5

    Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.

  • Influence on other actors6.0

    The reading other performers now have to answer.

Actor DNA

How they work on screen

A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.

  • Versatility99
  • Transformation99
  • Quiet performance87
  • Screen presence61
  • Rewatchability60
  • Charisma57
  • Drama57
  • Emotional range52
  • Intensity36
  • Physical performance35
  • Villain presence34
  • Action32
  • Comedy18

The shape of a career

Career evolution

Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.

67891019801985198619881988198919901990199219931994199619961997199919992000200020002002200320032004200420042004200620062006200720072007200920092009201020102011201220132013201420142014201420142014201620162016201720172017201720182018201820192019201920192019202020202020202020212021202120212021202120212022202220222022202220232023202320232024202420242024202420242024202420252025202520252025202620262026202620262026
  • Nutevio
  • Performance score
  • IMDb

Peak years

Best era

Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.

Best decade

1980s

7.2 average MV

The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Born on the Fourth of July, Mississippi Burning, The Last Temptation of Christ — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.

Highest average Nutevio score

1980s

7.2

Across 6 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.

Highest average IMDb rating

1980s

7.2

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. Born on the Fourth of July, Mississippi Burning, The Last Temptation of Christ.

Most productive era

2020s

39 films

The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.

Range, mapped

Career heatmap

Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.

The career concentrates in drama during the 2020s, and the scores hold there.
Genre1980s1990s2000s2010s2020s
Drama
7.25 films
6.45 films
6.710 films
7.014 films
4.817 films
Action
7.42 films
6.34 films
6.76 films
6.57 films
7.05 films
Thriller
7.32 films
6.26 films
6.56 films
6.99 films
5.87 films
Comedy
6.51 film
6.65 films
7.83 films
6.87 films
Crime
7.32 films
7.03 films
6.75 films
5.85 films
6.24 films
Romance
6.44 films
6.81 film
7.61 film
6.42 films
Horror
6.71 film
5.22 films
5.16 films

Chronology

Career timeline

Firsts and peaks

Career milestones

The turning points, in the order they happened.

  1. First film in Nutevio

    1980Heaven's Gate

    Where our catalogue meets this career, as Willy (uncredited).

  2. Highest rated performance · Career peak

    2014The Grand Budapest Hotel

    8.8 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.

  3. Most recent film

    2026Werwulf

    The current state of the argument.

Our order

Performances ranked

Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.

1
Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel

2014 · Comedy

1h 39m

8.1IMDb
2
Official poster for Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Spider-Man: No Way Home

2021 · Action

2h 28m

7.9IMDb
3
Official poster for Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

Zack Snyder's Justice League

2021 · Action

4h 2m

8.1IMDb
4
Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel

2014 · Comedy

1h 40m

8.0IMDb
5
Official poster for Finding Nemo (2003)

Finding Nemo

2003 · Adventure

1h 40m

7.8IMDb
6
Official poster for Finding Satoshi (2022)

Finding Satoshi

2022 · Mystery

1h 1m

8.0IMDb
7
Official poster for Togo (2019)

Togo

2019 · Adventure

1h 53m

8.1IMDb
8
Official poster for Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Fantastic Mr. Fox

2009 · Comedy

1h 27m

7.8IMDb
9
Official poster for Wim Wenders, Desperado (2020)

Wim Wenders, Desperado

2020 · Documentary

2h 0m

7.7IMDb
10
Official poster for Spider-Man (2002)

Spider-Man

2002 · Action

2h 1m

7.3IMDb
11
Official poster for Platoon (1986)

Platoon

1986 · War

2h 0m

7.8IMDb
12
Official poster for Poor Things (2023)

Poor Things

2023 · Romance

2h 21m

7.6IMDb
13
Official poster for The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

The Fault in Our Stars

2014 · Romance

2h 6m

7.6IMDb
14
Official poster for American Psycho (2000)

American Psycho

2000 · Crime

1h 42m

7.4IMDb
15
Official poster for The Lighthouse (2019)

The Lighthouse

2019 · Fantasy

1h 49m

7.5IMDb
16
Official poster for John Wick (2014)

John Wick

2014 · Action

1h 41m

7.5IMDb
17
Official poster for Inside Man (2006)

Inside Man

2006 · Crime

2h 9m

7.4IMDb
18
Official poster for Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Spider-Man 2

2004 · Action

2h 7m

7.3IMDb
19
Official poster for Mississippi Burning (1988)

Mississippi Burning

1988 · Mystery

2h 8m

7.7IMDb
20
Official poster for Love, Antosha (2019)

Love, Antosha

2019 · Documentary

1h 32m

7.4IMDb
21
Official poster for The Florida Project (2017)

The Florida Project

2017 · Drama

1h 52m

7.4IMDb
22
Official poster for The Boondock Saints (1999)

The Boondock Saints

1999 · Action

1h 48m

7.3IMDb
23
Official poster for The Aviator (2004)

The Aviator

2004 · Drama

2h 50m

7.2IMDb
24
Official poster for The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

The Last Temptation of Christ

1988 · Drama

2h 44m

7.2IMDb
25
Official poster for What Happened to Monday (2017)

What Happened to Monday

2017 · Action

2h 3m

7.1IMDb
26
Official poster for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

2004 · Comedy

1h 59m

7.1IMDb
27
Official poster for The English Patient (1996)

The English Patient

1996 · Romance

2h 42m

7.1IMDb
28
Official poster for To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)

To Live and Die in L.A.

1985 · Action

1h 56m

7.1IMDb
29
Official poster for The Souffleur (2026)

The Souffleur

2026 · Drama

1h 18m

7.0IMDb
30
Official poster for The Northman (2022)

The Northman

2022 · Action

2h 17m

7.0IMDb
31
Official poster for The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)

The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun

2021 · Comedy

1h 48m

7.0IMDb
32
Official poster for At Eternity's Gate (2018)

At Eternity's Gate

2018 · Drama

1h 51m

7.0IMDb
33
Official poster for Finding Dory (2016)

Finding Dory

2016 · Adventure

1h 37m

7.0IMDb
34
Official poster for Odd Thomas (2013)

Odd Thomas

2013 · Mystery

1h 37m

7.0IMDb
35
Official poster for Wild at Heart (1990)

Wild at Heart

1990 · Romance

2h 5m

7.0IMDb
36
Official poster for Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Born on the Fourth of July

1989 · War

2h 25m

7.0IMDb
37
Official poster for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

2024 · Comedy

1h 45m

6.9IMDb
38
Official poster for Nightmare Alley (2021)

Nightmare Alley

2021 · Crime

2h 31m

6.9IMDb
39
Official poster for The Lighthouse: A Dark & Stormy Tale (2020)

The Lighthouse: A Dark & Stormy Tale

2020 · Documentary

0h 37m

6.9IMDb
40
Official poster for Aquaman (2018)

Aquaman

2018 · Action

2h 23m

6.9IMDb
41
Official poster for Spider-Man: All Roads Lead to No Way Home (2022)

Spider-Man: All Roads Lead to No Way Home

2022 · Documentary

0h 30m

6.8IMDb
42
Official poster for Paris Je T'aime (2006)

Paris Je T'aime

2006 · Romance

2h 0m

6.8IMDb
43
Official poster for eXistenZ (1999)

eXistenZ

1999 · Action

1h 37m

6.8IMDb
44
Official poster for Nosferatu (2024)

Nosferatu

2024 · Horror

2h 13m

6.7IMDb
45
Official poster for Saturday Night (2024)

Saturday Night

2024 · Comedy

1h 49m

6.7IMDb
46
Official poster for Motherless Brooklyn (2019)

Motherless Brooklyn

2019 · Drama

2h 25m

6.7IMDb
47
Official poster for Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Murder on the Orient Express

2017 · Mystery

1h 54m

6.7IMDb
48
Official poster for A Family Man (2016)

A Family Man

2016 · Drama

1h 48m

6.7IMDb
49
Official poster for The Hunter (2011)

The Hunter

2011 · Adventure

1h 42m

6.7IMDb
50
Official poster for Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Spider-Man 3

2007 · Action

2h 19m

6.5IMDb
51
Official poster for Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Shadow of the Vampire

2000 · Horror

1h 35m

6.7IMDb
52
Official poster for Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Clear and Present Danger

1994 · Action

2h 21m

6.7IMDb
53
Official poster for Light Sleeper (1992)

Light Sleeper

1992 · Crime

1h 43m

6.7IMDb
54
Official poster for Heaven's Gate (1980)

Heaven's Gate

1980 · Western

3h 37m

6.8IMDb
55
Official poster for Out of the Furnace (2013)

Out of the Furnace

2013 · Crime

1h 56m

6.6IMDb
56
Official poster for Basquiat (1996)

Basquiat

1996 · Drama

1h 47m

6.6IMDb
57
Official poster for The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

The Phoenician Scheme

2025 · Comedy

1h 42m

6.5IMDb
58
Official poster for Kinds of Kindness (2024)

Kinds of Kindness

2024 · Comedy

2h 44m

6.5IMDb
59
Official poster for Asteroid City (2023)

Asteroid City

2023 · Comedy

1h 45m

6.5IMDb
60
Official poster for A Most Wanted Man (2014)

A Most Wanted Man

2014 · Thriller

2h 1m

6.5IMDb
61
Official poster for To Each His Own Cinema (2007)

To Each His Own Cinema

2007 · Comedy

1h 40m

6.5IMDb
62
Official poster for Cry-Baby (1990)

Cry-Baby

1990 · Romance

1h 25m

6.5IMDb
63
Official poster for Manou the Swift (2019)

Manou the Swift

2019 · Comedy

1h 28m

6.4IMDb
64
Official poster for John Carter (2012)

John Carter

2012 · Action

2h 12m

6.4IMDb
65
Official poster for Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)

Mr. Bean's Holiday

2007 · Comedy

1h 30m

6.4IMDb
66
Official poster for Daybreakers (2010)

Daybreakers

2010 · Action

1h 38m

6.3IMDb
67
Official poster for Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

2003 · Action

1h 42m

6.3IMDb
68
Official poster for Animal Factory (2000)

Animal Factory

2000 · Crime

1h 34m

6.3IMDb
69
Official poster for The Legend of Ochi (2025)

The Legend of Ochi

2025 · Fantasy

1h 35m

6.2IMDb
70
Official poster for Finally Dawn (2024)

Finally Dawn

2024 · Drama

1h 59m

6.1IMDb
71
Official poster for The Card Counter (2021)

The Card Counter

2021 · Crime

1h 52m

6.1IMDb
72
Official poster for My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010)

My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

2010 · Horror

1h 31m

6.1IMDb
73
Official poster for Why Are We (Not) Creative? (2021)

Why Are We (Not) Creative?

2021 · Documentary

1h 29m

6.0IMDb
74
Official poster for The Great Wall (2016)

The Great Wall

2016 · Action

1h 43m

6.0IMDb
75
Official poster for The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009)

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

2009 · Action

1h 58m

6.0IMDb
76
Official poster for Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

2009 · Action

1h 49m

5.9IMDb
77
Official poster for Dead for a Dollar (2022)

Dead for a Dollar

2022 · Action

1h 47m

5.8IMDb
78
Official poster for Vox Lux (2018)

Vox Lux

2018 · Music

1h 54m

5.8IMDb
79
Official poster for The Clearing (2004)

The Clearing

2004 · Mystery

1h 35m

5.8IMDb
80
Official poster for Zero (2025)

Zero

2025 · Action

1h 26m

5.7IMDb
81
Official poster for Inside (2023)

Inside

2023 · Drama

1h 46m

5.7IMDb
82
Official poster for Nosferatu: An Inside Look (2024)

Nosferatu: An Inside Look

2024 · Documentary

0h 22m

5.5IMDb
83
Official poster for Bad Country (2014)

Bad Country

2014 · Action

1h 35m

5.5IMDb
84
Official poster for The Man in My Basement (2025)

The Man in My Basement

2025 · Mystery

1h 55m

5.4IMDb
85
Official poster for Pet Shop Days (2025)

Pet Shop Days

2025 · Romance

1h 50m

5.2IMDb
86
Official poster for American Dreamz (2006)

American Dreamz

2006 · Comedy

1h 47m

5.1IMDb
87
Official poster for Body of Evidence (1993)

Body of Evidence

1993 · Romance

1h 41m

5.0IMDb
88
Official poster for Siberia (2020)

Siberia

2020 · Horror

1h 31m

4.9IMDb
89
Official poster for The Last Thing He Wanted (2020)

The Last Thing He Wanted

2020 · Drama

1h 56m

4.9IMDb
90
Official poster for Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997)

Speed 2: Cruise Control

1997 · Action

2h 5m

4.6IMDb
91
Official poster for Death Note (2017)

Death Note

2017 · Horror

1h 41m

4.3IMDb
92
Official poster for Gonzo Girl (2023)

Gonzo Girl

2023 · Drama

1h 47m

2.0IMDb
93
Official poster for Tenzing (2026)

Tenzing

2026 · Drama

2h 6m

94
Official poster for The Resurrection of Christ (2026)

The Resurrection of Christ

2026 · Documentary

0h 22m

95
Official poster for The Birthday Party (2026)

The Birthday Party

2026 · Drama

1h 43m

96
Official poster for Late Fame (2026)

Late Fame

2026 · Drama

1h 37m

97
Official poster for Werwulf (2026)

Werwulf

2026 · Horror

98
Official poster for Can Creativity Save the World? (2024)

Can Creativity Save the World?

2024 · Documentary

1h 10m

99
Official poster for run 002 (2024)

run 002

2024

0h 10m

100
Official poster for Creation of the Kingdom of Exodus (2022)

Creation of the Kingdom of Exodus

2022 · Documentary

0h 34m

101
Official poster for Maresco / Pasolini (2021)

Maresco / Pasolini

2021 · Documentary

2h 24m

Every title

Filmography

Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.

Genre
Decade
Sort

101 of 101 films

Official poster for Finding Satoshi (2022)

as Narrator

Directed by Unknown

IMDb8.0Rotten Tomatoes80%Metacritic741h 1mMystery · Documentary
View movie
Official poster for Togo (2019)

Togo

2019

as Leonhard Seppala

Directed by Ericson Core

IMDb8.1Rotten Tomatoes79%Metacritic731h 53mAdventure · Family
View movie
Official poster for Finding Nemo (2003)

as Gill (voice)

Directed by Andrew Stanton

IMDb7.8Rotten Tomatoes81%Metacritic741h 40mAdventure · Family · Animation
View movie

From the library

Complete credits

Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.

The defining work

Signature performances

Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

#1

Jopling

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Performance score8.7

The performance the rest of the career is read through. Jopling gives Willem Dafoe a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.

View movie
Official poster for Finding Satoshi (2022)

#2

Narrator

Finding Satoshi (2022)

Performance score8.5

Finding Satoshi asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Narrator is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.

View movie
Official poster for Togo (2019)

#3

Leonhard Seppala

Togo (2019)

Performance score8.4

Togo asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Leonhard Seppala is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.

View movie
Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

#4

Jopling

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Performance score8.2

The Grand Budapest Hotel asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jopling is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.

View movie

Start here

The movie journey

A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.

Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Best entry point

The Grand Budapest Hotel

as Jopling

Start here. The Grand Budapest Hotel is the clearest statement of what Willem Dafoe does — accessible, 99 minutes, and rated 8.8 by our editors. No context required.

Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Willem 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.

  1. Official poster for Finding Nemo (2003)

    Finding Nemo (2003)

    Keeps the adventure register of The Grand Budapest Hotel but asks for a colder reading of it.

  2. Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

    The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

    A deliberate change of key after Finding Nemo — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.

  3. Official poster for Togo (2019)

    Togo (2019)

    A deliberate change of key after The Grand Budapest Hotel — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.

  4. Official poster for Finding Satoshi (2022)

    Finding Satoshi (2022)

    A deliberate change of key after Togo — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.

Company kept

Frequent collaborators

The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.

Behind the camera

Director network

Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.

Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

Director

2 films together · 7.2 avg MV

A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.

Official poster for The Aviator (2004)

Best film together

The Aviator

Six degrees

Connected through cinema

Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.

Categories of our own

Most rewatchable, most emotional, most influential

Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.

Most rewatchable

Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel

as Jopling

The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.

Most emotional performance

Official poster for The Fault in Our Stars (2014)

The Fault in Our Stars

as Peter van Houten

Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.

Most influential performance

Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel

as Jopling

You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.

Best ensemble performance

Official poster for The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009)

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

as Paul Smecker (uncredited)

Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.

Career defining performance

Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel

as Jopling

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

Lines that stay

You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Willem Dafoe has known it for a long time.

Nutevio Editors · On The Grand Budapest Hotel

Head to head

Compare performers

Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.

Compare with
Nutevio Performer Score7.79.0
Career ranking#610 of 681#1 of 681
Awards on fileUnknown3 recorded
Oscar winsUnknown1
Oscar nominationsUnknown5
Average Nutevio score8.89.1
GenresComedy, Adventure, DramaAdventure, Drama, Fantasy, History
DirectorsWes AndersonChristopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese
Performance DNAScreen presence, Rewatchability, Quiet performanceTransformation, Drama, Screen presence
Career timeline2014–20142006–2026
Most iconic roleJopling — The Grand Budapest HotelOdysseus — The Odyssey
Most rewatchable filmThe Grand Budapest HotelInterstellar
Filmography1 catalogue film4 catalogue films

Films together

Nothing in common in the library yet.

Shared directors

Nothing in common in the library yet.

Shared collections

Adventure Movies, Drama Movies

Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.

Ours alone

Nutevio Honors

Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.

Career Achievement

Awarded

46 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

51 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.

Our desk

Editor's picks

Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.

Best ending

Official poster for Finding Satoshi (2022)

Finding Satoshi

as Narrator

The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.

Best opening

Official poster for American Psycho (2000)

American Psycho

as Donald Kimball

A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.

Most emotional

Official poster for At Eternity's Gate (2018)

At Eternity's Gate

as Vincent van Gogh

The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.

Best twist

Official poster for Mississippi Burning (1988)

Mississippi Burning

as Agent Alan Ward

A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.

Best visual achievement

Official poster for Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Spider-Man: No Way Home

as Norman Osborn / Green Goblin

Images that would survive with the sound switched off.

Best action sequence

Official poster for Dead for a Dollar (2022)

Dead for a Dollar

as Joe Cribbens

Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.

Best dialogue

Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel

as Jopling

Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.

Most underrated film

Official poster for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

The Grand Budapest Hotel

as Jopling

The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.

Across the library

Collection appearances

Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.

Keep reading

Collections featuring this actor

From the magazine

Related articles

If you like this performer

Similar performers

Have your say

Community

Community

Which Willem Dafoe performance holds up best?

Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.

Join the discussion

Join the conversation

Community discussions

All threads about Willem Dafoe

Reference

Quick facts

Born
22 July 1955
Appleton, Wisconsin, USA
Age
71
Nationality
American
Years active
1980–present
Known for
The Souffleur
Genres
Drama, Documentary, Horror
IMDb
nm0000353
Nutevio rank
#43
of 909177 performers tracked

Continue exploring

Where to go next