Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#99
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Kevin Bacon represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 49 years in, and Kevin is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Kevin Bacon appears in 57 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Kevin. Mystic River is the clearest case: a film rated 7.7 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 romance, comedy, horror. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Yulin Kuang, Kevin Bacon, Dori Berinstein and others, Kevin Bacon 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.
Mystic River (2003) as Sean Devine · Sleepers (1996) as Nokes · A Few Good Men (1992) as Capt. Jack Ross
Career snapshot
Ranked #99 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
57
1978–2027
Career length
49 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.7
Mystic River
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.7
Mystic River
Most frequent director
James Gunn
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With James Gunn
Most common genre
Drama
30 titles
Average runtime
1h 43m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
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
6.7
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
6.9 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Stir of Echoes, Wild Things, Picture Perfect — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.9
Across 13 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1970s
7.0
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1970s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Animal House.
Most productive era
2000s
14 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 | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 6.53 films | 7.010 films | 6.710 films | 6.84 films | 6.53 films |
| Action | — | — | — | 6.42 films | 6.45 films | 6.13 films |
| Thriller | — | — | 7.05 films | 6.38 films | 5.74 films | 6.13 films |
| Comedy | 6.91 film | 6.63 films | 6.43 films | 6.44 films | 6.55 films | 4.77 films |
| Crime | — | — | 7.32 films | 6.66 films | 6.24 films | 6.22 films |
| Romance | — | 6.32 films | 5.91 film | 5.72 films | 7.31 film | 4.33 films |
| Horror | — | 6.51 film | 6.83 films | — | 4.81 film | 3.63 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1978Animal House
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Chip Diller.
Career peak
1996Sleepers
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Highest rated performance
2003Mystic River
7.7 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Most recent film
2027Beach Read
The current state of the argument.
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.
57 of 57 films
as Nokes
Directed by Barry Levinson
as Sean Devine
Directed by Clint Eastwood
as LtCol Mike Strobl
Directed by Ross Katz
as Balto (voice)
Directed by Simon Wells
as Jack Swigert
Directed by Ron Howard
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
Nokes
Sleepers (1996)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Nokes gives Kevin Bacon a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Sean Devine
Mystic River (2003)
Performance score8.0
Mystic River asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sean Devine is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
LtCol Mike Strobl
Taking Chance (2009)
Performance score7.8
Taking Chance asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. LtCol Mike Strobl is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Balto (voice)
Balto (1995)
Performance score7.8
Balto asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Balto (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 Nokes
Start here. Sleepers is the clearest statement of what Kevin Bacon does — accessible, 147 minutes, and rated 7.6 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Kevin 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.
Balto (1995)
Keeps the drama register of Sleepers but asks for a colder reading of it.
Apollo 13 (1995)
Keeps the drama register of Balto but asks for a colder reading of it.
Mystic River (2003)
Keeps the drama register of Apollo 13 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Taking Chance (2009)
Keeps the drama register of Mystic River but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
John Hughes
Director
2 films together
Notably Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Barry Levinson
Director
2 films together
Notably Sleepers
Ron Howard
Director
2 films together
Notably Apollo 13
David Koepp
Director
2 films together
Notably Stir of Echoes
James Gunn
Director
2 films together
Notably The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
John Landis
Director
1 film together
Notably Animal House
Sean S. Cunningham
Director
1 film together
Notably Friday the 13th
Herbert Ross
Director
1 film together
Notably Footloose
Joel Schumacher
Director
1 film together
Notably Flatliners
Ron Underwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Tremors
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably JFK
Rob Reiner
Director
1 film together
Notably A Few Good Men
Paul Michael Glaser
Director
1 film together
Notably The Air Up There
Curtis Hanson
Director
1 film together
Notably The River Wild
Simon Wells
Director
1 film together
Notably Balto
Glenn Gordon Caron
Director
1 film together
Notably Picture Perfect
John McNaughton
Director
1 film together
Notably Wild Things
Paul Verhoeven
Director
1 film together
Notably Hollow Man
Luis Mandoki
Director
1 film together
Notably Trapped
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Mystic River
Jane Campion
Director
1 film together
Notably In the Cut
Nicole Kassell
Director
1 film together
Notably The Woodsman
Atom Egoyan
Director
1 film together
Notably Where the Truth Lies
Bille Woodruff
Director
1 film together
Notably Beauty Shop
James Wan
Director
1 film together
Notably Death Sentence
Richard Loncraine
Director
1 film together
Notably My One and Only
Ross Katz
Director
1 film together
Notably Taking Chance
Matthew Vaughn
Director
1 film together
Notably X-Men: First Class
Glenn Ficarra
Director
1 film together
Notably Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Robert Schwentke
Director
1 film together
Notably R.I.P.D.
Jon Watts
Director
1 film together
Notably Cop Car
Scott Cooper
Director
1 film together
Notably Black Mass
Greg McLean
Director
1 film together
Notably The Darkness
Peter Berg
Director
1 film together
Notably Patriots Day
Jake Szymanski
Director
1 film together
Notably Tour de Pharmacy
Andy Fisher
Director
1 film together
Notably Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
John Logan
Director
1 film together
Notably They/Them
Kyra Sedgwick
Director
1 film together
Notably Space Oddity
Sam Esmail
Director
1 film together
Notably Leave the World Behind
Michael J. Weithorn
Director
1 film together
Notably The Best You Can
Macon Blair
Director
1 film together
Notably The Toxic Avenger Unrated
Dori Berinstein
Director
1 film together
Notably Kenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart
Kevin Bacon
Director
1 film together
Notably Family Movie
Yulin Kuang
Director
1 film together
Notably Beach Read
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Ron Howard
Director
2 films together · 7.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Apollo 13Barry Levinson
Director
2 films together · 7.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
SleepersJames Gunn
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
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday SpecialJohn Hughes
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Planes, Trains and AutomobilesDavid Koepp
Director
2 films together · 6.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Stir of EchoesClint Eastwood
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mystic RiverRob Reiner
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Few Good MenOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
JFKGlenn Ficarra
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crazy, Stupid, Love.Matthew Vaughn
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
X-Men: First ClassRoss Katz
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Taking ChanceSimon Wells
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BaltoPeter Berg
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Patriots DayMichael J. Weithorn
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Best You CanRon Underwood
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TremorsNicole Kassell
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 WoodsmanJohn Landis
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Animal HouseJames Wan
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Death SentenceJake Szymanski
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tour de PharmacyHerbert Ross
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FootlooseRichard Loncraine
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My One and OnlyJoel Schumacher
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FlatlinersScott Cooper
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Black MassJohn McNaughton
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wild ThingsCurtis Hanson
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 River WildSean S. Cunningham
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Friday the 13thSam Esmail
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Leave the World BehindBille Woodruff
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beauty ShopLuis Mandoki
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TrappedPaul Michael Glaser
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 Air Up ThereAndy Fisher
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"Atom Egoyan
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Where the Truth LiesMacon Blair
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Toxic Avenger UnratedKyra Sedgwick
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Space OddityJon Watts
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cop CarPaul Verhoeven
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hollow ManRobert Schwentke
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
R.I.P.D.Glenn Gordon Caron
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Picture PerfectJane Campion
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
In the CutGreg McLean
Director
1 film together · 4.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The DarknessJohn Logan
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
They/ThemYulin Kuang
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beach ReadKevin Bacon
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Family MovieDori Berinstein
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kenny Loggins: Conviction of the HeartSix 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
Mystic River
as Sean Devine
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Apollo 13
as Jack Swigert
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Mystic River
as Sean Devine
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
In the Cut
as John Graham (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Sleepers
as Nokes
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. Kevin Bacon 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
49 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
30 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
Mystic River
as Sean Devine
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Mystic River
as Sean Devine
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Frost/Nixon
as Jack Brennan
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Mystic River
as Sean Devine
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
X-Men: First Class
as Sebastian Shaw
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
X-Men: First Class
as Sebastian Shaw
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Best You Can
as Stan Olszewski
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Wild Things
as Sergeant Ray Duquette
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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Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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