Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#944
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Adam Scott represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 31 years in, and Adam is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Adam Scott appears in 32 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Adam. The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation is the clearest case: a film rated 8.0 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 comedy, thriller, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with James Ashcroft, Damian McCarthy, Osgood Perkins and others, Adam Scott 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.
The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation (2020) as Ben Wyatt · A Parks and Recreation Special (2020) as Ben Wyatt · Star Trek: First Contact (1996) as Defiant Con Officer
Career snapshot
Ranked #944 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
32
1996–2027
Career length
31 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation
Average Nutevio score
5.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation
Most frequent director
Leslye Headland
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Leslye Headland
Most common genre
Comedy
23 titles
Average runtime
1h 32m
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
6.4
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
7.3 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Star Trek: First Contact — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.3
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.3
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Star Trek: First Contact.
Most productive era
2010s
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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 6.55 films | 6.57 films | — |
| Action | 7.31 film | 6.31 film | — | 5.31 film |
| Thriller | 7.31 film | 6.32 films | — | 0.02 films |
| Comedy | — | 6.35 films | 6.212 films | 5.06 films |
| Crime | — | 6.32 films | 6.32 films | 0.01 film |
| Romance | — | 6.31 film | 6.24 films | — |
| Horror | — | — | 5.61 film | 6.52 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Defiant Con Officer.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2020The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation
8.0 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
2027The Saviors
The current state of the argument, as Sean Harrison.
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.
32 of 32 films
as Ted Hendricks
Directed by Ben Stiller
as Jeremy
Directed by Anand Tucker
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
Ben Wyatt
The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation (2020)
Performance score8.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Ben Wyatt gives Adam Scott a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Ben Wyatt
A Parks and Recreation Special (2020)
Performance score7.7
A Parks and Recreation Special asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ben Wyatt is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Ohm Bauman
Hokum (2026)
Performance score7.6
Hokum asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ohm Bauman is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Ted Hendricks
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Performance score7.3
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ted Hendricks 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 Ben Wyatt
Start here. The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation is the clearest statement of what Adam Scott does — accessible, 20 minutes, and rated 8.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Adam 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.
Leap Year (2010)
A deliberate change of key after The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Keeps the comedy register of Leap Year but asks for a colder reading of it.
A Parks and Recreation Special (2020)
Keeps the comedy register of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty but asks for a colder reading of it.
Hokum (2026)
A deliberate change of key after A Parks and Recreation Special — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Leslye Headland
Director
2 films together
Notably Sleeping with Other People
Jonathan Frakes
Director
1 film together
Notably Star Trek: First Contact
Carl Franklin
Director
1 film together
Notably High Crimes
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably The Aviator
Richard Shepard
Director
1 film together
Notably The Matador
Terry Zwigoff
Director
1 film together
Notably Art School Confidential
Judd Apatow
Director
1 film together
Notably Knocked Up
Adam McKay
Director
1 film together
Notably Step Brothers
Anand Tucker
Director
1 film together
Notably Leap Year
Jesse Peretz
Director
1 film together
Notably Our Idiot Brother
Jennifer Westfeldt
Director
1 film together
Notably Friends with Kids
Ben Stiller
Director
1 film together
Notably The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
David Wain
Director
1 film together
Notably They Came Together
Scott Cooper
Director
1 film together
Notably Black Mass
Max Winkler
Director
1 film together
Notably Flower
Tommy O'Haver
Director
1 film together
Notably The Most Hated Woman in America
Alethea Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably Fun Mom Dinner
Eli Craig
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Evil
James Franco
Director
1 film together
Notably The Disaster Artist
Scott Aukerman
Director
1 film together
Notably Between Two Ferns: The Movie
Donick Cary
Director
1 film together
Notably Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics
Morgan Sackett
Director
1 film together
Notably A Parks and Recreation Special
Chelsea Peretti
Director
1 film together
Notably First Time Female Director
SJ Clarkson
Director
1 film together
Notably Madame Web
Osgood Perkins
Director
1 film together
Notably The Monkey
Damian McCarthy
Director
1 film together
Notably Hokum
James Ashcroft
Director
1 film together
Notably The Whisper Man
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Leslye Headland
Director
2 films together · 5.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Sleeping with Other PeopleMorgan Sackett
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 Parks and Recreation SpecialJonathan Frakes
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Star Trek: First ContactBen Stiller
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Secret Life of Walter MittyMartin Scorsese
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The AviatorJames Franco
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Disaster ArtistDamian McCarthy
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HokumAnand Tucker
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Leap YearDonick Cary
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Have a Good Trip: Adventures in PsychedelicsAdam McKay
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Step BrothersScott 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 MassCarl Franklin
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
High CrimesMax Winkler
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FlowerJudd Apatow
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Knocked UpRichard Shepard
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 MatadorTommy O'Haver
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 Most Hated Woman in AmericaJesse Peretz
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Our Idiot BrotherTerry Zwigoff
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Art School ConfidentialOsgood Perkins
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 MonkeyJennifer Westfeldt
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Friends with KidsScott Aukerman
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Between Two Ferns: The MovieAlethea Jones
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fun Mom DinnerEli Craig
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little EvilDavid Wain
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
They Came TogetherSJ Clarkson
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Madame WebChelsea Peretti
Director
1 film together · 3.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
First Time Female DirectorJames Ashcroft
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Whisper ManSix 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
Star Trek: First Contact
as Defiant Con Officer
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Knocked Up
as Samuel
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation
as Ben Wyatt
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Disaster Artist
as Adam Scott
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation
as Ben Wyatt
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. Adam Scott 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
31 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
23 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
The Paley Center Salutes Parks and Recreation
as Ben Wyatt
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Star Trek: First Contact
as Defiant Con Officer
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Knocked Up
as Samuel
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
High Crimes
as Lieutenant Terrence Embry
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Star Trek: First Contact
as Defiant Con Officer
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Star Trek: First Contact
as Defiant Con Officer
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
as Ted Hendricks
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
High Crimes
as Lieutenant Terrence Embry
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
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Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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