Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1082
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Alfre Woodard represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 37 years in, and Alfre is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Alfre Woodard appears in 30 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Alfre. 12 Years a Slave 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 documentary, horror, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Gary Dauberman, Kyra Sedgwick, Megalyn Echikunwoke and others, Alfre Woodard 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.
12 Years a Slave (2013) as Mistress Shaw · Captain America: Civil War (2016) as Miriam · Primal Fear (1996) as Shoat
Career snapshot
Ranked #1082 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
30
1988–2025
Career length
37 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
12 Years a Slave
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
12 Years a Slave
Most frequent director
Anthony Russo
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Anthony Russo
Most common genre
Drama
17 titles
Average runtime
1h 46m
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
6.6
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
7.1 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Primal Fear, Star Trek: First Contact, How to Make an American Quilt — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.1
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.1
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. Scrooged.
Most productive era
2000s
9 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 | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.81 film | 7.02 films | 6.55 films | 6.66 films | 6.53 films |
| Action | — | 7.31 film | — | 7.71 film | 6.91 film |
| Thriller | — | 7.42 films | 5.63 films | — | 5.92 films |
| Comedy | 6.81 film | 7.01 film | 6.43 films | 6.01 film | 6.24 films |
| Crime | — | 7.61 film | — | — | — |
| Romance | — | 6.72 films | 6.42 films | — | 6.01 film |
| Horror | — | — | 5.11 film | 5.81 film | 6.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1988Scrooged
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Grace Cooley.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
201312 Years a Slave
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
2025The Inquisitor
The current state of the argument, as Narration.
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.
30 of 30 films
as Marian
Directed by Paul Weitz
as Mistress Shaw
Directed by Steve McQueen
as Shoat
Directed by Gregory Hoblit
as Principal Daniels
Directed by Michael Tollin
as Miriam
Directed by Anthony Russo
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
Marian
Fatherhood (2021)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Marian gives Alfre Woodard a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Mistress Shaw
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Performance score7.8
12 Years a Slave asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mistress Shaw is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Shoat
Primal Fear (1996)
Performance score7.7
Primal Fear asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Shoat is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Principal Daniels
Radio (2003)
Performance score7.6
Radio asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Principal Daniels 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 Marian
Start here. Fatherhood is the clearest statement of what Alfre Woodard does — accessible, 109 minutes, and rated 7.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Alfre 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.
Primal Fear (1996)
Keeps the drama register of Fatherhood but asks for a colder reading of it.
Radio (2003)
Keeps the drama register of Primal Fear but asks for a colder reading of it.
12 Years a Slave (2013)
Keeps the drama register of Radio but asks for a colder reading of it.
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
A deliberate change of key after 12 Years a Slave — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Anthony Russo
Director
2 films together
Notably Captain America: Civil War
Richard Donner
Director
1 film together
Notably Scrooged
Ron Underwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Heart and Souls
Jocelyn Moorhouse
Director
1 film together
Notably How to Make an American Quilt
Jonathan Frakes
Director
1 film together
Notably Star Trek: First Contact
Gregory Hoblit
Director
1 film together
Notably Primal Fear
Janusz Kamiński
Director
1 film together
Notably Lost Souls
Jeff McGrath
Director
1 film together
Notably The Wild Thornberrys Movie
Michael Tollin
Director
1 film together
Notably Radio
Jon Amiel
Director
1 film together
Notably The Core
Bille Woodruff
Director
1 film together
Notably Beauty Shop
Liz Friedlander
Director
1 film together
Notably Take the Lead
Sanaa Hamri
Director
1 film together
Notably Something New
Steve McQueen
Director
1 film together
Notably 12 Years a Slave
John R. Leonetti
Director
1 film together
Notably Annabelle
Ryan Fleck
Director
1 film together
Notably Mississippi Grind
Jon Favreau
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lion King
Clark Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably Juanita
Paul Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Fatherhood
Megalyn Echikunwoke
Director
1 film together
Notably Weathering
Kyra Sedgwick
Director
1 film together
Notably Space Oddity
Gary Dauberman
Director
1 film together
Notably Salem's Lot
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Anthony Russo
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
Captain America: Civil WarSteve McQueen
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
12 Years a SlaveGregory Hoblit
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Primal FearPaul Weitz
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FatherhoodMichael Tollin
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RadioJonathan 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 ContactJon Favreau
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 Lion KingRon 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
Heart and SoulsLiz Friedlander
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Take the LeadRichard Donner
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ScroogedSanaa Hamri
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Something NewJeff McGrath
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 Wild Thornberrys MovieJocelyn Moorhouse
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
How to Make an American QuiltBille 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 ShopGary Dauberman
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Salem's LotKyra 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 OddityRyan Fleck
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mississippi GrindJohn R. Leonetti
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AnnabelleJon Amiel
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The CoreClark Johnson
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
JuanitaJanusz Kamiński
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lost SoulsMegalyn Echikunwoke
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WeatheringSix 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
12 Years a Slave
as Mistress Shaw
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
12 Years a Slave
as Mistress Shaw
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
12 Years a Slave
as Mistress Shaw
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Captain America: Civil War
as Miriam
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Fatherhood
as Marian
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. Alfre Woodard 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
37 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
17 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
12 Years a Slave
as Mistress Shaw
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Primal Fear
as Shoat
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Lion King
as Sarabi (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Forgotten
as Det. Anne Pope
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Captain America: Civil War
as Miriam
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Captain America: Civil War
as Miriam
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Lion King
as Sarabi (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Captain America: Civil War
as Miriam
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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