Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1869
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Amanda Peet represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 30 years in, and Amanda is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Amanda Peet appears in 21 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Amanda. The Way Way Back is the clearest case: a film rated 7.1 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, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Matthew Shear, Leslye Headland, Jim Rash and others, Amanda Peet 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 Way Way Back (2013) as Joan · Griffin & Phoenix (2006) as Sarah Phoenix · A Lot Like Love (2005) as Emily Friehl
Career snapshot
Ranked #1869 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
21
1996–2026
Career length
30 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.1
The Way Way Back
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.1
The Way Way Back
Most frequent director
Matthew Shear
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Matthew Shear
Most common genre
Comedy
15 titles
Average runtime
1h 45m
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
6.5
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
6.3 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. 2012, What Doesn't Kill You, Battle for Terra — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.3
Across 13 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.3
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. Playing by Heart, She's the One, One Fine Day.
Most productive era
2000s
13 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 | 6.61 film | 6.58 films | 7.11 film | 6.21 film |
| Action | — | 6.13 films | — | — |
| Thriller | — | 6.43 films | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.23 films | 6.37 films | 6.14 films | 6.21 film |
| Crime | — | 6.24 films | 5.91 film | — |
| Romance | 6.23 films | 6.36 films | 6.31 film | 6.21 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1996She's the One
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Molly.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
7.1 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
2026Fantasy Life
The current state of the argument, as Dianne.
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.
21 of 21 films
as Sarah Phoenix
Directed by Unknown
as Emily Friehl
Directed by Nigel Cole
as Joan
Directed by Jim Rash
as Dianne
Directed by Matthew Shear
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
Sarah Phoenix
Griffin & Phoenix (2006)
Performance score7.7
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Sarah Phoenix gives Amanda Peet a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Emily Friehl
A Lot Like Love (2005)
Performance score7.2
A Lot Like Love asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Emily Friehl is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Joan
The Way Way Back (2013)
Performance score7.0
The Way Way Back asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Joan is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Dianne
Fantasy Life (2026)
Performance score6.9
Fantasy Life asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dianne 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 Sarah Phoenix
Start here. Griffin & Phoenix is the clearest statement of what Amanda Peet does — accessible, 102 minutes, and rated 7.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Amanda 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.
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
Keeps the romance register of Griffin & Phoenix but asks for a colder reading of it.
A Lot Like Love (2005)
Keeps the romance register of Something's Gotta Give but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Way Way Back (2013)
Keeps the comedy register of A Lot Like Love but asks for a colder reading of it.
Fantasy Life (2026)
Keeps the comedy register of The Way Way Back but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Michael Hoffman
Director
1 film together
Notably One Fine Day
Edward Burns
Director
1 film together
Notably She's the One
Jonathan Lynn
Director
1 film together
Notably The Whole Nine Yards
Dennis Dugan
Director
1 film together
Notably Saving Silverman
Roger Michell
Director
1 film together
Notably Changing Lanes
Carl Franklin
Director
1 film together
Notably High Crimes
Nancy Meyers
Director
1 film together
Notably Something's Gotta Give
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably Melinda and Melinda
Nigel Cole
Director
1 film together
Notably A Lot Like Love
Stephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together
Notably Syriana
Jesse Peretz
Director
1 film together
Notably The Ex
Brian Goodman
Director
1 film together
Notably What Doesn't Kill You
Roland Emmerich
Director
1 film together
Notably 2012
Rob Letterman
Director
1 film together
Notably Gulliver's Travels
Seth Gordon
Director
1 film together
Notably Identity Thief
Jim Rash
Director
1 film together
Notably The Way Way Back
Leslye Headland
Director
1 film together
Notably Sleeping with Other People
Matthew Shear
Director
1 film together
Notably Fantasy Life
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Jim Rash
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 Way Way BackNigel Cole
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Lot Like LoveNancy Meyers
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Something's Gotta GiveJonathan Lynn
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 Whole Nine YardsMichael Hoffman
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
One Fine DayStephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SyrianaCarl 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 CrimesLeslye Headland
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sleeping with Other PeopleRoger Michell
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Changing LanesMatthew Shear
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fantasy LifeWoody Allen
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Melinda and MelindaRoland Emmerich
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
2012Brian Goodman
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What Doesn't Kill YouSeth Gordon
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Identity ThiefDennis Dugan
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Saving SilvermanEdward Burns
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
She's the OneJesse Peretz
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 ExRob Letterman
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gulliver's TravelsSix 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
The Way Way Back
as Joan
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Griffin & Phoenix
as Sarah Phoenix
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Griffin & Phoenix
as Sarah Phoenix
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Playing by Heart
as Amber
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Griffin & Phoenix
as Sarah Phoenix
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. Amanda Peet 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
30 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
15 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
High Crimes
as Jackie
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
High Crimes
as Jackie
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Griffin & Phoenix
as Sarah Phoenix
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
High Crimes
as Jackie
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
2012
as Kate Curtis
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
2012
as Kate Curtis
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Something's Gotta Give
as Marin
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
2012
as Kate Curtis
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
Which Amanda Peet performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
Join the conversation
Reference
Continue exploring
Trending performers
Directors they work with
Collections to read next
