Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1491
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Awkwafina works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Awkwafina appears in 28 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Awkwafina. Raya and the Last Dragon is the clearest case: a film rated 7.8 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, family, tv movie. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Adam Shankman, Kimmy Gatewood, Jake Kasdan and others, Awkwafina 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.
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) as Sisu (voice) · Once Upon a Studio (2023) as Sisu (voice) · The Bad Guys 2 (2025) as Tarantula (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #1491 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
28
2016–2026
Career length
10 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
Raya and the Last Dragon
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
Once Upon a Studio
Most frequent director
Jake Kasdan
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Jake Kasdan
Most common genre
Comedy
20 titles
Average runtime
1h 42m
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
6.2
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
2010s
6.6 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Jumanji: The Next Level, Between Two Ferns: The Movie, Paradise Hills — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.6
Across 8 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.5
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2010s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Jumanji: The Next Level, Between Two Ferns: The Movie, Paradise Hills.
Most productive era
2020s
20 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 | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 6.93 films |
| Action | 7.02 films | 7.25 films |
| Thriller | 5.91 film | — |
| Comedy | 6.67 films | 5.913 films |
| Crime | 7.01 film | 7.03 films |
| Romance | 7.11 film | 6.31 film |
| Horror | — | 6.41 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2016Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Christine.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
7.8 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.
Most recent film
2026Wildwood
The current state of the argument, as (voice).
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.
28 of 28 films
as Sisu (voice)
Directed by Don Hall
as Tarantula (voice)
Directed by Pierre Perifel
as Tarantula (voice)
Directed by Pierre Perifel
as Katy
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
as Sisu (voice)
Directed by Dan Abraham
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
Sisu (voice)
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Sisu (voice) gives Awkwafina a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Tarantula (voice)
The Bad Guys 2 (2025)
Performance score7.8
The Bad Guys 2 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tarantula (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Tarantula (voice)
The Bad Guys (2022)
Performance score7.8
The Bad Guys asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tarantula (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Katy
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Performance score7.8
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Katy 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 Sisu (voice)
Start here. Raya and the Last Dragon is the clearest statement of what Awkwafina does — accessible, 107 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Awkwafina 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.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Keeps the action register of Raya and the Last Dragon but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Bad Guys (2022)
Keeps the action register of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings but asks for a colder reading of it.
Once Upon a Studio (2023)
Keeps the comedy register of The Bad Guys but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Bad Guys 2 (2025)
Keeps the comedy register of Once Upon a Studio but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Nicholas Stoller
Director
2 films together
Notably Storks
Pierre Perifel
Director
2 films together
Notably The Bad Guys 2
Jake Kasdan
Director
2 films together
Notably Jumanji: The Next Level
Jon M. Chu
Director
1 film together
Notably Crazy Rich Asians
Gary Ross
Director
1 film together
Notably Ocean's Eight
Thurop Van Orman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Angry Birds Movie 2
Scott Aukerman
Director
1 film together
Notably Between Two Ferns: The Movie
Tim Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
Don Hall
Director
1 film together
Notably Raya and the Last Dragon
Destin Daniel Cretton
Director
1 film together
Notably Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Tate Taylor
Director
1 film together
Notably Breaking News in Yuba County
Rob Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably The Little Mermaid
Jessica Yu
Director
1 film together
Notably Quiz Lady
Dan Abraham
Director
1 film together
Notably Once Upon a Studio
Paul Feig
Director
1 film together
Notably Jackpot!
John Krasinski
Director
1 film together
Notably IF
Mike Mitchell
Director
1 film together
Notably Kung Fu Panda 4
Travis Knight
Director
1 film together
Notably Wildwood
Kimmy Gatewood
Director
1 film together
Notably Descendants: Wicked Wonderland
Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Man with the Bag
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Pierre Perifel
Director
2 films together · 7.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Bad Guys 2Nicholas Stoller
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
StorksJake Kasdan
Director
2 films together · 3.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Jumanji: The Next LevelDon Hall
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Raya and the Last DragonDan Abraham
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Once Upon a StudioDestin Daniel Cretton
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten RingsTim Hill
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the RunKimmy Gatewood
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Descendants: Wicked WonderlandThurop Van Orman
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 Angry Birds Movie 2Jon M. Chu
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crazy Rich AsiansMike Mitchell
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kung Fu Panda 4Gary Ross
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ocean's EightJohn Krasinski
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
IFJessica Yu
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Quiz LadyPaul Feig
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jackpot!Rob Marshall
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 Little MermaidTate Taylor
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Breaking News in Yuba CountyScott 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 MovieAdam Shankman
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 Man with the BagTravis Knight
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WildwoodSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
2 wins
1 win · latest 2020
as Actor
1 win
as Actor
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
as Katy
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Once Upon a Studio
as Sisu (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Raya and the Last Dragon
as Sisu (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
One World: Together at Home
as Self
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Raya and the Last Dragon
as Sisu (voice)
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. Awkwafina 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.
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
20 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
Raya and the Last Dragon
as Sisu (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Bad Guys
as Tarantula (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Little Mermaid
as Scuttle (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Raya and the Last Dragon
as Sisu (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Raya and the Last Dragon
as Sisu (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Kung Fu Panda 4
as Zhen (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Kung Fu Panda 4
as Zhen (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Migration
as Chump (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
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Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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