Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#585
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Benjamin Bratt represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 33 years in, and Benjamin is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Benjamin Bratt appears in 28 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Benjamin. Coco is the clearest case: a film rated 8.4 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 action, comedy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Peter Farrelly, Mark Waters, Edward Burns and others, Benjamin Bratt 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.
Coco (2017) as Ernesto de la Cruz (voice) · Bound by Honor (1993) as Paco · Doctor Strange (2016) as Jonathan Pangborn
Career snapshot
Ranked #585 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
28
1993–2026
Career length
33 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.4
Coco
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Coco
Most frequent director
Ric Roman Waugh
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Ric Roman Waugh
Most common genre
Action
12 titles
Average runtime
1h 49m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.2
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
2010s
7.0 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Coco, Shot Caller, Doctor Strange — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
7.0
Across 9 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.0
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. Clear and Present Danger, The River Wild, Bound by Honor.
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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.03 films | 6.44 films | 6.63 films | 5.92 films |
| Action | 6.82 films | 5.84 films | 6.84 films | 5.82 films |
| Thriller | 7.03 films | 5.93 films | 6.63 films | 5.81 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.72 films | 6.63 films | 6.13 films |
| Crime | 7.32 films | 6.34 films | 6.82 films | — |
| Romance | — | 6.71 film | — | 6.32 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1993Bound by Honor
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Paco.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2017Coco
8.4 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
2026Balls Up
The current state of the argument, as Santos.
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 Ernesto de la Cruz (voice)
Directed by Lee Unkrich
as Paco
Directed by Taylor Hackford
as Superman / Hernan Guerra (voice)
Directed by Sam Liu
as Jonathan Pangborn
Directed by Scott Derrickson
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
Ernesto de la Cruz (voice)
Coco (2017)
Performance score8.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Ernesto de la Cruz (voice) gives Benjamin Bratt a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Paco
Bound by Honor (1993)
Performance score8.2
Bound by Honor asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Paco is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Superman / Hernan Guerra (voice)
Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)
Performance score7.7
Justice League: Gods and Monsters asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Superman / Hernan Guerra (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Jonathan Pangborn
Doctor Strange (2016)
Performance score7.5
Doctor Strange asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jonathan Pangborn 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 Ernesto de la Cruz (voice)
Start here. Coco is the clearest statement of what Benjamin Bratt does — accessible, 105 minutes, and rated 8.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Benjamin 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.
Bound by Honor (1993)
A deliberate change of key after Coco — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)
A deliberate change of key after Bound by Honor — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Doctor Strange (2016)
Keeps the action register of Justice League: Gods and Monsters but asks for a colder reading of it.
A Celebration of the Music from Coco (2020)
A deliberate change of key after Doctor Strange — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Ric Roman Waugh
Director
2 films together
Notably Shot Caller
Marco Brambilla
Director
1 film together
Notably Demolition Man
Taylor Hackford
Director
1 film together
Notably Bound by Honor
Curtis Hanson
Director
1 film together
Notably The River Wild
Phillip Noyce
Director
1 film together
Notably Clear and Present Danger
Donald Petrie
Director
1 film together
Notably Miss Congeniality
Stephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together
Notably Abandon
Nicole Kassell
Director
1 film together
Notably The Woodsman
John Dahl
Director
1 film together
Notably The Great Raid
Mike Newell
Director
1 film together
Notably Love in the Time of Cholera
Phil Lord
Director
1 film together
Notably Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Cody Cameron
Director
1 film together
Notably Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Chris Renaud
Director
1 film together
Notably Despicable Me 2
Sam Liu
Director
1 film together
Notably Justice League: Gods and Monsters
Tim Story
Director
1 film together
Notably Ride Along 2
Scott Derrickson
Director
1 film together
Notably Doctor Strange
Lee Unkrich
Director
1 film together
Notably Coco
Walter Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead for a Dollar
Edward Burns
Director
1 film together
Notably Millers in Marriage
Mark Waters
Director
1 film together
Notably Mother of the Bride
Peter Farrelly
Director
1 film together
Notably Balls Up
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Ric Roman Waugh
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Shot CallerLee Unkrich
Director
1 film together · 8.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CocoTaylor Hackford
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bound by HonorScott Derrickson
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Doctor StrangeSam Liu
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Justice League: Gods and MonstersChris Renaud
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Despicable Me 2Nicole 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 WoodsmanPhil Lord
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cloudy with a Chance of MeatballsMarco Brambilla
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Demolition ManMike Newell
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Love in the Time of CholeraPhillip Noyce
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Clear and Present DangerCody Cameron
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2John Dahl
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 Great RaidDonald Petrie
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Miss CongenialityCurtis 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 WildTim Story
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ride Along 2Edward Burns
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Millers in MarriageMark Waters
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mother of the BridePeter Farrelly
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Balls UpWalter Hill
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dead for a DollarStephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AbandonSix 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
Coco
as Ernesto de la Cruz (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Coco
as Ernesto de la Cruz (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
Coco
as Ernesto de la Cruz (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Traffic
as Juan Obregón
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Coco
as Ernesto de la Cruz (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. Benjamin Bratt 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
33 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.
Action Legend
Awarded
12 catalogue titles in action, 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
Coco
as Ernesto de la Cruz (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Bound by Honor
as Paco
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Coco
as Ernesto de la Cruz (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Abandon
as Wade Handler
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Doctor Strange
as Jonathan Pangborn
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Dead for a Dollar
as Tiberio Vargas
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Coco
as Ernesto de la Cruz (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Doctor Strange
as Jonathan Pangborn
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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
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
Which Benjamin Bratt 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
