Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1301
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Cedric the Entertainer represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 25 years in, and Cedric is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Cedric the Entertainer appears in 34 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Cedric. Swapped is the clearest case: a film rated 8.6 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 fantasy, adventure, family. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Nathan Greno, Mario Van Peebles, Jerry Seinfeld and others, Cedric the Entertainer 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.
Swapped (2026) as Caloo (voice) · Ice Age (2002) as Rhino (voice) · Above the Line (2025) as Tracy
Career snapshot
Ranked #1301 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
34
2001–2026
Career length
25 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.6
Swapped
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.9
Swapped
Most frequent director
Eric Darnell
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Eric Darnell
Most common genre
Comedy
24 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
6.9
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
2010s
6.4 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. #NoJoke, First Reformed, Why Him? — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.4
Across 7 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.4
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Merry Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Street Kings.
Most productive era
2000s
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 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.83 films | 6.43 films | 6.83 films |
| Action | 6.02 films | — | 6.12 films |
| Thriller | 6.71 film | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.211 films | 6.35 films | 5.48 films |
| Crime | 5.83 films | — | 7.41 film |
| Romance | 5.31 film | 6.02 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2001Dr. Dolittle 2
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Zoo Bear #1 (voice).
Highest rated performance · Career peak · Most recent film
2026Swapped
8.6 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. The current state of the argument, as Caloo (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.
34 of 34 films
as Caloo (voice)
Directed by Nathan Greno
as Rhino (voice)
Directed by Chris Wedge
as Pastor Joel Jeffers
Directed by Paul Schrader
as Tracy
Directed by Unknown
as Willie Dixon
Directed by Darnell Martin
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
Caloo (voice)
Swapped (2026)
Performance score8.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Caloo (voice) gives Cedric the Entertainer a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Rhino (voice)
Ice Age (2002)
Performance score7.7
Ice Age asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Rhino (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Pastor Joel Jeffers
First Reformed (2018)
Performance score7.4
First Reformed asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Pastor Joel Jeffers is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Tracy
Above the Line (2025)
Performance score7.2
Above the Line asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tracy 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 Caloo (voice)
Start here. Swapped is the clearest statement of what Cedric the Entertainer does — accessible, 102 minutes, and rated 8.6 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Cedric 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.
Ice Age (2002)
Keeps the adventure register of Swapped but asks for a colder reading of it.
Cadillac Records (2008)
A deliberate change of key after Ice Age — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
First Reformed (2018)
Keeps the drama register of Cadillac Records but asks for a colder reading of it.
Above the Line (2025)
Keeps the drama register of First Reformed but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Eric Darnell
Director
3 films together
Notably Madagascar
Reginald Hudlin
Director
1 film together
Notably Serving Sara
Tim Story
Director
1 film together
Notably Barbershop
Chris Wedge
Director
1 film together
Notably Ice Age
Brad Silberling
Director
1 film together
Notably Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
F. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together
Notably Be Cool
Les Mayfield
Director
1 film together
Notably Code Name: The Cleaner
Darnell Martin
Director
1 film together
Notably Cadillac Records
David Ayer
Director
1 film together
Notably Street Kings
Tom Hanks
Director
1 film together
Notably Larry Crowne
Bobs Gannaway
Director
1 film together
Notably Planes: Fire & Rescue
Chris Rock
Director
1 film together
Notably Top Five
John Hamburg
Director
1 film together
Notably Why Him?
Paul Schrader
Director
1 film together
Notably First Reformed
Nick Cannon
Director
1 film together
Notably She Ball
Steve Byrne
Director
1 film together
Notably The Opening Act
Jay Karas
Director
1 film together
Notably Feeding America Comedy Festival
Barry Alexander Brown
Director
1 film together
Notably Son of the South
Meagan Good
Director
1 film together
Notably Black Karen
Russell Norman
Director
1 film together
Notably Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
Jerry Seinfeld
Director
1 film together
Notably Unfrosted
Mario Van Peebles
Director
1 film together
Notably Outlaw Posse
Nathan Greno
Director
1 film together
Notably Swapped
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Eric Darnell
Director
3 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
MadagascarNathan Greno
Director
1 film together · 8.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SwappedChris Wedge
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ice AgeDarnell Martin
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cadillac RecordsRussell Norman
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of MagicPaul Schrader
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
First ReformedBrad Silberling
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate EventsDavid Ayer
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Street KingsBarry Alexander Brown
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Son of the SouthTim Story
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BarbershopNick Cannon
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
She BallJohn Hamburg
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Why Him?Bobs Gannaway
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Planes: Fire & RescueChris Rock
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Top FiveTom Hanks
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Larry CrowneJay Karas
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Feeding America Comedy FestivalF. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Be CoolJerry Seinfeld
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
UnfrostedReginald Hudlin
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Serving SaraSteve Byrne
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Opening ActLes Mayfield
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Code Name: The CleanerMario Van Peebles
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Outlaw PosseMeagan Good
Director
1 film together · 4.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Black KarenSix 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
Swapped
as Caloo (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
Swapped
as Caloo (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
Swapped
as Caloo (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Dr. Dolittle 2
as Zoo Bear #1 (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Swapped
as Caloo (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. Cedric the Entertainer 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
25 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
24 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
Swapped
as Caloo (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Swapped
as Caloo (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Swapped
as Caloo (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Swapped
as Caloo (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Swapped
as Caloo (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Outlaw Posse
as Horatio
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Above the Line
as Tracy
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Ice Age
as Rhino (voice)
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
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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
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Reference
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