Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2272
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Courtney B. Vance represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 39 years in, and Courtney is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Courtney B. Vance appears in 24 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Courtney. On Broadway is the clearest case: a film rated 8.7 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 history, documentary, science fiction. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Dean Fleischer Camp, Santino Fontana, Menhaj Huda and others, Courtney B. Vance 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.
On Broadway (2019) as Self (archive footage) · Between the World and Me (2020) as Self · Isle of Dogs (2018) as Narrator (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #2272 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
24
1987–2026
Career length
39 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.7
On Broadway
Average Nutevio score
6.0
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.7
On Broadway
Most frequent director
Dean Fleischer Camp
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Dean Fleischer Camp
Most common genre
Drama
11 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
6.6
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
1980s
6.5 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Hamburger Hill — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
6.5
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
6.6
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. Hamburger Hill.
Most productive era
2010s
8 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 | 6.51 film | 6.13 films | 6.91 film | 6.42 films | 6.84 films |
| Action | 6.51 film | 7.41 film | 6.41 film | 5.82 films | 6.41 film |
| Thriller | — | 7.41 film | 6.33 films | 5.82 films | 0.01 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.12 films | — | 6.82 films | 6.72 films |
| Crime | — | — | 5.61 film | — | 6.62 films |
| Romance | — | 5.81 film | — | — | 6.31 film |
| Horror | — | — | 5.61 film | 5.51 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1987Hamburger Hill
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Spc. Abraham 'Doc' Johnson.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2019On Broadway
8.7 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
2026W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause
The current state of the argument, as Self.
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.
24 of 24 films
as Self (archive footage)
Directed by Unknown
as Narrator (voice)
Directed by Wes Anderson
as Jeremy Horne
Directed by Menhaj Huda
as Cobra Bubbles
Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp
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
Self (archive footage)
On Broadway (2019)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self (archive footage) gives Courtney B. Vance a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Self
Between the World and Me (2020)
Performance score7.7
Between the World and Me asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Narrator (voice)
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Performance score7.6
Isle of Dogs asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Narrator (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Jeremy Horne
Heist 88 (2023)
Performance score7.4
Heist 88 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jeremy Horne 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 Self (archive footage)
Start here. On Broadway is the clearest statement of what Courtney B. Vance does — accessible, 84 minutes, and rated 8.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Courtney 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.
Isle of Dogs (2018)
A deliberate change of key after On Broadway — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Between the World and Me (2020)
A deliberate change of key after Isle of Dogs — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Heist 88 (2023)
Keeps the drama register of Between the World and Me but asks for a colder reading of it.
Lilo & Stitch (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Heist 88 — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
John Irvin
Director
1 film together
Notably Hamburger Hill
John McTiernan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hunt for Red October
Stephen Sommers
Director
1 film together
Notably The Adventures of Huck Finn
Penny Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably The Preacher's Wife
Robert Altman
Director
1 film together
Notably Cookie's Fortune
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Space Cowboys
Jim Gillespie
Director
1 film together
Notably D-Tox
Rod Lurie
Director
1 film together
Notably Nothing but the Truth
Tom Vaughan
Director
1 film together
Notably Extraordinary Measures
Alan Taylor
Director
1 film together
Notably Terminator Genisys
Josh Gordon
Director
1 film together
Notably Office Christmas Party
Alex Kurtzman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Mummy
Peter Hedges
Director
1 film together
Notably Ben Is Back
Wes Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably Isle of Dogs
Henry Joost
Director
1 film together
Notably Project Power
Prentice Penny
Director
1 film together
Notably Uncorked
Stella Meghie
Director
1 film together
Notably The Photograph
Menhaj Huda
Director
1 film together
Notably Heist 88
Santino Fontana
Director
1 film together
Notably Death Wish
Dean Fleischer Camp
Director
1 film together
Notably Lilo & Stitch
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Wes Anderson
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Isle of DogsJohn McTiernan
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 Hunt for Red OctoberDean Fleischer Camp
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lilo & StitchRod Lurie
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nothing but the TruthMenhaj Huda
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Heist 88Peter Hedges
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ben Is BackJohn Irvin
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hamburger HillHenry Joost
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Project PowerClint Eastwood
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Space CowboysRobert Altman
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cookie's FortuneStella Meghie
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 PhotographTom Vaughan
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Extraordinary MeasuresStephen Sommers
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Adventures of Huck FinnPrentice Penny
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
UncorkedAlan Taylor
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Terminator GenisysPenny Marshall
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 Preacher's WifeJosh Gordon
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Office Christmas PartyJim Gillespie
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
D-ToxAlex Kurtzman
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The MummySantino Fontana
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Death WishSix 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
On Broadway
as Self (archive footage)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Photograph
as Louis Morton
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
On Broadway
as Self (archive footage)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
On Broadway
as Self (archive footage)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
On Broadway
as Self (archive footage)
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. Courtney B. Vance 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
39 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
11 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
On Broadway
as Self (archive footage)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Hunt for Red October
as Petty Officer Ronald 'Jonesy' Jones (USS Dallas)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Photograph
as Louis Morton
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Heist 88
as Jeremy Horne
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
On Broadway
as Self (archive footage)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Mummy
as Colonel Greenway
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Preacher's Wife
as Reverend Henry Biggs
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Heist 88
as Jeremy Horne
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Harvey Keitel
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Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Have your say
Community
Which Courtney B. Vance performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
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Reference
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