Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#718
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Dave Franco 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.
Dave Franco appears in 29 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Dave. Hoppers is the clearest case: a film rated 8.1 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 science fiction, comedy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Daniel Chong, Macon Blair, Joel Crawford and others, Dave Franco 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.
Hoppers (2026) as Insect King (voice) · The Lego Movie (2014) as Wally (voice) · Superbad (2007) as Greg the Soccer Player
Career snapshot
Ranked #718 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
29
2007–2026
Career length
19 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
Hoppers
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Hoppers
Most frequent director
Phil Lord
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Phil Lord
Most common genre
Comedy
18 titles
Average runtime
1h 41m
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
6.3
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
6.7 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Milk, Superbad, After Sex — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.7
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.7
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. Milk, Superbad, After Sex.
Most productive era
2010s
18 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 | 6.32 films | 6.65 films | 7.11 film |
| Action | — | 6.64 films | 6.71 film |
| Thriller | — | 6.83 films | 6.63 films |
| Comedy | 6.52 films | 6.412 films | 3.74 films |
| Crime | — | 7.05 films | 4.43 films |
| Romance | 5.51 film | 6.63 films | 6.93 films |
| Horror | — | 6.31 film | 6.82 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2007Superbad
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Greg the Soccer Player.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2026Hoppers
8.1 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
2026Forgotten Island
The current state of the argument, as Raww (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.
29 of 29 films
as Insect King (voice)
Directed by Daniel Chong
as Ian
Directed by Henry Joost
as Jack Wilder
Directed by Louis Leterrier
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
Insect King (voice)
Hoppers (2026)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Insect King (voice) gives Dave Franco a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Greg / 'Mark'
The Disaster Artist (2017)
Performance score7.7
The Disaster Artist asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Greg / 'Mark' is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Tim
Together (2025)
Performance score7.5
Together asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tim is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Ian
Nerve (2016)
Performance score7.4
Nerve asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ian 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 Insect King (voice)
Start here. Hoppers is the clearest statement of what Dave Franco does — accessible, 105 minutes, and rated 8.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Dave 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.
Now You See Me (2013)
A deliberate change of key after Hoppers — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Nerve (2016)
Keeps the crime register of Now You See Me but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Disaster Artist (2017)
A deliberate change of key after Nerve — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Together (2025)
A deliberate change of key after The Disaster Artist — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Phil Lord
Director
3 films together
Notably The Lego Movie
Nicholas Stoller
Director
2 films together
Notably Neighbors
Eric Amadio
Director
1 film together
Notably After Sex
Greg Mottola
Director
1 film together
Notably Superbad
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably Milk
Noah Baumbach
Director
1 film together
Notably Greenberg
Burr Steers
Director
1 film together
Notably Charlie St. Cloud
Craig Gillespie
Director
1 film together
Notably Fright Night
Louis Leterrier
Director
1 film together
Notably Now You See Me
Henry Joost
Director
1 film together
Notably Nerve
Jon M. Chu
Director
1 film together
Notably Now You See Me 2
Charlie Bean
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lego Ninjago Movie
James Franco
Director
1 film together
Notably The Disaster Artist
Marja-Lewis Ryan
Director
1 film together
Notably 6 Balloons
Barry Jenkins
Director
1 film together
Notably If Beale Street Could Talk
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably 6 Underground
J.J. Perry
Director
1 film together
Notably Day Shift
Josh Boone
Director
1 film together
Notably Regretting You
Ruben Fleischer
Director
1 film together
Notably Now You See Me: Now You Don't
Joel Crawford
Director
1 film together
Notably Forgotten Island
Macon Blair
Director
1 film together
Notably Idiots
Daniel Chong
Director
1 film together
Notably Hoppers
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Phil Lord
Director
3 films together · 7.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Lego MovieNicholas Stoller
Director
2 films together · 6.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
NeighborsDaniel Chong
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HoppersGreg Mottola
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SuperbadLouis Leterrier
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Now You See MeJosh Boone
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Regretting YouJames Franco
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 Disaster ArtistGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MilkHenry Joost
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NerveBurr Steers
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Charlie St. CloudBarry Jenkins
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
If Beale Street Could TalkJon M. Chu
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Now You See Me 2J.J. Perry
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Day ShiftRuben Fleischer
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Now You See Me: Now You Don'tCharlie Bean
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 Lego Ninjago MovieMichael Bay
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
6 UndergroundCraig Gillespie
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fright NightMarja-Lewis Ryan
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
6 BalloonsNoah Baumbach
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GreenbergEric Amadio
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
After SexMacon Blair
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
IdiotsJoel Crawford
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Forgotten IslandSix 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
Hoppers
as Insect King (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
Regretting You
as Jonah Sullivan
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Hoppers
as Insect King (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
22 Jump Street
as Eric Molson (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Hoppers
as Insect King (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. Dave Franco 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
18 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
Hoppers
as Insect King (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Now You See Me
as Jack Wilder
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Regretting You
as Jonah Sullivan
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Nerve
as Ian
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Hoppers
as Insect King (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Lego Ninjago Movie
as Lloyd (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Lego Movie
as Wally (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Superbad
as Greg the Soccer Player
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
David Krumholtz
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
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
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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