Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#836
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
David Dastmalchian 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.
David Dastmalchian appears in 41 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without David. Blade Runner 2049 is the clearest case: a film rated 9.2 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 horror, thriller, mystery. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with John Hyams, Kitao Sakurai, Bryan Fuller and others, David Dastmalchian 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.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017) as Coco · Oppenheimer (2023) as William Borden · The Dark Knight (2008) as Joker's Thug
Career snapshot
Ranked #836 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
41
2008–2026
Career length
18 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.2
Blade Runner 2049
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.5
The Dark Knight
Most frequent director
Denis Villeneuve
4 films together
Longest collaboration
4×
With Denis Villeneuve
Most common genre
Horror
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 51m
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
6.8
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
8.8 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. The Dark Knight — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
8.8
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
8.5
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2020s
7 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Cure, Sender, The Shepherd.
Most productive era
2020s
26 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 | — | 7.17 films | 8.23 films |
| Action | 8.81 film | 6.54 films | 6.18 films |
| Thriller | 8.81 film | 6.84 films | 5.45 films |
| Comedy | — | 5.63 films | 7.12 films |
| Sci-Fi | — | 9.21 film | — |
| Crime | 8.81 film | 6.82 films | 7.23 films |
| Horror | — | 6.43 films | 5.111 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2008The Dark Knight
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Joker's Thug.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.2 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
2026Street Fighter
The current state of the argument, as M. Bison.
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.
41 of 41 films
as Coco
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
as William Borden
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Joker's Thug
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Bob Taylor
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
as William Borden
Directed by Christopher Nolan
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 49 titles · 56 total credits · active 2008–2026
The Cure
2026 · Jeff Braun
Sender
2026 · Charlie
The Shepherd
2026 · The Shepherd · Executive Producer
METANOIA
2026 · Actor
Street Fighter
2026 · M. Bison
Rosario
2025 · Joe
Dust Bunny
2025 · Conspicuously Inconspicuous Man
The Life of Chuck
2025 · Josh
The Boulet Brothers' Holiday of Horrors
2025 · Self / Yeti (segment "Yeti or Not") · Director · Writer · Executive Producer
Valley Daze
2025 · Producer
Dexter: Resurrection
2025 · TV · Gareth / The Gemini Killer
Murderbot
2025 · TV · Gurathin
Late Night with the Devil
2024 · Jack Delroy · Executive Producer
Afraid
2024 · Lightning
The Creep Tapes
2024 · TV · Aaron
Grave Conversations
2024 · TV · Self · Executive Producer
Horror's Greatest
2024 · TV · Self - Actor, Late Night with the Devil
The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs: Joe Bob's Beelzebub Bash
2024 · TV · Self
Oppenheimer
2023 · William Borden
The Last Voyage of the Demeter
2023 · Wojchek
The Boogeyman
2023 · Lester Billings
Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham
2023 · Grendon (voice)
Boston Strangler
2023 · Albert DeSalvo
Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part Two
2023 · The Flash (voice)
The defining work
#1
Coco
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Performance score8.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Coco gives David Dastmalchian a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
William Borden
Oppenheimer (2023)
Performance score8.7
Oppenheimer asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. William Borden is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Joker's Thug
The Dark Knight (2008)
Performance score8.4
The Dark Knight asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Joker's Thug is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Bob Taylor
Prisoners (2013)
Performance score8.0
Prisoners asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Bob Taylor 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 Coco
Start here. Blade Runner 2049 is the clearest statement of what David Dastmalchian does — accessible, 164 minutes, and rated 9.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet David 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.
The Dark Knight (2008)
A deliberate change of key after Blade Runner 2049 — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Prisoners (2013)
Keeps the crime register of The Dark Knight but asks for a colder reading of it.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Keeps the drama register of Prisoners but asks for a colder reading of it.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Same director as Oppenheimer, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Denis Villeneuve
Director
4 films together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Peyton Reed
Director
3 films together
Notably Ant-Man
Christopher Nolan
Director
3 films together
Notably Oppenheimer
Chris Palmer
Director
2 films together
Notably Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One
Greg McLean
Director
1 film together
Notably The Belko Experiment
Susanne Bier
Director
1 film together
Notably Bird Box
Jason Mewes
Director
1 film together
Notably Madness in the Method
Sam Taylor-Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably A Million Little Pieces
Kevin Smith
Director
1 film together
Notably Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
James Gunn
Director
1 film together
Notably The Suicide Squad
Eric Appel
Director
1 film together
Notably Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
David A. Weiner
Director
1 film together
Notably In Search of Darkness: Part III
Brad Baruh
Director
1 film together
Notably Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Kerry Shawcross
Director
1 film together
Notably Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part Two
Christopher Berkeley
Director
1 film together
Notably Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham
Rob Savage
Director
1 film together
Notably The Boogeyman
André Øvredal
Director
1 film together
Notably The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Chris Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Afraid
Swanthula Boulet
Director
1 film together
Notably The Boulet Brothers' Holiday of Horrors
Mike Flanagan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Life of Chuck
Bryan Fuller
Director
1 film together
Notably Dust Bunny
Kitao Sakurai
Director
1 film together
Notably Street Fighter
John Hyams
Director
1 film together
Notably The Shepherd
Ryan Gosling
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Harrison Ford
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Ana de Armas
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Dave Bautista
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Robin Wright
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Sylvia Hoeks
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Mackenzie Davis
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Jared Leto
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Carla Juri
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Hiam Abbass
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Lennie James
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Sean Young
Actor
1 film together
Notably Blade Runner 2049
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Denis Villeneuve
Director
4 films together · 8.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 4 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Blade Runner 2049Christopher Nolan
Director
3 films together · 8.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
OppenheimerPeyton Reed
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
Ant-ManChris Palmer
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
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part OneDavid A. Weiner
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
In Search of Darkness: Part IIIJames Gunn
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Suicide SquadMike Flanagan
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Life of ChuckKerry Shawcross
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part TwoSusanne Bier
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bird BoxBryan Fuller
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dust BunnyAndré Øvredal
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Last Voyage of the DemeterChristopher Berkeley
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Batman: The Doom That Came to GothamEric Appel
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Weird: The Al Yankovic StoryRob Savage
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The BoogeymanBrad Baruh
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Sam Taylor-Johnson
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Million Little PiecesGreg McLean
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 Belko ExperimentChris Weitz
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AfraidKevin Smith
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jay and Silent Bob RebootSwanthula Boulet
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Boulet Brothers' Holiday of HorrorsJason Mewes
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Madness in the MethodJohn Hyams
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 ShepherdKitao Sakurai
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Street FighterSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
2 wins
2 wins · latest 2024
Oppenheimer
Blade Runner 2049
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Blade Runner 2049
as Coco
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Oppenheimer
as William Borden
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Oppenheimer
as William Borden
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Dark Knight
as Joker's Thug
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Oppenheimer
as William Borden
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. David Dastmalchian has known it for a long time.”
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
“They won't fear it until they understand it. And they won't understand it until they've used it.”
“You've never seen a miracle.”
“Dying for the right cause is the most human thing we can do.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.3 | 8.9 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #89 of 681 | #2 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 4 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 2 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 6 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.1 | 9.3 |
| Genres | Drama, History, Thriller, Sci-Fi | Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama, Thriller |
| Directors | Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve | Christopher Nolan |
| Performance DNA | Drama, Quiet performance, Screen presence | Transformation, Screen presence, Rewatchability |
| Career timeline | 2017–2023 | 2006–2014 |
| Most iconic role | Coco — Blade Runner 2049 | Professor Brand — Interstellar |
| Most rewatchable film | Blade Runner 2049 | The Dark Knight |
| Filmography | 2 catalogue films | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Christopher Nolan
Shared collections
Christopher Nolan Movies Ranked, Thriller Movies, Drama Movies, Mystery Movies, Best Space Movies, Best Movies of the 2010s
Collaborators in common
Christopher Nolan · Casey Affleck · Matt Damon · Cillian Murphy
Michael Caine edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Editor's Icon
Awarded
Named by our desk for a body of work we return to when we need to explain what screen acting is for.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Horror Legend
Awarded
14 catalogue titles in horror, 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
Blade Runner 2049
as Coco
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Blade Runner 2049
as Coco
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Oppenheimer
as William Borden
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Blade Runner 2049
as Coco
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Dark Knight
as Joker's Thug
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part Two
as The Flash (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Oppenheimer
as William Borden
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Blade Runner 2049
as Coco
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 13 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
genre
Drama Movies
Includes Oppenheimer, Blade Runner 2049
Read the collectiondirector
Best Denis Villeneuve Movies
Features Blade Runner 2049 at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Mystery Movies
Features Blade Runner 2049 at #1
Read the collectiontheme
Hidden Sci-Fi Gems
Features Blade Runner 2049 at #2
Read the collectiontheme
Best Philosophical Movies
Features Blade Runner 2049 at #2
Read the collectiontheme
Best Space Movies
Features Blade Runner 2049 at #3
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
Florence Pugh
Works with the same directors — Denis Villeneuve
Elliot Page
Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
David Krumholtz
Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
Cillian Murphy
Works with the same directors — Christopher Nolan
Have your say
Community
Which David Dastmalchian 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
