Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#822
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Ed Helms 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.
Ed Helms appears in 32 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Ed. Ron's Gone Wrong is the clearest case: a film rated 7.7 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 documentary, action, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Michael Dowse, McG, Scott Mosier and others, Ed Helms 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.
Ron's Gone Wrong (2021) as Graham (voice) · The Hangover (2009) as Stu Price · Minions & More 2 (2022) as Once-ler (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #822 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
32
2007–2026
Career length
19 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.7
Ron's Gone Wrong
Average Nutevio score
5.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
Ron's Gone Wrong
Most frequent director
Todd Phillips
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Todd Phillips
Most common genre
Comedy
28 titles
Average runtime
1h 30m
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
6.2
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
6.1 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Penguins, Corporate Animals, Tag — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.1
Across 16 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.1
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. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, The Hangover, Monsters vs Aliens.
Most productive era
2010s
16 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 | 3.22 films |
| Action | 6.31 film | 6.52 films | 2.72 films |
| Thriller | — | 6.21 film | — |
| Comedy | 6.17 films | 6.014 films | 5.87 films |
| Crime | — | 6.81 film | 5.41 film |
| Romance | — | — | 6.41 film |
| Horror | — | 4.81 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2007Evan Almighty
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Ed Carson - Ark Reporter.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2021Ron's Gone Wrong
7.7 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
2026The Stunt Driver
The current state of the argument, as Dick Keller.
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.
32 of 32 films
as Graham (voice)
Directed by Jean-Philippe Vine
as Stu Price
Directed by Todd Phillips
as Narrator (voice)
Directed by Alastair Fothergill
as Hogan 'Hoagie' Malloy
Directed by Jeff Tomsic
as Once-ler (voice)
Directed by Scott Mosier
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
Graham (voice)
Ron's Gone Wrong (2021)
Performance score8.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Graham (voice) gives Ed Helms a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Stu Price
The Hangover (2009)
Performance score7.9
The Hangover asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Stu Price is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Narrator (voice)
Penguins (2019)
Performance score7.7
Penguins 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
Hogan 'Hoagie' Malloy
Tag (2018)
Performance score7.4
Tag asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Hogan 'Hoagie' Malloy 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 Graham (voice)
Start here. Ron's Gone Wrong is the clearest statement of what Ed Helms does — accessible, 107 minutes, and rated 7.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Ed 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 Hangover (2009)
Keeps the comedy register of Ron's Gone Wrong but asks for a colder reading of it.
Tag (2018)
Keeps the comedy register of The Hangover but asks for a colder reading of it.
Penguins (2019)
A deliberate change of key after Tag — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Minions & More 2 (2022)
Keeps the family register of Penguins but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Todd Phillips
Director
3 films together
Notably The Hangover
David Wain
Director
2 films together
Notably A Futile and Stupid Gesture
Michael Dowse
Director
2 films together
Notably Coffee & Kareem
Jake Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Tom Shadyac
Director
1 film together
Notably Evan Almighty
Brian Robbins
Director
1 film together
Notably Meet Dave
Neal Brennan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
Rob Letterman
Director
1 film together
Notably Monsters vs Aliens
Shawn Levy
Director
1 film together
Notably Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Miguel Arteta
Director
1 film together
Notably Cedar Rapids
Chris Renaud
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lorax
Joe Carnahan
Director
1 film together
Notably Stretch
John Francis Daley
Director
1 film together
Notably Vacation
Jessie Nelson
Director
1 film together
Notably Love the Coopers
Lawrence Sher
Director
1 film together
Notably Father Figures
Jeff Tomsic
Director
1 film together
Notably Tag
Patrick Brice
Director
1 film together
Notably Corporate Animals
Alastair Fothergill
Director
1 film together
Notably Penguins
Jean-Philippe Vine
Director
1 film together
Notably Ron's Gone Wrong
Cinco Paul
Director
1 film together
Notably Minions & More Volume 1
Scott Mosier
Director
1 film together
Notably Minions & More 2
McG
Director
1 film together
Notably Family Switch
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Todd Phillips
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
The HangoverDavid Wain
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
A Futile and Stupid GestureMichael Dowse
Director
2 films together · 2.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Coffee & KareemJean-Philippe Vine
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ron's Gone WrongScott Mosier
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Minions & More 2Alastair Fothergill
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PenguinsCinco Paul
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Minions & More Volume 1Jeff Tomsic
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TagJake Kasdan
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox StoryChris Renaud
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 LoraxRob Letterman
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Monsters vs AliensMcG
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Family SwitchJohn Francis Daley
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VacationShawn Levy
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Night at the Museum: Battle of the SmithsonianJoe Carnahan
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StretchJessie Nelson
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Love the CoopersMiguel Arteta
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cedar RapidsLawrence Sher
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Father FiguresTom Shadyac
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Evan AlmightyNeal Brennan
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell HardBrian Robbins
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Meet DavePatrick Brice
Director
1 film together · 4.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Corporate AnimalsSix 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
Ron's Gone Wrong
as Graham (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
Together Together
as Matt
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Ron's Gone Wrong
as Graham (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
as Larry Daley's Assistant (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Ron's Gone Wrong
as Graham (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. Ed Helms 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
28 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
Ron's Gone Wrong
as Graham (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Ron's Gone Wrong
as Graham (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Together Together
as Matt
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Family Switch
as Bill Walker
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Tag
as Hogan 'Hoagie' Malloy
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
as Larry Daley's Assistant (uncredited)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Together Together
as Matt
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Hangover
as Stu Price
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Have your say
Community
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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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