Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2903
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Ethan Embry represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 35 years in, and Ethan is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Ethan Embry appears in 18 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Ethan. Scissors is the clearest case: a film rated 10.0 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 comedy, horror, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Hannah Alline, Elegance Bratton, Kevin Williamson and others, Ethan Embry 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.
Scissors (2026) as The Man · Christy (2025) as John Salters · First Man (2018) as Pete Conrad
Career snapshot
Ranked #2903 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
18
1991–2026
Career length
35 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
10.0
Scissors
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
10.0
Scissors
Most frequent director
Hannah Alline
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Hannah Alline
Most common genre
Thriller
8 titles
Average runtime
1h 33m
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
6.7
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
7.0 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. First Man — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
7.0
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
7.0
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Prophecy II, Disturbing Behavior, That Thing You Do!.
Most productive era
2020s
7 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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.83 films | — | 7.01 film | 3.62 films |
| Action | 6.01 film | 6.12 films | — | 6.32 films |
| Thriller | 6.01 film | 6.42 films | — | 5.65 films |
| Comedy | 6.83 films | 6.52 films | — | 10.01 film |
| Crime | — | — | — | 6.51 film |
| Romance | 6.82 films | 6.41 film | — | — |
| Horror | 5.92 films | 6.31 film | — | 7.33 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Steve.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2026Scissors
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 10.0 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
2026Scream 7
The current state of the argument, as Marco.
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.
18 of 18 films
as The Man
Directed by Hannah Alline
as John Salters
Directed by David Michôd
as T.B. Player
Directed by Tom Hanks
as Pete Conrad
Directed by Damien Chazelle
as Steve
Directed by Albert Brooks
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
The Man
Scissors (2026)
Performance score9.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. The Man gives Ethan Embry a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
John Salters
Christy (2025)
Performance score7.3
Christy asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. John Salters is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
T.B. Player
That Thing You Do! (1996)
Performance score7.0
That Thing You Do! asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. T.B. Player is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Pete Conrad
First Man (2018)
Performance score6.9
First Man asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Pete Conrad 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 The Man
Start here. Scissors is the clearest statement of what Ethan Embry does — accessible, 12 minutes, and rated 10.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Ethan 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.
Defending Your Life (1991)
Keeps the comedy register of Scissors but asks for a colder reading of it.
That Thing You Do! (1996)
Keeps the comedy register of Defending Your Life but asks for a colder reading of it.
First Man (2018)
Keeps the drama register of That Thing You Do! but asks for a colder reading of it.
Christy (2025)
Keeps the drama register of First Man but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Albert Brooks
Director
1 film together
Notably Defending Your Life
Allan Moyle
Director
1 film together
Notably Empire Records
Tom Hanks
Director
1 film together
Notably That Thing You Do!
David Nutter
Director
1 film together
Notably Disturbing Behavior
Greg Spence
Director
1 film together
Notably The Prophecy II
Andy Tennant
Director
1 film together
Notably Sweet Home Alabama
Richard Donner
Director
1 film together
Notably Timeline
Danny Leiner
Director
1 film together
Notably Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
Nimród Antal
Director
1 film together
Notably Vacancy
D.J. Caruso
Director
1 film together
Notably Eagle Eye
Damien Chazelle
Director
1 film together
Notably First Man
Brian Goodman
Director
1 film together
Notably Last Seen Alive
Michael Patrick Jann
Director
1 film together
Notably Alma & the Wolf
David Michôd
Director
1 film together
Notably Christy
Kevin Williamson
Director
1 film together
Notably Scream 7
Elegance Bratton
Director
1 film together
Notably By Any Means
Hannah Alline
Director
1 film together
Notably Scissors
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Hannah Alline
Director
1 film together · 10.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ScissorsDavid Michôd
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ChristyDamien Chazelle
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 ManAlbert Brooks
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Defending Your LifeTom Hanks
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
That Thing You Do!Danny Leiner
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harold & Kumar Go to White CastleAllan Moyle
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Empire RecordsKevin Williamson
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scream 7D.J. Caruso
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Eagle EyeBrian Goodman
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Last Seen AliveAndy Tennant
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sweet Home AlabamaNimród Antal
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
VacancyGreg Spence
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Prophecy IIDavid Nutter
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Disturbing BehaviorRichard Donner
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TimelineMichael Patrick Jann
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Alma & the WolfElegance Bratton
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
By Any MeansSix 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
Scissors
as The Man
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Christy
as John Salters
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Scissors
as The Man
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Defending Your Life
as Steve
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Scissors
as The Man
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. Ethan Embry 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
35 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.
Thriller Legend
Awarded
8 catalogue titles in thriller, 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
Scissors
as The Man
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Scissors
as The Man
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Christy
as John Salters
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Alma & the Wolf
as Ren Accord
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Scissors
as The Man
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Timeline
as Josh Stern
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Defending Your Life
as Steve
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Scream 7
as Marco
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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Reference
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