Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1745
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Gabrielle Union represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 27 years in, and Gabrielle is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Gabrielle Union appears in 29 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Gabrielle. GOAT is the clearest case: a film rated 7.8 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, family. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Tyree Dillihay, Liz W. Garcia, Numa Perrier and others, Gabrielle Union 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.
GOAT (2026) as Jett Fillmore (voice) · Adele One Night Only (2021) as Self · 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) as Chastity
Career snapshot
Ranked #1745 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
29
1999–2026
Career length
27 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
GOAT
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
GOAT
Most frequent director
Tim Story
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Tim Story
Most common genre
Comedy
18 titles
Average runtime
1h 40m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
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
6.5
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
1990s
7.0 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. 10 Things I Hate About You, She's All That — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.0
Across 2 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
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. 10 Things I Hate About You, She's All That.
Most productive era
2020s
11 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 | 7.71 film | 6.35 films | 6.32 films | 6.02 films |
| Action | — | 6.42 films | 5.92 films | — |
| Thriller | — | 4.91 film | 5.92 films | — |
| Comedy | 7.02 films | 6.15 films | 6.43 films | 6.48 films |
| Crime | — | 6.33 films | 5.92 films | 5.81 film |
| Romance | 7.02 films | — | 6.43 films | 6.11 film |
| Horror | — | — | — | 6.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
199910 Things I Hate About You
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Chastity.
Highest rated performance
7.8 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak · Most recent film
2026GOAT
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once. The current state of the argument, as Jett Fillmore (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 Jett Fillmore (voice)
Directed by Tyree Dillihay
as Self
Directed by Paul Dugdale
as Dorothy 'Tootie' Ramsey
Directed by Andy Fisher
as Geneva Wade
Directed by Darnell Martin
as Clara Thomas
Directed by Joseph Sargent
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Jett Fillmore (voice)
GOAT (2026)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Jett Fillmore (voice) gives Gabrielle Union a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Self
Adele One Night Only (2021)
Performance score7.8
Adele One Night Only 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
Dorothy 'Tootie' Ramsey
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes (2021)
Performance score7.6
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dorothy 'Tootie' Ramsey is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Geneva Wade
Cadillac Records (2008)
Performance score7.5
Cadillac Records asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Geneva Wade 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 Jett Fillmore (voice)
Start here. GOAT is the clearest statement of what Gabrielle Union does — accessible, 100 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Gabrielle 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.
Something the Lord Made (2004)
A deliberate change of key after GOAT — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Cadillac Records (2008)
Keeps the drama register of Something the Lord Made but asks for a colder reading of it.
Adele One Night Only (2021)
Keeps the music register of Cadillac Records but asks for a colder reading of it.
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes (2021)
Keeps the tv movie register of Adele One Night Only but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Tim Story
Director
2 films together
Notably Think Like a Man
Robert Iscove
Director
1 film together
Notably She's All That
Gil Junger
Director
1 film together
Notably 10 Things I Hate About You
Peyton Reed
Director
1 film together
Notably Bring It On
Anthony Russo
Director
1 film together
Notably Welcome to Collinwood
Stephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together
Notably Abandon
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Director
1 film together
Notably Cradle 2 the Grave
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably Bad Boys II
Joseph Sargent
Director
1 film together
Notably Something the Lord Made
Ryan Murphy
Director
1 film together
Notably Running with Scissors
Darnell Martin
Director
1 film together
Notably Cadillac Records
Brian Robbins
Director
1 film together
Notably Meet Dave
Chris Rock
Director
1 film together
Notably Top Five
Howy Parkins
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar
Baran bo Odar
Director
1 film together
Notably Sleepless
James McTeigue
Director
1 film together
Notably Breaking In
Emilio Estevez
Director
1 film together
Notably The Public
Andy Fisher
Director
1 film together
Notably Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes
Paul Dugdale
Director
1 film together
Notably Adele One Night Only
Gail Lerner
Director
1 film together
Notably Cheaper by the Dozen
Don Hall
Director
1 film together
Notably Strange World
Elegance Bratton
Director
1 film together
Notably The Inspection
Numa Perrier
Director
1 film together
Notably The Perfect Find
Liz W. Garcia
Director
1 film together
Notably Space Cadet
Tyree Dillihay
Director
1 film together
Notably GOAT
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Tim Story
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Think Like a ManTyree Dillihay
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GOATPaul Dugdale
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Adele One Night OnlyGil Junger
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
10 Things I Hate About YouAndy Fisher
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Joseph Sargent
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Something the Lord MadeDarnell Martin
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cadillac RecordsMichael Bay
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bad Boys IIHowy Parkins
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 Lion Guard: Return of the RoarEmilio Estevez
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 PublicGail Lerner
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cheaper by the DozenPeyton Reed
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bring It OnRobert Iscove
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
She's All ThatElegance Bratton
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 InspectionDon Hall
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Strange WorldNuma Perrier
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Perfect FindChris Rock
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Top FiveAndrzej Bartkowiak
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cradle 2 the GraveAnthony Russo
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Welcome to CollinwoodJames McTeigue
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Breaking InBaran bo Odar
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SleeplessRyan Murphy
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Running with ScissorsLiz W. Garcia
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Space CadetBrian 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 DaveStephen Gaghan
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AbandonSix 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
GOAT
as Jett Fillmore (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
Cadillac Records
as Geneva Wade
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
10 Things I Hate About You
as Chastity
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Think Like a Man Too
as Kristen
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
GOAT
as Jett Fillmore (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. Gabrielle Union 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
27 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.
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
GOAT
as Jett Fillmore (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Bad Boys II
as Syd
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Cadillac Records
as Geneva Wade
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Abandon
as Amanda Luttrell
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
GOAT
as Jett Fillmore (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Bad Boys II
as Syd
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
10 Things I Hate About You
as Chastity
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Bad Boys II
as Syd
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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