Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2146
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Garrett Hedlund 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.
Garrett Hedlund appears in 22 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Garrett. Mudbound is the clearest case: a film rated 7.4 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 crime, drama, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Neil Burger, Nadine Crocker, Lee Daniels and others, Garrett Hedlund 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.
Mudbound (2017) as Jamie McAllan · Unbroken (2014) as John Fitzgerald · Troy (2004) as Patroclus
Career snapshot
Ranked #2146 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
22
2004–2025
Career length
21 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.4
Mudbound
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.4
Unbroken
Most frequent director
Neil Burger
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Neil Burger
Most common genre
Drama
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 55m
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
6.4
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
6.4 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Georgia Rule, Death Sentence, Eragon — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.4
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.4
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. Georgia Rule, Death Sentence, Eragon.
Most productive era
2010s
10 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 | 6.42 films | 6.57 films | 6.45 films |
| Action | 6.54 films | 5.93 films | 6.32 films |
| Thriller | 6.81 film | 5.52 films | 6.35 films |
| Comedy | 6.01 film | — | — |
| Crime | 6.82 films | — | 6.34 films |
| Romance | 6.01 film | 6.11 film | 5.82 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · Highest rated performance
2004Troy
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Patroclus. 7.4 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak · Most recent film
2025Barron's Cove
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once. The current state of the argument, as Caleb Faulkner.
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.
22 of 22 films
as Caleb Faulkner
Directed by Unknown
as John Fitzgerald
Directed by Angelina Jolie
as Sam Flynn
Directed by Joseph Kosinski
as Billy Darley
Directed by James Wan
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
Caleb Faulkner
Barron's Cove (2025)
Performance score7.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Caleb Faulkner gives Garrett Hedlund a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Jamie McAllan
Mudbound (2017)
Performance score7.5
Mudbound asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jamie McAllan is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
John Fitzgerald
Unbroken (2014)
Performance score7.5
Unbroken asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. John Fitzgerald is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Sam Flynn
TRON: Legacy (2010)
Performance score7.3
TRON: Legacy asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sam Flynn 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 Caleb Faulkner
Start here. Barron's Cove is the clearest statement of what Garrett Hedlund does — accessible, 116 minutes, and rated 7.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Garrett 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.
Death Sentence (2007)
Keeps the crime register of Barron's Cove but asks for a colder reading of it.
TRON: Legacy (2010)
Keeps the action register of Death Sentence but asks for a colder reading of it.
Unbroken (2014)
A deliberate change of key after TRON: Legacy — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Mudbound (2017)
Keeps the drama register of Unbroken but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Wolfgang Petersen
Director
1 film together
Notably Troy
John Singleton
Director
1 film together
Notably Four Brothers
James Wan
Director
1 film together
Notably Death Sentence
Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Georgia Rule
Joseph Kosinski
Director
1 film together
Notably TRON: Legacy
Walter Salles
Director
1 film together
Notably On the Road
Joel Coen
Director
1 film together
Notably Inside Llewyn Davis
Angelina Jolie
Director
1 film together
Notably Unbroken
Joe Wright
Director
1 film together
Notably Pan
Ang Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
William Monahan
Director
1 film together
Notably Mojave
Dee Rees
Director
1 film together
Notably Mudbound
Gregor Jordan
Director
1 film together
Notably Dirt Music
Lee Daniels
Director
1 film together
Notably The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Nadine Crocker
Director
1 film together
Notably Desperation Road
Neil Burger
Director
1 film together
Notably The Marsh King's Daughter
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Dee Rees
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MudboundAngelina Jolie
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
UnbrokenWolfgang Petersen
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TroyJoel Coen
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Inside Llewyn DavisJames Wan
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Death SentenceJohn Singleton
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Four BrothersNadine Crocker
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Desperation RoadJoseph Kosinski
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TRON: LegacyLee Daniels
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 United States vs. Billie HolidayNeil Burger
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 Marsh King's DaughterGregor Jordan
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dirt MusicAng Lee
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime WalkJoe Wright
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PanGarry Marshall
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Georgia RuleWalter Salles
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
On the RoadWilliam Monahan
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MojaveSix 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
Mudbound
as Jamie McAllan
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Inside Llewyn Davis
as Johnny Five
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Troy
as Patroclus
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Inside Llewyn Davis
as Johnny Five
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Barron's Cove
as Caleb Faulkner
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. Garrett Hedlund 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
21 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.
Drama Legend
Awarded
14 catalogue titles in drama, 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
Mudbound
as Jamie McAllan
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Barron's Cove
as Caleb Faulkner
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The United States vs. Billie Holiday
as Harry Anslinger
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Marsh King's Daughter
as Stephen
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Troy
as Patroclus
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Mojave
as Thomas
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Georgia Rule
as Harlan Wilson
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Troy
as Patroclus
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
Which Garrett Hedlund 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
Collections to read next
