Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#300
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Harold Perrineau represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 34 years in, and Harold is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Harold Perrineau appears in 22 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Harold. The Matrix Reloaded is the clearest case: a film rated 7.3 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, comedy, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Anne Fletcher, Akiva Goldsman, David Ayer and others, Harold Perrineau 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.
The Matrix Reloaded (2003) as Link · Smoke (1995) as Thomas 'Rashid' Cole · Felon (2008) as Lt. Jackson
Career snapshot
Ranked #300 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
22
1990–2024
Career length
34 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.3
The Matrix Reloaded
Average Nutevio score
6.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.2
Smoke
Most frequent director
Ric Roman Waugh
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Ric Roman Waugh
Most common genre
Drama
12 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
6.6
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
6.8 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Felon, 28 Weeks Later, The Matrix Reloaded — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.8
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.7
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 Best Man, The Edge, Romeo + Juliet.
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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.94 films | 6.62 films | 6.46 films | — |
| Action | 6.91 film | 7.13 films | 5.84 films | — |
| Thriller | 6.32 films | 7.04 films | 5.96 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.92 films | 6.11 film | 6.83 films | — |
| Crime | 6.32 films | 7.11 film | 5.72 films | — |
| Romance | 6.91 film | 6.11 film | 7.01 film | — |
| Horror | — | 6.61 film | 5.62 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1990King of New York
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Thug Leader.
Highest rated performance
7.3 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2008Felon
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2024Getting LOST
The current state of the argument, as Self (archive footage).
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 Lt. Jackson
Directed by Ric Roman Waugh
as Link
Directed by Lilly Wachowski
as Stephen
Directed by Lee Tamahori
as Lee Wayne / Rhea Ranged
Directed by Anne Fletcher
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
Lt. Jackson
Felon (2008)
Performance score7.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Lt. Jackson gives Harold Perrineau a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Thomas 'Rashid' Cole
Smoke (1995)
Performance score7.3
Smoke asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Thomas 'Rashid' Cole is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Link
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Performance score7.2
The Matrix Reloaded asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Link is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Stephen
The Edge (1997)
Performance score7.1
The Edge asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Stephen 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 Lt. Jackson
Start here. Felon is the clearest statement of what Harold Perrineau does — accessible, 103 minutes, and rated 7.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Harold 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.
Smoke (1995)
Keeps the drama register of Felon but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Edge (1997)
Keeps the drama register of Smoke but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Keeps the action register of The Edge but asks for a colder reading of it.
Dumplin' (2018)
A deliberate change of key after The Matrix Reloaded — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Lilly Wachowski
Director
2 films together
Notably The Matrix Reloaded
Malcolm D. Lee
Director
2 films together
Notably The Best Man
Ric Roman Waugh
Director
2 films together
Notably Felon
Abel Ferrara
Director
1 film together
Notably King of New York
Bob Rafelson
Director
1 film together
Notably Blood and Wine
Baz Luhrmann
Director
1 film together
Notably Romeo + Juliet
Lee Tamahori
Director
1 film together
Notably The Edge
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Director
1 film together
Notably 28 Weeks Later
Ben Ketai
Director
1 film together
Notably 30 Days of Night: Dark Days
Roger Donaldson
Director
1 film together
Notably Seeking Justice
Kathryn Bigelow
Director
1 film together
Notably Zero Dark Thirty
Antonio Negret
Director
1 film together
Notably Transit
David Ayer
Director
1 film together
Notably Sabotage
Akiva Goldsman
Director
1 film together
Notably Stephanie
Anne Fletcher
Director
1 film together
Notably Dumplin'
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Lilly Wachowski
Director
2 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Matrix ReloadedRic Roman Waugh
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
FelonMalcolm D. Lee
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Best ManKathryn Bigelow
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Zero Dark ThirtyLee Tamahori
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The EdgeBaz Luhrmann
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Romeo + JulietAnne Fletcher
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dumplin'Abel Ferrara
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
King of New YorkJuan Carlos Fresnadillo
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
28 Weeks LaterAkiva Goldsman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StephanieRoger Donaldson
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Seeking JusticeAntonio Negret
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TransitBob Rafelson
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Blood and WineDavid Ayer
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SabotageBen Ketai
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
30 Days of Night: Dark DaysSix 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
The Matrix Reloaded
as Link
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Romeo + Juliet
as Mercutio
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The Matrix Reloaded
as Link
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Getting LOST
as Self (archive footage)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Felon
as Lt. Jackson
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. Harold Perrineau 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
34 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
12 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
The Matrix Reloaded
as Link
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Felon
as Lt. Jackson
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Woman on Top
as Monica Jones
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Stephanie
as Leader (uncredited)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Matrix Reloaded
as Link
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Edge
as Stephen
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Woman on Top
as Monica Jones
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Matrix Reloaded
as Link
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
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Reference
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