Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1095
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Hugh Grant represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 38 years in, and Hugh is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Hugh Grant appears in 37 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Hugh. Merchant Ivory 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 romance, comedy, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Michael Morris, Brian Ward, Jerry Seinfeld and others, Hugh Grant 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.
Merchant Ivory (2024) as Self · The Gentlemen (2020) as Fletcher · Maurice (1987) as Clive Durham
Career snapshot
Ranked #1095 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
37
1987–2025
Career length
38 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.7
Merchant Ivory
Average Nutevio score
6.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.7
Merchant Ivory
Most frequent director
Marc Lawrence
4 films together
Longest collaboration
4×
With Marc Lawrence
Most common genre
Comedy
28 titles
Average runtime
1h 45m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
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
1980s
7.6 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Maurice — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.6
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
7.6
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Maurice.
Most productive era
2020s
14 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 | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.61 film | 6.84 films | 6.25 films | 6.93 films | 6.41 film |
| Action | — | — | — | 7.11 film | 7.12 films |
| Thriller | — | — | — | — | 6.82 films |
| Comedy | — | 6.34 films | 6.38 films | 6.76 films | 6.710 films |
| Crime | — | — | — | — | 7.32 films |
| Romance | 7.61 film | 6.95 films | 6.47 films | 6.73 films | 6.41 film |
| Horror | — | — | — | — | 7.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · Career peak
1987Maurice
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Clive Durham. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Highest rated performance
2020The Gentlemen
7.7 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Most recent film
2025What is an Ocean… Reconnecting the Cast and Crew of Cloud Atlas
The current state of the argument, as Self - Interviewee.
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.
37 of 37 films
as Clive Durham
Directed by James Ivory
as The Prime Minister
Directed by Richard Curtis
as Charles
Directed by Mike Newell
as The Prime Minister
Directed by Richard Curtis
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
Clive Durham
Maurice (1987)
Performance score7.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Clive Durham gives Hugh Grant a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
The Prime Minister
Love Actually (2003)
Performance score7.8
Love Actually asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. The Prime Minister is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mr. Reed
Heretic (2024)
Performance score7.6
Heretic asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mr. Reed is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Charles
One Red Nose Day and a Wedding (2019)
Performance score7.6
One Red Nose Day and a Wedding asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Charles 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 Clive Durham
Start here. Maurice is the clearest statement of what Hugh Grant does — accessible, 140 minutes, and rated 7.6 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Hugh 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.
Love Actually (2003)
Keeps the romance register of Maurice but asks for a colder reading of it.
Red Nose Day Actually (2017)
Same director as Love Actually, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
One Red Nose Day and a Wedding (2019)
Keeps the romance register of Red Nose Day Actually but asks for a colder reading of it.
Heretic (2024)
A deliberate change of key after One Red Nose Day and a Wedding — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Marc Lawrence
Director
4 films together
Notably Music and Lyrics
Guy Ritchie
Director
3 films together
Notably The Gentlemen
James Ivory
Director
2 films together
Notably Maurice
Richard Curtis
Director
2 films together
Notably Love Actually
Mike Newell
Director
2 films together
Notably One Red Nose Day and a Wedding
Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together
Notably Nine Months
Ang Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Sense and Sensibility
Roger Michell
Director
1 film together
Notably Notting Hill
Chris Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably About a Boy
Paul Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably American Dreamz
Peter Lord
Director
1 film together
Notably The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Lilly Wachowski
Director
1 film together
Notably Cloud Atlas
Stephen Frears
Director
1 film together
Notably Florence Foster Jenkins
Alice Mathias
Director
1 film together
Notably Death to 2020
Josh Ruben
Director
1 film together
Notably Death to 2021
Rian Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Paul King
Director
1 film together
Notably Wonka
John Francis Daley
Director
1 film together
Notably Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Jerry Seinfeld
Director
1 film together
Notably Unfrosted
Brian Ward
Director
1 film together
Notably What is an Ocean… Reconnecting the Cast and Crew of Cloud Atlas
Michael Morris
Director
1 film together
Notably Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Marc Lawrence
Director
4 films together · 6.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 4 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Music and LyricsGuy Ritchie
Director
3 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The GentlemenJames Ivory
Director
2 films together · 7.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
MauriceRichard Curtis
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
Love ActuallyMike Newell
Director
2 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
One Red Nose Day and a WeddingJohn Francis Daley
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among ThievesAng Lee
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sense and SensibilityRoger Michell
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Notting HillPaul King
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WonkaRian Johnson
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Glass Onion: A Knives Out MysteryLilly Wachowski
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cloud AtlasStephen Frears
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Florence Foster JenkinsChris Weitz
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
About a BoyAlice Mathias
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Death to 2020Peter Lord
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 Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!Michael Morris
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bridget Jones: Mad About the BoyJosh Ruben
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Death to 2021Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nine MonthsJerry Seinfeld
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
UnfrostedPaul Weitz
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American DreamzBrian Ward
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What is an Ocean… Reconnecting the Cast and Crew of Cloud AtlasSix 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
Maurice
as Clive Durham
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Maurice
as Clive Durham
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Maurice
as Clive Durham
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Paddington in Peru
as Phoenix Buchanan
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Maurice
as Clive Durham
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. Hugh Grant 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
38 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
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
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
as Phillip
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Gentlemen
as Fletcher
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
One Red Nose Day and a Wedding
as Charles
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
as Phillip
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Gentlemen
as Fletcher
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
as Greg Simmonds
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
One Red Nose Day and a Wedding
as Charles
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Love Actually
as The Prime Minister
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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