Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#4550
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
J.C. MacKenzie represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 28 years in, and J.C. is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
J.C. MacKenzie appears in 19 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without J.C.. The Departed is the clearest case: a film rated 9.0 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 crime, drama, history. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Martin Scorsese, Ray Romano, Cord Jefferson and others, J.C. MacKenzie 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 Departed (2006) as Realtor · The Departed (2006) as Realtor · The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) as Lucas Solomon
Career snapshot
Ranked #4550 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
19
1995–2023
Career length
28 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.0
The Departed
Average Nutevio score
6.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.5
The Departed
Most frequent director
Martin Scorsese
5 films together
Longest collaboration
5×
With Martin Scorsese
Most common genre
Drama
16 titles
Average runtime
2h 9m
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
6.9
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
6.9 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Share, Molly's Game, The Wolf of Wall Street — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.9
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2020s
6.9
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. He Got Game, Clockers.
Most productive era
2000s
8 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 | 6.72 films | 7.07 films | 6.93 films | 7.24 films |
| Action | — | 6.51 film | — | 6.71 film |
| Thriller | — | 7.44 films | — | 6.52 films |
| Comedy | — | 6.23 films | 8.31 film | 6.82 films |
| Crime | 6.71 film | 7.64 films | 7.82 films | 6.82 films |
| Romance | — | 5.41 film | — | — |
| Horror | — | — | — | 6.71 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1995Clockers
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Medic Frank.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2006The Departed
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.0 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
2023American Fiction
The current state of the argument, as Carl Brunt.
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.
19 of 19 films
as Realtor
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Realtor
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Lucas Solomon
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Radio Announcer
Directed by Martin Scorsese
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 24 titles · 24 total credits · active 1995–2023
Killers of the Flower Moon
2023 · Radio Announcer
Somewhere in Queens
2023 · Mr. Mack
American Fiction
2023 · Carl Brunt
Gaslit
2022 · TV · Howard Hunt
The Hunt
2020 · Paul
Target Number One
2020 · Arthur
The Trial of the Chicago 7
2020 · Thomas Foran
October Faction
2020 · TV · Fred Allen
Share
2019 · Mickey
Molly's Game
2017 · Harrison Wellstone
Vinyl
2016 · TV · Skip Fontaine
Madam Secretary
2014 · TV · Governor Sam Evans
The Wolf of Wall Street
2013 · Lucas Solomon
Hemlock Grove
2013 · TV · Dr. Arnold Spivak
My One and Only
2009 · Tom
Mad Money
2008 · Richard Mandelbrot
The Day the Earth Stood Still
2008 · Grossman
The Departed
2006 · Realtor
The Aviator
2004 · Ludlow
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
2004 · Co-Pilot
What Planet Are You From?
2000 · John
Dark Angel
2000 · TV · Reagan Ronald
He Got Game
1998 · Doctor Cone
Clockers
1995 · Medic Frank
The defining work
#1
Realtor
The Departed (2006)
Performance score8.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Realtor gives J.C. MacKenzie a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Realtor
The Departed (2006)
Performance score8.1
The Departed asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Realtor is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Lucas Solomon
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Performance score8.0
The Wolf of Wall Street asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lucas Solomon is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Thomas Foran
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
Performance score7.5
The Trial of the Chicago 7 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Thomas Foran 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 Realtor
Start here. The Departed is the clearest statement of what J.C. MacKenzie does — accessible, 151 minutes, and rated 9.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet J.C. 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.
The Departed (2006)
Same director as The Departed, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Same director as The Departed, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
Keeps the drama register of The Wolf of Wall Street but asks for a colder reading of it.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Keeps the drama register of The Trial of the Chicago 7 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Martin Scorsese
Director
5 films together
Notably The Departed
Spike Lee
Director
2 films together
Notably He Got Game
Aaron Sorkin
Director
2 films together
Notably The Trial of the Chicago 7
Mike Nichols
Director
1 film together
Notably What Planet Are You From?
Scott Derrickson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Day the Earth Stood Still
Callie Khouri
Director
1 film together
Notably Mad Money
Richard Loncraine
Director
1 film together
Notably My One and Only
Pippa Bianco
Director
1 film together
Notably Share
Craig Zobel
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hunt
Cord Jefferson
Director
1 film together
Notably American Fiction
Ray Romano
Director
1 film together
Notably Somewhere in Queens
Matt Damon
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Jack Nicholson
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Mark Wahlberg
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Martin Sheen
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Ray Winstone
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Vera Farmiga
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Anthony Anderson
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Alec Baldwin
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Kevin Corrigan
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
James Badge Dale
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
David O'Hara
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Martin Scorsese
Director
5 films together · 8.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 5 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The DepartedAaron Sorkin
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
The Trial of the Chicago 7Spike Lee
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
He Got GameCord Jefferson
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American FictionCraig Zobel
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 HuntRichard Loncraine
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My One and OnlyCallie Khouri
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mad MoneyRay Romano
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Somewhere in QueensScott Derrickson
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Day the Earth Stood StillMike Nichols
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What Planet Are You From?Pippa Bianco
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ShareSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Performer
J.C. MacKenzie
Where this journey starts
Director
Martin Scorsese
5 collaborations, averaging 8.1
Film
The Departed
Their highest-rated film together (2006)
Performer
Matt Damon
Shares the frame in The Departed
Film
Interstellar
Where Matt goes next, and where you can too
Performer
Michael Caine
Three steps from where you began
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
The Departed
as Realtor
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Trial of the Chicago 7
as Thomas Foran
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 Departed
as Realtor
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
He Got Game
as Doctor Cone
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Departed
as Realtor
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. J.C. MacKenzie has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.1 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #319 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.0 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Crime, Thriller, Drama | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Martin Scorsese | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Quiet performance, Intensity, Screen presence | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2006–2006 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Realtor — The Departed | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | The Departed | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
The Departed
Shared directors
Martin Scorsese
Shared collections
Top 100 Crime Movies, Thriller Movies, Crime Movies, Drama Movies
Collaborators in common
Martin Scorsese · Leonardo DiCaprio · Jack Nicholson · Mark Wahlberg
Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
28 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
16 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 Departed
as Realtor
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Departed
as Realtor
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Trial of the Chicago 7
as Thomas Foran
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Clockers
as Medic Frank
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Departed
as Realtor
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Hunt
as Paul
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Wolf of Wall Street
as Lucas Solomon
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Departed
as Realtor
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 4 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
From the magazine
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Robert De Niro
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: drama and thriller
Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Have your say
Community
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