Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1919
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
James Badge Dale 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.
James Badge Dale appears in 28 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without James. 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, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Rod Lurie, John Pollono, David Prior and others, James Badge Dale 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 Barrigan · The Departed (2006) as Barrigan · Safety (2020) as Coach Brad Simmons
Career snapshot
Ranked #1919 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
28
2006–2025
Career length
19 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.0
The Departed
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.5
The Departed
Most frequent director
Robert Zemeckis
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Robert Zemeckis
Most common genre
Drama
20 titles
Average runtime
1h 58m
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
6.6
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
8.7 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. The Departed, The Departed — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
8.7
Across 2 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
8.3
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. The Departed, The Departed.
Most productive era
2010s
19 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 | 8.72 films | 6.412 films | 6.56 films |
| Action | — | 6.57 films | — |
| Thriller | 8.72 films | 5.97 films | 6.24 films |
| Comedy | — | 6.21 film | — |
| Crime | 8.72 films | 5.95 films | 6.43 films |
| Horror | — | 7.11 film | 6.21 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio · First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2006The Departed
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Barrigan. 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
2025The Senior
The current state of the argument, as J.V Flynt.
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.
28 of 28 films
as Barrigan
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Barrigan
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Jesse Steed
Directed by Joseph Kosinski
as Tyrone 'Rone' Woods
Directed by Michael Bay
as Layne West
Directed by Unknown
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 33 titles · 33 total credits · active 2001–2025
Violent Ends
2025 · Sid Frost
King Ivory
2025 · Layne West
The Senior
2025 · J.V Flynt
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy
2025 · TV · Chief of Detectives Joe Kozenczak
Balestra
2024 · Raph
Balestra
2024 · TV · Raph
1923
2022 · TV · John Dutton, Sr.
Small Engine Repair
2021 · Badge
The Empty Man
2020 · James Lasombra
Safety
2020 · Coach Brad Simmons
Into the Ashes
2019 · Sal Porter
Mickey and the Bear
2019 · Hank Peck
The Kitchen
2019 · Kevin O'Carroll
The Standoff at Sparrow Creek
2019 · Gannon
Little Woods
2019 · Ian
Hold the Dark
2018 · Donald Marium
Only the Brave
2017 · Jesse Steed
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
2016 · Tyrone 'Rone' Woods
Spectral
2016 · Clyne
The Walk
2015 · J.P.
Miss Meadows
2014 · Sheriff
Stretch
2014 · Laurent
World War Z
2013 · Captain Speke
Iron Man 3
2013 · Savin
The defining work
#1
Barrigan
The Departed (2006)
Performance score8.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Barrigan gives James Badge Dale a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Barrigan
The Departed (2006)
Performance score8.1
The Departed asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Barrigan is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Jesse Steed
Only the Brave (2017)
Performance score7.6
Only the Brave asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jesse Steed is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Tyrone 'Rone' Woods
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
Performance score7.6
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tyrone 'Rone' Woods 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 Barrigan
Start here. The Departed is the clearest statement of what James Badge Dale 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 James 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.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)
Keeps the drama register of The Departed but asks for a colder reading of it.
Only the Brave (2017)
Keeps the drama register of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi but asks for a colder reading of it.
King Ivory (2025)
Keeps the drama register of Only the Brave but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Martin Scorsese
Director
2 films together
Notably The Departed
Joe Carnahan
Director
2 films together
Notably The Grey
Robert Zemeckis
Director
2 films together
Notably The Walk
Robert Redford
Director
1 film together
Notably The Conspirator
Peter Landesman
Director
1 film together
Notably Parkland
Gore Verbinski
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lone Ranger
Shane Black
Director
1 film together
Notably Iron Man 3
Marc Forster
Director
1 film together
Notably World War Z
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Joseph Kosinski
Director
1 film together
Notably Only the Brave
Jeremy Saulnier
Director
1 film together
Notably Hold the Dark
Nia DaCosta
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Woods
Annabelle Attanasio
Director
1 film together
Notably Mickey and the Bear
Reginald Hudlin
Director
1 film together
Notably Safety
David Prior
Director
1 film together
Notably The Empty Man
John Pollono
Director
1 film together
Notably Small Engine Repair
Rod Lurie
Director
1 film together
Notably The Senior
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
David O'Hara
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Mark Rolston
Actor
1 film together
Notably The Departed
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Martin Scorsese
Director
2 films together · 8.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The DepartedRobert Zemeckis
Director
2 films together · 7.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The WalkJoe Carnahan
Director
2 films together · 6.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The GreyReginald Hudlin
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SafetyJoseph Kosinski
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Only the BraveMichael Bay
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of BenghaziMarc Forster
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
World War ZShane Black
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Iron Man 3Rod Lurie
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 SeniorRobert Redford
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ConspiratorAnnabelle Attanasio
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mickey and the BearDavid Prior
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 Empty ManPeter Landesman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ParklandJohn Pollono
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Small Engine RepairGore Verbinski
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 Lone RangerJeremy Saulnier
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hold the DarkNia DaCosta
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little WoodsSix 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 Departed
as Barrigan
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Safety
as Coach Brad Simmons
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 Barrigan
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Flight
as Gaunt Young Man
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Departed
as Barrigan
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. James Badge Dale 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 | 8.2 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #205 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 | Intensity, Quiet performance, Drama | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2006–2006 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Barrigan — 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.
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
20 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 Barrigan
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Departed
as Barrigan
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Safety
as Coach Brad Simmons
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Hold the Dark
as Donald Marium
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Departed
as Barrigan
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Iron Man 3
as Savin
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Safety
as Coach Brad Simmons
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Departed
as Barrigan
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
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
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