Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#44
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
James Remar represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 47 years in, and James is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
James Remar appears in 37 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without James. Django Unchained is the clearest case: a film rated 8.4 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 action, comedy, horror. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Christopher Nolan, Josh Cooley, Francis Ford Coppola and others, James Remar 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.
Django Unchained (2012) as Butch Pooch / Ace Speck · Oppenheimer (2023) as Henry Stimson · Ratatouille (2007) as Larousse (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #44 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
37
1979–2026
Career length
47 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.4
Django Unchained
Average Nutevio score
6.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Django Unchained
Most frequent director
Walter Hill
4 films together
Longest collaboration
4×
With Walter Hill
Most common genre
Drama
16 titles
Average runtime
1h 53m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.2
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
6.8
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
1970s
7.5 average MV
The 1970s are where the work and the material meet. The Warriors — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1970s
7.5
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1970s
7.7
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1970s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Warriors.
Most productive era
1990s
9 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 | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 6.52 films | 6.46 films | 6.41 film | 7.34 films | 6.63 films |
| Action | 7.51 film | 6.72 films | 6.34 films | 6.43 films | 6.43 films | 7.52 films |
| Thriller | 7.51 film | 6.11 film | 5.72 films | 6.13 films | 6.44 films | 5.71 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.42 films | 6.23 films | 6.93 films | 7.22 films | 6.33 films |
| Crime | — | 6.54 films | — | 6.62 films | 6.71 film | 5.71 film |
| Romance | — | — | — | — | — | 6.31 film |
| Horror | — | — | 5.72 films | 5.83 films | 5.91 film | 7.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1979The Warriors
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Ajax.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2012Django Unchained
8.4 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
2026The Odyssey
The current state of the argument, as Tiresias.
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 Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
as Henry Stimson
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Tiresias
Directed by Christopher Nolan
as Larousse (voice)
Directed by Brad Bird
as Ajax
Directed by Walter Hill
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
Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
Django Unchained (2012)
Performance score8.1
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Butch Pooch / Ace Speck gives James Remar a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Henry Stimson
Oppenheimer (2023)
Performance score7.9
Oppenheimer asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Henry Stimson is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Tiresias
The Odyssey (2026)
Performance score7.8
The Odyssey asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tiresias is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Larousse (voice)
Ratatouille (2007)
Performance score7.8
Ratatouille asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Larousse (voice) 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 Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
Start here. Django Unchained is the clearest statement of what James Remar does — accessible, 165 minutes, and rated 8.4 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 Warriors (1979)
A deliberate change of key after Django Unchained — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Ratatouille (2007)
A deliberate change of key after The Warriors — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Oppenheimer (2023)
A deliberate change of key after Ratatouille — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Odyssey (2026)
Same director as Oppenheimer, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Walter Hill
Director
4 films together
Notably The Warriors
David S. Goyer
Director
2 films together
Notably Blade: Trinity
Quentin Tarantino
Director
2 films together
Notably Django Unchained
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
2 films together
Notably The Cotton Club
Christopher Nolan
Director
2 films together
Notably Oppenheimer
John Harrison
Director
1 film together
Notably Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Randal Kleiser
Director
1 film together
Notably White Fang
Penny Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Renaissance Man
Les Mayfield
Director
1 film together
Notably Miracle on 34th Street
Herbert Ross
Director
1 film together
Notably Boys on the Side
Danny Cannon
Director
1 film together
Notably Judge Dredd
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Director
1 film together
Notably The Quest
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably Psycho
Robert Zemeckis
Director
1 film together
Notably What Lies Beneath
Danny DeVito
Director
1 film together
Notably Duplex
John Singleton
Director
1 film together
Notably 2 Fast 2 Furious
Brad Bird
Director
1 film together
Notably Ratatouille
David Gordon Green
Director
1 film together
Notably Pineapple Express
Robert Schwentke
Director
1 film together
Notably RED
Matthew Vaughn
Director
1 film together
Notably X-Men: First Class
Tommy Bertelsen
Director
1 film together
Notably Feed
Osgood Perkins
Director
1 film together
Notably The Blackcoat's Daughter
Andrzej Bartkowiak
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead Reckoning
Charles Shyer
Director
1 film together
Notably The Noel Diary
Josh Cooley
Director
1 film together
Notably Transformers One
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Walter Hill
Director
4 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 4 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The WarriorsChristopher Nolan
Director
2 films together · 8.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
OppenheimerQuentin Tarantino
Director
2 films together · 8.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Django UnchainedFrancis Ford Coppola
Director
2 films together · 5.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Cotton ClubDavid S. Goyer
Director
2 films together · 5.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Blade: TrinityBrad Bird
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RatatouilleJosh Cooley
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transformers OneMatthew Vaughn
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
X-Men: First ClassTommy Bertelsen
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FeedLes Mayfield
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Miracle on 34th StreetRandal Kleiser
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
White FangRobert Schwentke
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
REDDavid Gordon Green
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pineapple ExpressJohn Singleton
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
2 Fast 2 FuriousRobert Zemeckis
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What Lies BeneathHerbert Ross
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Boys on the SideCharles Shyer
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Noel DiaryJean-Claude Van Damme
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 QuestJohn Harrison
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tales from the Darkside: The MovieDanny DeVito
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DuplexDanny Cannon
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Judge DreddPenny Marshall
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Renaissance ManOsgood Perkins
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Blackcoat's DaughterAndrzej Bartkowiak
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dead ReckoningGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PsychoSix 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
Django Unchained
as Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Oppenheimer
as Henry Stimson
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Django Unchained
as Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Oppenheimer
as Henry Stimson
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Django Unchained
as Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
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 Remar 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
47 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
Ratatouille
as Larousse (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Warriors
as Ajax
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Oppenheimer
as Henry Stimson
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Drugstore June
as Arnold
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Odyssey
as Tiresias
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Odyssey
as Tiresias
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Noel Diary
as Scott Turner
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Wild Bill
as Donnie Lonigan
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
Community
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Reference
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