Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#241
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Jesse Plemons represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 27 years in, and Jesse is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Jesse Plemons appears in 35 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Jesse. The Flyboys is the clearest case: a film rated 7.6 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 comedy, action, science fiction. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Francis Lawrence, Alex Garland and others, Jesse Plemons 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 Flyboys (2008) as Bully #1 · Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) as Tom White · Bugonia (2025) as Teddy
Career snapshot
Ranked #241 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
35
1999–2026
Career length
27 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.6
The Flyboys
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.6
The Flyboys
Most frequent director
Scott Cooper
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Scott Cooper
Most common genre
Drama
24 titles
Average runtime
1h 46m
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
6.4
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
6.7 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. The Road to El Camino: Behind the Scenes of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, Game Night — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.7
Across 16 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
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. Varsity Blues.
Most productive era
2010s
16 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 | 6.11 film | 5.83 films | 6.812 films | 6.68 films |
| Action | — | 7.61 film | 5.91 film | 3.52 films |
| Thriller | — | — | 6.64 films | 6.43 films |
| Comedy | 6.11 film | 5.93 films | 6.85 films | 5.45 films |
| Crime | — | 6.52 films | 6.84 films | 6.33 films |
| Romance | 6.11 film | 5.71 film | 6.31 film | — |
| Horror | — | — | — | 6.32 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1999Varsity Blues
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Tommy Harbor.
Highest rated performance
2008The Flyboys
7.6 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2021Judas and the Black Messiah
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
The current state of the argument, as Plutarch Heavensbee.
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.
35 of 35 films
as Tom White
Directed by Martin Scorsese
as Prince Joachim
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Teddy
Bugonia (2025)
Performance score7.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Teddy gives Jesse Plemons a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Roy Mitchell
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Performance score7.6
Judas and the Black Messiah asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Roy Mitchell is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Tom White
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Performance score7.5
Killers of the Flower Moon asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tom White is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Todd
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
Performance score7.5
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Todd 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 Teddy
Start here. Bugonia is the clearest statement of what Jesse Plemons does — accessible, 119 minutes, and rated 7.3 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Jesse 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.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
Keeps the thriller register of Bugonia but asks for a colder reading of it.
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Keeps the drama register of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie but asks for a colder reading of it.
Jungle Cruise (2021)
A deliberate change of key after Judas and the Black Messiah — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
A deliberate change of key after Jungle Cruise — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Scott Cooper
Director
3 films together
Notably Hostiles
Steven Spielberg
Director
2 films together
Notably Bridge of Spies
Charlie McDowell
Director
2 films together
Notably The Discovery
Brian Robbins
Director
1 film together
Notably Varsity Blues
Billy Bob Thornton
Director
1 film together
Notably All the Pretty Horses
Jonas Pate
Director
1 film together
Notably Shrink
Jody Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Observe and Report
Greg Mottola
Director
1 film together
Notably Paul
Paul Thomas Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Master
Peter Berg
Director
1 film together
Notably Battleship
Tommy Lee Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably The Homesman
Stephen Frears
Director
1 film together
Notably The Program
Chris Kelly
Director
1 film together
Notably Other People
Doug Liman
Director
1 film together
Notably American Made
Adam McKay
Director
1 film together
Notably Vice
John Francis Daley
Director
1 film together
Notably Game Night
Vince Gilligan
Director
1 film together
Notably El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
Charlie Kaufman
Director
1 film together
Notably I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Shaka King
Director
1 film together
Notably Judas and the Black Messiah
Jane Campion
Director
1 film together
Notably The Power of the Dog
Jaume Collet-Serra
Director
1 film together
Notably Jungle Cruise
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably Killers of the Flower Moon
Alex Garland
Director
1 film together
Notably Civil War
Francis Lawrence
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Director
1 film together
Notably Digger
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Scott Cooper
Director
3 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
HostilesSteven Spielberg
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
Bridge of SpiesCharlie McDowell
Director
2 films together · 5.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The DiscoveryMartin Scorsese
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Killers of the Flower MoonJaume Collet-Serra
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jungle CruiseShaka King
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Judas and the Black MessiahVince Gilligan
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
El Camino: A Breaking Bad MoviePaul Thomas Anderson
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The MasterAdam McKay
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ViceAlex Garland
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Civil WarDoug Liman
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American MadeJohn Francis Daley
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Game NightGreg Mottola
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PaulJane Campion
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 Power of the DogCharlie Kaufman
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I'm Thinking of Ending ThingsTommy Lee Jones
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 HomesmanChris Kelly
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Other PeopleStephen Frears
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ProgramJonas Pate
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ShrinkBrian Robbins
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Varsity BluesPeter Berg
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BattleshipBilly Bob Thornton
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
All the Pretty HorsesJody Hill
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Observe and ReportAlejandro G. Iñárritu
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DiggerFrancis Lawrence
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the ReapingSix 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
Jungle Cruise
as Prince Joachim
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 Post
as Roger Clark
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 Flyboys
as Bully #1
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Civil War
as Militia Soldier (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Bugonia
as Teddy
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. Jesse Plemons 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
27 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
24 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
Jungle Cruise
as Prince Joachim
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Flyboys
as Bully #1
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Post
as Roger Clark
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Game Night
as Gary
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Flyboys
as Bully #1
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Flyboys
as Bully #1
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
American Made
as Sheriff Downing
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Civil War
as Militia Soldier (uncredited)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Robert De Niro
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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