Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1922
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Jim Belushi represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 42 years in, and Jim is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Jim Belushi appears in 26 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Jim. Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie 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, music, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Craig Brewer, Kristen Stewart, Nick Hamm and others, Jim Belushi 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.
Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie (2018) as Coach Wittenberg (voice) · Gigi & Nate (2022) as Dan Gibson · Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King (2008) as Glob (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #1922 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
26
1983–2025
Career length
42 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.7
Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie
Average Nutevio score
6.6
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.7
Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie
Most frequent director
Craig Brewer
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Craig Brewer
Most common genre
Comedy
15 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
6.8
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
2020s
6.9 average MV
The 2020s are where the work and the material meet. Song Sung Blue, The Chronology of Water, Fight Another Day — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2020s
6.9
Across 5 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
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. K-9, Red Heat, Salvador.
Most productive era
2010s
7 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 | 6.42 films | 6.72 films | — | 6.23 films | 7.33 films |
| Action | 6.32 films | 6.61 film | 5.61 film | 5.71 film | 5.61 film |
| Thriller | 6.81 film | — | — | 6.14 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.64 films | 6.55 films | 6.53 films | 6.33 films | — |
| Crime | 6.32 films | — | 6.31 film | 5.71 film | — |
| Romance | 6.11 film | 6.32 films | — | 6.22 films | 7.41 film |
| Horror | 6.91 film | — | — | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1983Trading Places
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Harvey.
Highest rated performance
2018Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie
7.7 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2022Gigi & Nate
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Ken Kesey.
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.
26 of 26 films
as Tom D'Amato
Directed by Craig Brewer
as Coach Wittenberg (voice)
Directed by Raymie Muzquiz
as Glob (voice)
Directed by Joe Sichta
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
Dan Gibson
Gigi & Nate (2022)
Performance score7.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Dan Gibson gives Jim Belushi a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Tom D'Amato
Song Sung Blue (2025)
Performance score7.5
Song Sung Blue asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tom D'Amato is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Coach Wittenberg (voice)
Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie (2018)
Performance score7.5
Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Coach Wittenberg (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Glob (voice)
Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King (2008)
Performance score7.4
Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Glob (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 Dan Gibson
Start here. Gigi & Nate is the clearest statement of what Jim Belushi does — accessible, 114 minutes, and rated 7.6 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Jim 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.
Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King (2008)
A deliberate change of key after Gigi & Nate — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie (2018)
Keeps the comedy register of Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King but asks for a colder reading of it.
Song Sung Blue (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Chronology of Water (2025)
Keeps the drama register of Song Sung Blue but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
John Landis
Director
1 film together
Notably Trading Places
Edward Zwick
Director
1 film together
Notably About Last Night...
Frank Oz
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Shop of Horrors
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Salvador
Walter Hill
Director
1 film together
Notably Red Heat
Rod Daniel
Director
1 film together
Notably K-9
James Orr
Director
1 film together
Notably Mr. Destiny
John Hughes
Director
1 film together
Notably Curly Sue
John McTiernan
Director
1 film together
Notably Last Action Hero
Brian Levant
Director
1 film together
Notably Jingle All the Way
Barry Levinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Wag the Dog
Joe Sichta
Director
1 film together
Notably Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King
Roman Polanski
Director
1 film together
Notably The Ghost Writer
Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably New Year's Eve
Courtney Hunt
Director
1 film together
Notably The Whole Truth
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably Wonder Wheel
Raymie Muzquiz
Director
1 film together
Notably Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie
R.J. Cutler
Director
1 film together
Notably Belushi
Nick Hamm
Director
1 film together
Notably Gigi & Nate
Kristen Stewart
Director
1 film together
Notably The Chronology of Water
Craig Brewer
Director
1 film together
Notably Song Sung Blue
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Raymie Muzquiz
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hey Arnold! The Jungle MovieNick Hamm
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gigi & NateJoe Sichta
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin KingCraig Brewer
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Song Sung BlueJohn Landis
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Trading PlacesR.J. Cutler
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BelushiBarry Levinson
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wag the DogFrank Oz
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little Shop of HorrorsKristen Stewart
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Chronology of WaterRoman Polanski
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Ghost WriterOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SalvadorCourtney Hunt
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 Whole TruthJohn McTiernan
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Last Action HeroWoody Allen
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wonder WheelJohn Hughes
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Curly SueWalter Hill
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Red HeatJames Orr
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mr. DestinyRod Daniel
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
K-9Brian Levant
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jingle All the WayEdward Zwick
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
About Last Night...Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
New Year's EveSix 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
Gigi & Nate
as Dan Gibson
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King
as Glob (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie
as Coach Wittenberg (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Wag the Dog
as Jim Belushi
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Gigi & Nate
as Dan Gibson
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. Jim Belushi 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
42 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
15 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
Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King
as Glob (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Ghost Writer
as John Maddox
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Song Sung Blue
as Tom D'Amato
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Ghost Writer
as John Maddox
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie
as Coach Wittenberg (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Hollow Point
as Shepard
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King
as Glob (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Red Heat
as Art Ridzik
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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