Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2419
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
John C. Reilly represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 38 years in, and John is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
John C. Reilly appears in 55 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without John. Guardians of the Galaxy is the clearest case: a film rated 8.1 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 drama, thriller, mystery. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Alex Prager, David Leitch, Guilford Adams and others, John C. Reilly 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.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) as Corpsman Dey · Once Upon a Studio (2023) as Wreck-It-Ralph (voice) · Magnolia (1999) as Officer Jim Kurring
Career snapshot
Ranked #2419 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
55
1988–2026
Career length
38 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
Guardians of the Galaxy
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
Once Upon a Studio
Most frequent director
Miguel Arteta
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Miguel Arteta
Most common genre
Drama
28 titles
Average runtime
1h 44m
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
6.6
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
1990s
6.8 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Magnolia, For Love of the Game, Never Been Kissed — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.8
Across 11 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.8
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. Casualties of War, We're No Angels, Above the Law.
Most productive era
2000s
17 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 | 6.72 films | 6.811 films | 6.97 films | 6.85 films | 6.53 films |
| Action | 6.31 film | 6.41 film | 6.44 films | 7.33 films | — |
| Thriller | 6.31 film | 6.53 films | 6.43 films | — | 2.03 films |
| Comedy | 6.21 film | 6.21 film | 6.410 films | 6.312 films | 7.62 films |
| Crime | 6.32 films | 6.93 films | 7.32 films | 4.31 film | 2.92 films |
| Romance | — | 6.73 films | 6.21 film | 6.13 films | 6.42 films |
| Horror | — | 6.11 film | 5.71 film | 5.51 film | 0.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1988Above the Law
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Thug in Bar (uncredited).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
8.1 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
The current state of the argument, as Agent West.
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.
55 of 55 films
as Ralph (voice)
Directed by Phil Johnston
as Corpsman Dey
Directed by James Gunn
as Officer Jim Kurring
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
as Wreck-It-Ralph (voice)
Directed by Dan Abraham
as Happy Jack
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.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Ralph (voice)
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Ralph (voice) gives John C. Reilly a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Corpsman Dey
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Performance score7.8
Guardians of the Galaxy asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Corpsman Dey is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Officer Jim Kurring
Magnolia (1999)
Performance score7.7
Magnolia asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Officer Jim Kurring is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Wreck-It-Ralph (voice)
Once Upon a Studio (2023)
Performance score7.5
Once Upon a Studio asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Wreck-It-Ralph (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 Ralph (voice)
Start here. Ralph Breaks the Internet is the clearest statement of what John C. Reilly does — accessible, 112 minutes, and rated 7.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet John 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.
Magnolia (1999)
A deliberate change of key after Ralph Breaks the Internet — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Gangs of New York (2002)
Keeps the drama register of Magnolia but asks for a colder reading of it.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
A deliberate change of key after Gangs of New York — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Once Upon a Studio (2023)
A deliberate change of key after Guardians of the Galaxy — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Martin Scorsese
Director
2 films together
Notably Gangs of New York
Adam McKay
Director
2 films together
Notably Step Brothers
Miguel Arteta
Director
2 films together
Notably The Good Girl
Andrew Davis
Director
1 film together
Notably Above the Law
Neil Jordan
Director
1 film together
Notably We're No Angels
Brian De Palma
Director
1 film together
Notably Casualties of War
Phil Joanou
Director
1 film together
Notably State of Grace
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Days of Thunder
Danny DeVito
Director
1 film together
Notably Hoffa
Lasse Hallström
Director
1 film together
Notably What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Curtis Hanson
Director
1 film together
Notably The River Wild
Taylor Hackford
Director
1 film together
Notably Dolores Claiborne
Ole Bornedal
Director
1 film together
Notably Nightwatch
Terrence Malick
Director
1 film together
Notably The Thin Red Line
Raja Gosnell
Director
1 film together
Notably Never Been Kissed
Sam Raimi
Director
1 film together
Notably For Love of the Game
Paul Thomas Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably Magnolia
Wolfgang Petersen
Director
1 film together
Notably The Perfect Storm
Stephen Daldry
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hours
Rob Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Chicago
Peter Segal
Director
1 film together
Notably Anger Management
Gregory Jacobs
Director
1 film together
Notably Criminal
Walter Salles
Director
1 film together
Notably Dark Water
Robert Altman
Director
1 film together
Notably A Prairie Home Companion
Jake Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Steven Conrad
Director
1 film together
Notably The Promotion
Paul Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
Jay Duplass
Director
1 film together
Notably Cyrus
Roman Polanski
Director
1 film together
Notably Carnage
Larry Charles
Director
1 film together
Notably The Dictator
James Gunn
Director
1 film together
Notably Guardians of the Galaxy
Garth Jennings
Director
1 film together
Notably Sing
Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Director
1 film together
Notably Kong: Skull Island
Jacques Audiard
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sisters Brothers
Phil Johnston
Director
1 film together
Notably Ralph Breaks the Internet
Jon S. Baird
Director
1 film together
Notably Stan & Ollie
Etan Cohen
Director
1 film together
Notably Holmes & Watson
Scott Mosier
Director
1 film together
Notably Minions & More 2
Dan Abraham
Director
1 film together
Notably Once Upon a Studio
David Lowery
Director
1 film together
Notably An Almost Christmas Story
Guilford Adams
Director
1 film together
Notably American Clown
David Leitch
Director
1 film together
Notably How to Rob a Bank
Alex Prager
Director
1 film together
Notably DreamQuil
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Martin Scorsese
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Gangs of New YorkAdam McKay
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Step BrothersMiguel Arteta
Director
2 films together · 6.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Good GirlJames Gunn
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Guardians of the GalaxyDan Abraham
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Once Upon a StudioPaul Thomas Anderson
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MagnoliaLasse Hallström
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What's Eating Gilbert GrapeScott Mosier
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Minions & More 2Terrence Malick
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Thin Red LineStephen Daldry
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The HoursTaylor Hackford
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dolores ClaibornePhil Johnston
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ralph Breaks the InternetRoman Polanski
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CarnageGarth Jennings
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SingRob Marshall
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ChicagoDavid Lowery
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
An Almost Christmas StoryPhil Joanou
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
State of GraceBrian De Palma
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Casualties of WarJon S. Baird
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Stan & OllieJacques Audiard
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 Sisters BrothersJordan Vogt-Roberts
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kong: Skull IslandJake Kasdan
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox StoryWolfgang Petersen
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 Perfect StormCurtis Hanson
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 River WildSam Raimi
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
For Love of the GameTony Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Days of ThunderRobert Altman
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Prairie Home CompanionDanny DeVito
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HoffaAndrew Davis
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Above the LawLarry Charles
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 DictatorGregory Jacobs
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CriminalPeter Segal
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Anger ManagementRaja Gosnell
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Never Been KissedNeil Jordan
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
We're No AngelsOle Bornedal
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NightwatchJay Duplass
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CyrusPaul Weitz
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's AssistantWalter Salles
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dark WaterSteven Conrad
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The PromotionEtan Cohen
Director
1 film together · 4.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Holmes & WatsonAlex Prager
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DreamQuilDavid Leitch
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
How to Rob a BankGuilford Adams
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American ClownSix 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
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Corpsman Dey
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
as Tucker Van Dyke
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Corpsman Dey
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Dictator
as Clayton (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Ralph Breaks the Internet
as Ralph (voice)
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. John C. Reilly 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
38 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
28 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
Once Upon a Studio
as Wreck-It-Ralph (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Dolores Claiborne
as Const. Frank Stamshaw
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
An Almost Christmas Story
as The Folk Singer (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Dolores Claiborne
as Const. Frank Stamshaw
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Corpsman Dey
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Corpsman Dey
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Once Upon a Studio
as Wreck-It-Ralph (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Corpsman Dey
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Robert De Niro
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Have your say
Community
Which John C. Reilly performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
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Reference
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