Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#714
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Jon Lovitz represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 39 years in, and Jon is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Jon Lovitz appears in 35 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Jon. A Tooth Fairy Tale is the clearest case: a film rated 8.6 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 fantasy, family, animation. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Kyle Newacheck, Beth McCarthy-Miller, Brent Hodge and others, Jon Lovitz 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.
A Tooth Fairy Tale (2025) as Webster (voice) · Matilda (1996) as Million $ Sticky Host (uncredited) · A League of Their Own (1992) as Ernie Capadino
Career snapshot
Ranked #714 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
35
1986–2025
Career length
39 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.6
A Tooth Fairy Tale
Average Nutevio score
5.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.6
A Tooth Fairy Tale
Most frequent director
Matt Shapira
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Matt Shapira
Most common genre
Comedy
30 titles
Average runtime
1h 37m
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
6.6
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
1980s
6.6 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Big, My Stepmother Is an Alien, The Brave Little Toaster — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
6.6
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
6.6
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. Big, My Stepmother Is an Alien, The Brave Little Toaster.
Most productive era
2020s
10 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 | 7.21 film | 6.22 films | 5.91 film | 6.01 film | — |
| Action | 6.41 film | — | 5.72 films | 5.21 film | 6.81 film |
| Thriller | — | — | 5.91 film | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.53 films | 6.47 films | 5.86 films | 5.87 films | 4.77 films |
| Crime | — | — | 5.91 film | — | — |
| Romance | — | 6.52 films | 5.91 film | 6.01 film | 6.81 film |
| Horror | — | — | 5.71 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1986¡Three Amigos!
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Morty.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
8.6 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 Self.
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 Webster (voice)
Directed by Unknown
as The Radio (voice)
Directed by Jerry Rees
as Million $ Sticky Host (uncredited)
Directed by Danny DeVito
as Scotty Brennen
Directed by Penny Marshall
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
Webster (voice)
A Tooth Fairy Tale (2025)
Performance score8.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Webster (voice) gives Jon Lovitz a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
The Radio (voice)
The Brave Little Toaster (1987)
Performance score7.2
The Brave Little Toaster asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. The Radio (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Million $ Sticky Host (uncredited)
Matilda (1996)
Performance score7.1
Matilda asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Million $ Sticky Host (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Ernie Capadino
A League of Their Own (1992)
Performance score7.1
A League of Their Own asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ernie Capadino 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 Webster (voice)
Start here. A Tooth Fairy Tale is the clearest statement of what Jon Lovitz does — accessible, 88 minutes, and rated 8.6 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Jon 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 Brave Little Toaster (1987)
Keeps the fantasy register of A Tooth Fairy Tale but asks for a colder reading of it.
Big (1988)
Keeps the fantasy register of The Brave Little Toaster but asks for a colder reading of it.
A League of Their Own (1992)
Same director as Big, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Matilda (1996)
Keeps the comedy register of A League of Their Own but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Penny Marshall
Director
2 films together
Notably A League of Their Own
Frank Coraci
Director
2 films together
Notably The Wedding Singer
Genndy Tartakovsky
Director
2 films together
Notably Hotel Transylvania
Matt Shapira
Director
2 films together
Notably Love on the Rock
John Landis
Director
1 film together
Notably ¡Three Amigos!
Jerry Rees
Director
1 film together
Notably The Brave Little Toaster
Richard Benjamin
Director
1 film together
Notably My Stepmother Is an Alien
James Orr
Director
1 film together
Notably Mr. Destiny
Phil Nibbelink
Director
1 film together
Notably An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
Rob Reiner
Director
1 film together
Notably North
Paul Weiland
Director
1 film together
Notably City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
Danny DeVito
Director
1 film together
Notably Matilda
Steven Brill
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Nicky
Frank Oz
Director
1 film together
Notably The Stepford Wives
Susan Stroman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Producers
Amy Heckerling
Director
1 film together
Notably I Could Never Be Your Woman
Dennis Dugan
Director
1 film together
Notably Grown Ups 2
Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Mother's Day
Anthony Patellis
Director
1 film together
Notably Hooked
Jonathan A. Rosenbaum
Director
1 film together
Notably Benchwarmers 2: Breaking Balls
Jay Karas
Director
1 film together
Notably Feeding America Comedy Festival
David Silverman
Director
1 film together
Notably Extinct
Mike Binder
Director
1 film together
Notably Dirty Daddy: The Bob Saget Tribute
Brent Hodge
Director
1 film together
Notably Downey Wrote That
Beth McCarthy-Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Netflix Tudum 2025
Kyle Newacheck
Director
1 film together
Notably Happy Gilmore 2
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Penny Marshall
Director
2 films together · 7.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
A League of Their OwnGenndy Tartakovsky
Director
2 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Hotel TransylvaniaFrank Coraci
Director
2 films together · 6.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Wedding SingerMatt Shapira
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
Love on the RockDanny DeVito
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MatildaJerry Rees
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 Brave Little ToasterKyle Newacheck
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Happy Gilmore 2Phil Nibbelink
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
An American Tail: Fievel Goes WestJohn Landis
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
¡Three Amigos!James 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. DestinyDavid Silverman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ExtinctDennis Dugan
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Grown Ups 2Susan Stroman
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 ProducersGarry Marshall
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mother's DayAmy Heckerling
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I Could Never Be Your WomanJay Karas
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Feeding America Comedy FestivalSteven Brill
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little NickyRichard Benjamin
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Stepmother Is an AlienFrank Oz
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Stepford WivesPaul Weiland
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's GoldBeth McCarthy-Miller
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Netflix Tudum 2025Rob Reiner
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NorthMike Binder
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dirty Daddy: The Bob Saget TributeJonathan A. Rosenbaum
Director
1 film together · 4.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Benchwarmers 2: Breaking BallsBrent Hodge
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Downey Wrote ThatAnthony Patellis
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HookedSix 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
A Tooth Fairy Tale
as Webster (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
A Tooth Fairy Tale
as Webster (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
A Tooth Fairy Tale
as Webster (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Matilda
as Million $ Sticky Host (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
A Tooth Fairy Tale
as Webster (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. Jon Lovitz 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
39 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
30 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
A Tooth Fairy Tale
as Webster (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
A Tooth Fairy Tale
as Webster (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
A Tooth Fairy Tale
as Webster (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
A Tooth Fairy Tale
as Webster (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
A Tooth Fairy Tale
as Webster (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Ridiculous 6
as Grant
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
as Chula (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
as Glen Robbins
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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