Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#920
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Justin Long represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 28 years in, and Justin is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Justin Long appears in 56 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Justin. The Clerks 3 Documentary is the clearest case: a film rated 10.0 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, horror, thriller. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Rob Burnett, Zach Cregger, Kevin Smith and others, Justin Long 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 Clerks 3 Documentary (2022) · Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk (2019) as Self · Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary (2019) as Self
Career snapshot
Ranked #920 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
56
1999–2027
Career length
28 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
10.0
The Clerks 3 Documentary
Average Nutevio score
5.8
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
10.0
The Clerks 3 Documentary
Most frequent director
Kevin Smith
5 films together
Longest collaboration
5×
With Kevin Smith
Most common genre
Comedy
37 titles
Average runtime
1h 35m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
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
1990s
7.1 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Galaxy Quest — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.1
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.1
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. Galaxy Quest.
Most productive era
2000s
20 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 | — | 6.05 films | 6.06 films | 3.02 films |
| Action | — | 6.42 films | 5.22 films | 5.11 film |
| Thriller | — | 6.53 films | 5.61 film | 4.24 films |
| Comedy | 7.11 film | 5.916 films | 5.711 films | 4.39 films |
| Crime | — | — | 6.62 films | — |
| Romance | — | 5.86 films | 6.13 films | 5.72 films |
| Horror | — | 6.42 films | 6.03 films | 4.99 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1999Galaxy Quest
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Brandon.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 10.0 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
2027Lice
The current state of the argument, as Principal Van.
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.
56 of 56 films
as AJ
Directed by Zach Cregger
as Dell
Directed by Sam Esmail
as Gary
Directed by Zach Cregger
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
The Clerks 3 Documentary
The Clerks 3 Documentary (2022)
Performance score9.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. The role gives Justin Long a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Self
Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk (2019)
Performance score8.1
Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
AJ
Barbarian (2022)
Performance score7.3
Barbarian asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. AJ is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Dell
Comet (2014)
Performance score7.3
Comet asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dell 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
Start here. The Clerks 3 Documentary is the clearest statement of what Justin Long does — accessible, 96 minutes, and rated 10.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Justin 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.
Comet (2014)
A deliberate change of key after The Clerks 3 Documentary — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk (2019)
A deliberate change of key after Comet — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Barbarian (2022)
Keeps the horror register of Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk but asks for a colder reading of it.
Weapons (2025)
Same director as Barbarian, 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.
Kevin Smith
Director
5 films together
Notably Clerks III
Zach Cregger
Director
2 films together
Notably Weapons
Dean Parisot
Director
1 film together
Notably Galaxy Quest
Tamra Davis
Director
1 film together
Notably Crossroads
Adam McKay
Director
1 film together
Notably Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie
Angela Robinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Herbie Fully Loaded
Peyton Reed
Director
1 film together
Notably The Break-Up
Steve Pink
Director
1 film together
Notably Accepted
Jake Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Len Wiseman
Director
1 film together
Notably Live Free or Die Hard
Fred Wolf
Director
1 film together
Notably Strange Wilderness
Cheryl Hines
Director
1 film together
Notably Serious Moonlight
Judd Apatow
Director
1 film together
Notably Funny People
Sam Raimi
Director
1 film together
Notably Drag Me to Hell
Betty Thomas
Director
1 film together
Notably Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Miguel Arteta
Director
1 film together
Notably Youth in Revolt
Ken Kwapis
Director
1 film together
Notably He's Just Not That Into You
Nanette Burstein
Director
1 film together
Notably Going the Distance
Robert Redford
Director
1 film together
Notably The Conspirator
Mike Mitchell
Director
1 film together
Notably Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Barry Cook
Director
1 film together
Notably Walking with Dinosaurs
Kat Coiro
Director
1 film together
Notably A Case of You
Brett Ratner
Director
1 film together
Notably Movie 43
Rob Thomas
Director
1 film together
Notably Veronica Mars
Sam Esmail
Director
1 film together
Notably Comet
Ed Gass-Donnelly
Director
1 film together
Notably Lavender
Jason Mewes
Director
1 film together
Notably Walrus Yes: The Making of Tusk
Justin Long
Director
1 film together
Notably Lady of the Manor
Neil LaBute
Director
1 film together
Notably House of Darkness
Clare Niederpruem
Director
1 film together
Notably Christmas with the Campbells
Rob Burnett
Director
1 film together
Notably In Memoriam
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Kevin Smith
Director
5 films together · 5.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 5 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Clerks IIIZach Cregger
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
WeaponsJason Mewes
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Walrus Yes: The Making of TuskDean Parisot
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Galaxy QuestLen Wiseman
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Live Free or Die HardSam Esmail
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CometRob Thomas
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Veronica MarsRobert Redford
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 ConspiratorKen Kwapis
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
He's Just Not That Into YouJake 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 StorySam Raimi
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Drag Me to HellSteve Pink
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AcceptedBarry Cook
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Walking with DinosaursNanette Burstein
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Going the DistanceMiguel Arteta
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Youth in RevoltAdam McKay
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost MovieJudd Apatow
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Funny PeoplePeyton Reed
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 Break-UpAngela Robinson
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Herbie Fully LoadedMike Mitchell
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Alvin and the Chipmunks: ChipwreckedBetty Thomas
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The SqueakquelClare Niederpruem
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Christmas with the CampbellsJustin Long
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lady of the ManorEd Gass-Donnelly
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LavenderKat Coiro
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Case of YouTamra Davis
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CrossroadsNeil LaBute
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
House of DarknessCheryl Hines
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Serious MoonlightFred Wolf
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Strange WildernessBrett Ratner
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Movie 43Rob Burnett
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
In MemoriamSix 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
The Clerks 3 Documentary
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Herbie Fully Loaded
as Kevin
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 Clerks 3 Documentary
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
as George Harrison (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Clerks 3 Documentary
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. Justin Long 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
28 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
37 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
The Clerks 3 Documentary
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Clerks 3 Documentary
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Herbie Fully Loaded
as Kevin
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Barbarian
as AJ
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Clerks 3 Documentary
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
as Lawyer
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
as Alvin (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Spin the Bottle
as Sheriff Stanton
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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