Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#5274
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Justin Timberlake works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Justin Timberlake appears in 22 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Justin. Palmer is the clearest case: a film rated 7.8 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 music, animation, documentary. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Morgan Neville, E-Type, Walt Dohrn and others, Justin Timberlake 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.
Palmer (2021) as Eddie Palmer · The Social Network (2010) as Sean Parker · Trolls Band Together (2023) as Branch (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #5274 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
22
2006–2024
Career length
18 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
Palmer
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
Palmer
Most frequent director
Walt Dohrn
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Walt Dohrn
Most common genre
Comedy
8 titles
Average runtime
1h 34m
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
6.3
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
6.5 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Wonder Wheel, Runner Runner, Inside Llewyn Davis — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.5
Across 9 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.5
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Love Guru, Shrek the Third, Alpha Dog.
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 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.71 film | 6.75 films | 7.32 films |
| Action | — | 7.01 film | — |
| Thriller | 6.71 film | 6.32 films | 6.71 film |
| Comedy | 5.32 films | 5.93 films | 7.23 films |
| Crime | 6.71 film | 5.61 film | 6.71 film |
| Romance | 4.11 film | 6.73 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2006Alpha Dog
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Frankie Ballenbacher.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2021Palmer
7.8 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
2024Piece by Piece
The current state of the argument, as Justin Timberlake (voice).
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.
22 of 22 films
as Branch (voice)
Directed by Walt Dohrn
as Branch (voice)
Directed by Walt Dohrn
as Branch (voice)
Directed by Sean Charmatz
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
Eddie Palmer
Palmer (2021)
Performance score8.3
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Eddie Palmer gives Justin Timberlake a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Branch (voice)
Trolls Band Together (2023)
Performance score7.6
Trolls Band Together asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Branch (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Branch (voice)
Trolls World Tour (2020)
Performance score7.6
Trolls World Tour asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Branch (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Jim
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Performance score7.6
Inside Llewyn Davis asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jim 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 Eddie Palmer
Start here. Palmer is the clearest statement of what Justin Timberlake does — accessible, 110 minutes, and rated 7.8 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.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Keeps the drama register of Palmer but asks for a colder reading of it.
Trolls World Tour (2020)
Keeps the music register of Inside Llewyn Davis but asks for a colder reading of it.
Trolls Holiday in Harmony (2021)
Keeps the comedy register of Trolls World Tour but asks for a colder reading of it.
Trolls Band Together (2023)
Keeps the comedy register of Trolls Holiday in Harmony but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Walt Dohrn
Director
2 films together
Notably Trolls Band Together
Nick Cassavetes
Director
1 film together
Notably Alpha Dog
Chris Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Shrek the Third
Marco Schnabel
Director
1 film together
Notably The Love Guru
David Fincher
Director
1 film together
Notably The Social Network
Eric Brevig
Director
1 film together
Notably Yogi Bear
Andrew Niccol
Director
1 film together
Notably In Time
Will Gluck
Director
1 film together
Notably Friends with Benefits
Jake Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably Bad Teacher
Robert Lorenz
Director
1 film together
Notably Trouble with the Curve
Joel Coen
Director
1 film together
Notably Inside Llewyn Davis
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably Wonder Wheel
Matthew Akers
Director
1 film together
Notably David Blaine: The Magic Way
Garret Price
Director
1 film together
Notably Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage
Glenn Weiss
Director
1 film together
Notably Celebrating America
Sean Charmatz
Director
1 film together
Notably Trolls Holiday in Harmony
Fisher Stevens
Director
1 film together
Notably Palmer
E-Type
Director
1 film together
Notably E-Type: The way I wanna live
Morgan Neville
Director
1 film together
Notably Piece by Piece
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Walt Dohrn
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
Trolls Band TogetherFisher Stevens
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PalmerDavid Fincher
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 Social NetworkMorgan Neville
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Piece by PieceJoel Coen
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Inside Llewyn DavisSean Charmatz
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Trolls Holiday in HarmonyRobert Lorenz
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Trouble with the CurveAndrew Niccol
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
In TimeGlenn Weiss
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Celebrating AmericaNick Cassavetes
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Alpha DogMatthew Akers
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
David Blaine: The Magic WayWill Gluck
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Friends with BenefitsGarret Price
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and RageChris Miller
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shrek the ThirdWoody 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 WheelJake Kasdan
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bad TeacherEric Brevig
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Yogi BearMarco Schnabel
Director
1 film together · 4.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Love GuruE-Type
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
E-Type: The way I wanna liveSix 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
Palmer
as Eddie Palmer
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Trolls Band Together
as Branch (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
Palmer
as Eddie Palmer
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
David Blaine: The Magic Way
as Self
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Palmer
as Eddie Palmer
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 Timberlake 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.
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
8 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
Trolls Band Together
as Branch (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Reptile
as Will Grady
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Trolls Band Together
as Branch (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Reptile
as Will Grady
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
In Time
as Will Salas
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
In Time
as Will Salas
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Trolls Band Together
as Branch (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Shrek the Third
as Prince Artie (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Morgan Freeman
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Edward Norton
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Zach Grenier
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Richmond Arquette
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Bob Stephenson
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Have your say
Community
Which Justin Timberlake performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
Join the conversation
Reference
Continue exploring
Trending performers
Directors they work with
Collections to read next
