Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#862
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Kevin Dunn represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 38 years in, and Kevin is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Kevin Dunn appears in 45 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Kevin. Warrior 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 comedy, horror, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Tyler Cornack, Tim Story, Josef Kubota Wladyka and others, Kevin Dunn 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.
Warrior (2011) as Principal Zito · King Richard (2021) as Vic Braden · Mississippi Burning (1988) as Agent Bird
Career snapshot
Ranked #862 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
45
1988–2026
Career length
38 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
Warrior
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.8
Warrior
Most frequent director
Ivan Reitman
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Ivan Reitman
Most common genre
Drama
22 titles
Average runtime
1h 51m
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
6.6
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
7.1 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Ghostbusters II, Mississippi Burning — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.1
Across 2 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
7.1
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. Ghostbusters II, Mississippi Burning.
Most productive era
1990s
15 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 | 7.51 film | 6.46 films | 6.44 films | 5.67 films | 6.64 films |
| Action | — | 6.36 films | 6.43 films | 6.27 films | 5.51 film |
| Thriller | 7.51 film | 6.16 films | 5.81 film | 6.14 films | 6.82 films |
| Comedy | 6.71 film | 6.26 films | 5.92 films | 6.43 films | 6.04 films |
| Crime | 7.51 film | 6.22 films | 7.11 film | 6.12 films | 6.91 film |
| Romance | — | 5.91 film | 6.23 films | 6.62 films | — |
| Horror | — | 6.71 film | — | — | 5.31 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Agent Bird.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2011Warrior
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
202672 HOURS
The current state of the argument, as Terry.
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.
45 of 45 films
as Principal Zito
Directed by Gavin O'Connor
as Sgt. Phil Casey
Directed by Unknown
as Vic Braden
Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green
as Agent Bird
Directed by Alan Parker
as Ted Dexter
Directed by Phil Joanou
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
Principal Zito
Warrior (2011)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Principal Zito gives Kevin Dunn a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Sgt. Phil Casey
Amber Alert (2024)
Performance score7.5
Amber Alert asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sgt. Phil Casey is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Vic Braden
King Richard (2021)
Performance score7.4
King Richard asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vic Braden is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Agent Bird
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Performance score7.3
Mississippi Burning asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Agent Bird 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 Principal Zito
Start here. Warrior is the clearest statement of what Kevin Dunn does — accessible, 140 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Kevin 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.
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Keeps the drama register of Warrior but asks for a colder reading of it.
Gridiron Gang (2006)
Keeps the crime register of Mississippi Burning but asks for a colder reading of it.
King Richard (2021)
Keeps the drama register of Gridiron Gang but asks for a colder reading of it.
Amber Alert (2024)
Keeps the drama register of King Richard but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Michael Bay
Director
3 films together
Notably Transformers
Ivan Reitman
Director
3 films together
Notably Draft Day
Brian De Palma
Director
2 films together
Notably Snake Eyes
Alan Parker
Director
1 film together
Notably Mississippi Burning
Dwight H. Little
Director
1 film together
Notably Marked for Death
Kathryn Bigelow
Director
1 film together
Notably Blue Steel
Jim Abrahams
Director
1 film together
Notably Hot Shots!
Richard Attenborough
Director
1 film together
Notably Chaplin
Ridley Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably 1492: Conquest of Paradise
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Nixon
Andrew Davis
Director
1 film together
Notably Chain Reaction
Glenn Gordon Caron
Director
1 film together
Notably Picture Perfect
Joe Dante
Director
1 film together
Notably Small Soldiers
Roland Emmerich
Director
1 film together
Notably Godzilla
Christopher Guest
Director
1 film together
Notably Almost Heroes
David Koepp
Director
1 film together
Notably Stir of Echoes
David O. Russell
Director
1 film together
Notably I ♥ Huckabees
Steven Zaillian
Director
1 film together
Notably All the King's Men
Phil Joanou
Director
1 film together
Notably Gridiron Gang
Robert Redford
Director
1 film together
Notably Lions for Lambs
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Unstoppable
Gavin O'Connor
Director
1 film together
Notably Warrior
Tony McNamara
Director
1 film together
Notably Ashby
Greg Mottola
Director
1 film together
Notably Keeping Up with the Joneses
Phillip Noyce
Director
1 film together
Notably Above Suspicion
Rupert Wyatt
Director
1 film together
Notably Captive State
Kyle Laursen
Director
1 film together
Notably Josiah
Ben Falcone
Director
1 film together
Notably Thunder Force
Reinaldo Marcus Green
Director
1 film together
Notably King Richard
Josef Kubota Wladyka
Director
1 film together
Notably Catch the Fair One
Tim Story
Director
1 film together
Notably 72 HOURS
Tyler Cornack
Director
1 film together
Notably Mermaid
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Ivan Reitman
Director
3 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Draft DayMichael Bay
Director
3 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
TransformersBrian De Palma
Director
2 films together · 5.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Snake EyesGavin O'Connor
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WarriorReinaldo Marcus Green
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
King RichardAlan Parker
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mississippi BurningRichard Attenborough
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ChaplinPhil Joanou
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gridiron GangTim Story
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
72 HOURSWoody Allen
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Vicky Cristina BarcelonaDavid Koepp
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Stir of EchoesOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NixonJim Abrahams
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hot Shots!Tony Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
UnstoppableJoe Dante
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Small SoldiersJosef Kubota Wladyka
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Catch the Fair OneRidley 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
1492: Conquest of ParadiseDavid O. Russell
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I ♥ HuckabeesTony McNamara
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AshbyGreg Mottola
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Keeping Up with the JonesesDwight H. Little
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Marked for DeathRobert Redford
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lions for LambsPhillip Noyce
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Above SuspicionChristopher Guest
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Almost HeroesRoland Emmerich
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GodzillaGlenn Gordon Caron
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Picture PerfectSteven Zaillian
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
All the King's MenAndrew Davis
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Chain ReactionKathryn Bigelow
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Blue SteelRupert Wyatt
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Captive StateBen Falcone
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Thunder ForceTyler Cornack
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MermaidKyle Laursen
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
JosiahSix 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
Warrior
as Principal Zito
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
King Richard
as Vic Braden
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Warrior
as Principal Zito
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Ghostbusters II
as Milton Angland (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Warrior
as Principal Zito
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. Kevin Dunn 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
22 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
Mississippi Burning
as Agent Bird
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Mississippi Burning
as Agent Bird
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
King Richard
as Vic Braden
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Mississippi Burning
as Agent Bird
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Warrior
as Principal Zito
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
as Ron Witwicky
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Bachelors
as Paul Abernac
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Almost Heroes
as Hidalgo
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
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Harry Dean Stanton
Works with the same directors — Ridley Scott
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Have your say
Community
Which Kevin Dunn 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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