Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#6166
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Kim Basinger represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 30 years in, and Kim is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Kim Basinger appears in 19 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Kim. L.A. Confidential 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 romance, drama, action. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with James Foley, Shane Black, Paul Haggis and others, Kim Basinger 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.
L.A. Confidential (1997) as Lynn Bracken · 8 Mile (2002) as Stephanie · Batman (1989) as Vicki Vale
Career snapshot
Ranked #6166 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
19
1988–2018
Career length
30 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
L.A. Confidential
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.8
L.A. Confidential
Most frequent director
James Foley
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With James Foley
Most common genre
Drama
11 titles
Average runtime
1h 53m
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
6.5
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
6.6 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Fifty Shades Freed, Fifty Shades Darker, The Nice Guys — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.6
Across 6 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
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Batman, My Stepmother Is an Alien.
Most productive era
2000s
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 5.81 film | 6.16 films | 6.64 films |
| Action | 7.31 film | — | 6.41 film | 7.11 film |
| Thriller | — | 6.82 films | 5.53 films | — |
| Comedy | 5.81 film | 5.73 films | — | 6.62 films |
| Crime | 7.31 film | 7.81 film | 5.93 films | 7.11 film |
| Romance | — | 5.81 film | 6.61 film | 6.64 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Celeste Martin.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
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
The current state of the argument, as Elena Lincoln.
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.
19 of 19 films
as Lynn Bracken
Directed by Curtis Hanson
as Stephanie
Directed by Curtis Hanson
as Vicki Vale
Directed by Tim Burton
as Louise St. Cloud
Directed by Burr Steers
as Jessica Martin
Directed by David R. Ellis
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Lynn Bracken
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Lynn Bracken gives Kim Basinger a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Stephanie
8 Mile (2002)
Performance score7.6
8 Mile asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Stephanie is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Vicki Vale
Batman (1989)
Performance score7.6
Batman asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vicki Vale is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Louise St. Cloud
Charlie St. Cloud (2010)
Performance score7.1
Charlie St. Cloud asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Louise St. Cloud 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 Lynn Bracken
Start here. L.A. Confidential is the clearest statement of what Kim Basinger does — accessible, 138 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Kim 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.
Batman (1989)
Keeps the crime register of L.A. Confidential but asks for a colder reading of it.
8 Mile (2002)
A deliberate change of key after Batman — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Cellular (2004)
Keeps the drama register of 8 Mile but asks for a colder reading of it.
Charlie St. Cloud (2010)
Keeps the drama register of Cellular but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Curtis Hanson
Director
2 films together
Notably L.A. Confidential
James Foley
Director
2 films together
Notably Fifty Shades Freed
Richard Benjamin
Director
1 film together
Notably My Stepmother Is an Alien
Tim Burton
Director
1 film together
Notably Batman
Ralph Bakshi
Director
1 film together
Notably Cool World
Phil Joanou
Director
1 film together
Notably Final Analysis
Stephen Surjik
Director
1 film together
Notably Wayne's World 2
Robert Altman
Director
1 film together
Notably Prêt-à-Porter
Daniel Algrant
Director
1 film together
Notably People I Know
David R. Ellis
Director
1 film together
Notably Cellular
Gregor Jordan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Informers
Burr Steers
Director
1 film together
Notably Charlie St. Cloud
Peter Segal
Director
1 film together
Notably Grudge Match
Paul Haggis
Director
1 film together
Notably Third Person
Shane Black
Director
1 film together
Notably The Nice Guys
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Curtis Hanson
Director
2 films together · 7.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
L.A. ConfidentialJames Foley
Director
2 films together · 6.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Fifty Shades FreedTim Burton
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BatmanShane Black
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Nice GuysBurr Steers
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Charlie St. CloudDavid R. Ellis
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CellularStephen Surjik
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wayne's World 2Peter Segal
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Grudge MatchPaul Haggis
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Third PersonPhil Joanou
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Final AnalysisRichard 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 AlienRalph Bakshi
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cool WorldDaniel Algrant
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
People I KnowRobert Altman
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Prêt-à-PorterGregor Jordan
Director
1 film together · 4.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The InformersSix 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
L.A. Confidential
as Lynn Bracken
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
8 Mile
as Stephanie
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
L.A. Confidential
as Lynn Bracken
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Nice Guys
as Judith Kuttner
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
L.A. Confidential
as Lynn Bracken
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. Kim Basinger 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
30 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
11 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
L.A. Confidential
as Lynn Bracken
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
L.A. Confidential
as Lynn Bracken
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Fifty Shades Freed
as Elena Lincoln
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
L.A. Confidential
as Lynn Bracken
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Batman
as Vicki Vale
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Batman
as Vicki Vale
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Charlie St. Cloud
as Louise St. Cloud
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Fifty Shades Freed
as Elena Lincoln
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
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Reference
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