Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#366
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Kirsten Dunst represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 38 years in, and Kirsten is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Kirsten Dunst appears in 42 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Kirsten. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the clearest case: a film rated 9.2 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 mystery, thriller, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Paul Feig, Jared Hess, Derek Cianfrance and others, Kirsten Dunst 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.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) as Mary · Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) as Mary · Hidden Figures (2016) as Vivian Mitchell
Career snapshot
Ranked #366 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
42
1989–2027
Career length
38 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.2
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Most frequent director
Sofia Coppola
4 films together
Longest collaboration
4×
With Sofia Coppola
Most common genre
Drama
23 titles
Average runtime
1h 45m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
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
6.8
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
2000s
6.8 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, Spider-Man 3, Marie Antoinette — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.8
Across 15 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.7
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. New York Stories.
Most productive era
2000s
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 | 6.21 film | 6.84 films | 7.18 films | 6.47 films | 6.93 films |
| Action | — | 6.61 film | 6.84 films | — | 6.91 film |
| Thriller | — | — | 5.51 film | 5.92 films | 0.01 film |
| Comedy | 6.21 film | 6.36 films | 6.15 films | 5.82 films | 3.52 films |
| Sci-Fi | — | — | 9.21 film | — | — |
| Crime | — | — | — | 5.41 film | 7.11 film |
| Romance | 6.21 film | 7.31 film | 6.99 films | 5.93 films | — |
| Horror | — | 7.51 film | 5.51 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1989New York Stories
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Lisa’s Daughter.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2004Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.2 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 Alex.
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.
42 of 42 films
as Mary
Directed by Michel Gondry
as Mary
Directed by Michel Gondry
as Vivian Mitchell
Directed by Theodore Melfi
as Mary Jane Watson
Directed by Sam Raimi
as Justine
Directed by Lars von Trier
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 24 of 43 titles · 43 total credits · active 1989–2027
The Housemaid's Secret
2027 · Wendy Garrick
A Minecraft Movie Squared
2027 · Alex
Roofman
2025 · Leigh Wainscott
Civil War
2024 · Lee
The Power of the Dog
2021 · Rose Gordon
The Beguiled
2017 · Edwina
Hidden Figures
2016 · Vivian Mitchell
Midnight Special
2016 · Sarah Tomlin
The Two Faces of January
2014 · Colette MacFarland
Fargo
2014 · TV · Peggy Blumquist
Cosmos
2014 · TV · Cecilia Payne (voice)
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
2013 · El Trousias Maiden of the Clouds
The Bling Ring
2013 · Kirsten Dunst (uncredited)
Bachelorette
2012 · Regan Crawford
On the Road
2012 · Camille / Carolyn Cassady
Upside Down
2012 · Eden Moore
Melancholia
2011 · Justine
All Good Things
2010 · Katie Marks
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
2008 · Alison Olsen
Spider-Man 3
2007 · Mary Jane Watson
Marie Antoinette
2006 · Marie Antoinette
Elizabethtown
2005 · Claire Colburn
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2004 · Mary
Spider-Man 2
2004 · Mary Jane Watson
The defining work
#1
Mary
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Performance score9.3
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Mary gives Kirsten Dunst a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Mary
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Performance score8.5
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mary is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Vivian Mitchell
Hidden Figures (2016)
Performance score8.2
Hidden Figures asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vivian Mitchell is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Mary Jane Watson
Spider-Man (2002)
Performance score8.0
Spider-Man asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mary Jane Watson 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 Mary
Start here. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the clearest statement of what Kirsten Dunst does — accessible, 108 minutes, and rated 9.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Kirsten 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.
Spider-Man (2002)
A deliberate change of key after Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Keeps the science fiction register of Spider-Man but asks for a colder reading of it.
Melancholia (2011)
Keeps the science fiction register of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but asks for a colder reading of it.
Hidden Figures (2016)
Keeps the drama register of Melancholia but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Sofia Coppola
Director
4 films together
Notably The Virgin Suicides
Sam Raimi
Director
3 films together
Notably Spider-Man
Michel Gondry
Director
2 films together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
1 film together
Notably New York Stories
Brian De Palma
Director
1 film together
Notably The Bonfire of the Vanities
Jonathan Lynn
Director
1 film together
Notably Greedy
Neil Jordan
Director
1 film together
Notably Interview with the Vampire
Joe Johnston
Director
1 film together
Notably Jumanji
Barry Levinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Wag the Dog
Gary Goldman
Director
1 film together
Notably Anastasia
Joe Dante
Director
1 film together
Notably Small Soldiers
Andrew Fleming
Director
1 film together
Notably Dick
Michael Patrick Jann
Director
1 film together
Notably Drop Dead Gorgeous
Bharat Nalluri
Director
1 film together
Notably The Crow: Salvation
Peyton Reed
Director
1 film together
Notably Bring It On
John Stockwell
Director
1 film together
Notably Crazy/Beautiful
Tommy O'Haver
Director
1 film together
Notably Get Over It
Mike Newell
Director
1 film together
Notably Mona Lisa Smile
Richard Loncraine
Director
1 film together
Notably Wimbledon
Cameron Crowe
Director
1 film together
Notably Elizabethtown
Robert B. Weide
Director
1 film together
Notably How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Andrew Jarecki
Director
1 film together
Notably All Good Things
Lars von Trier
Director
1 film together
Notably Melancholia
Walter Salles
Director
1 film together
Notably On the Road
Leslye Headland
Director
1 film together
Notably Bachelorette
Adam McKay
Director
1 film together
Notably Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Hossein Amini
Director
1 film together
Notably The Two Faces of January
Theodore Melfi
Director
1 film together
Notably Hidden Figures
Jane Campion
Director
1 film together
Notably The Power of the Dog
Alex Garland
Director
1 film together
Notably Civil War
Derek Cianfrance
Director
1 film together
Notably Roofman
Jared Hess
Director
1 film together
Notably A Minecraft Movie Squared
Paul Feig
Director
1 film together
Notably The Housemaid's Secret
Mark Ruffalo
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Tom Wilkinson
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Jim Carrey
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kate Winslet
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Elijah Wood
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Jane Adams
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
David Cross
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Deirdre O'Connell
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Thomas Jay Ryan
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Ryan Whitney
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Lola Daehler
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Debbon Ayer
Actor
1 film together
Notably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Sofia Coppola
Director
4 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 4 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Virgin SuicidesSam Raimi
Director
3 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Spider-ManMichel Gondry
Director
2 films together · 8.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless MindTheodore Melfi
Director
1 film together · 8.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hidden FiguresGary Goldman
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AnastasiaNeil Jordan
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Interview with the VampireJoe Johnston
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
JumanjiLars von Trier
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MelancholiaDerek Cianfrance
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RoofmanAlex Garland
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Civil WarMike Newell
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mona Lisa SmileBarry Levinson
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wag the DogJane Campion
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Power of the DogJohn Stockwell
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crazy/BeautifulJoe 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 SoldiersMichael Patrick Jann
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Drop Dead GorgeousPeyton Reed
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bring It OnCameron Crowe
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ElizabethtownRichard Loncraine
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WimbledonJonathan Lynn
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GreedyFrancis Ford Coppola
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
New York StoriesAdam McKay
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Anchorman 2: The Legend ContinuesAndrew Jarecki
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
All Good ThingsRobert B. Weide
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
How to Lose Friends & Alienate PeopleAndrew Fleming
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DickHossein Amini
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Two Faces of JanuaryWalter Salles
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
On the RoadTommy O'Haver
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Get Over ItBrian De Palma
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Bonfire of the VanitiesBharat Nalluri
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Crow: SalvationLeslye Headland
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BachelorettePaul Feig
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Housemaid's SecretJared Hess
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Minecraft Movie SquaredSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Recognition
13 wins · 2 nominations
No wins yet · 1 nomination
as Actor
1 win · latest 2011
as Actor
1 win · latest 2017
as Actor
1 win · latest 2016
as Actor
2 wins · latest 2012
as Actor
as Actor
1 win · latest 2003
as Actor
1 win · latest 1995
as Actor
1 win · latest 2003
as Actor
1 win · latest 2003
as Actor
1 win · latest 2011
as Actor
1 win · latest 2016
as Actor
1 win · latest 2017
as Actor
1 win
as Actor
No wins yet · 1 nomination
as Actor
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Mary
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Mary
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Mary
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
New York Stories
as Lisa’s Daughter
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Mary
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. Kirsten Dunst has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.1 | 9.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #368 of 681 | #1 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 3 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 1 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 5 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.2 | 9.1 |
| Genres | Romance, Drama, Sci-Fi | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, History |
| Directors | Michel Gondry | Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese |
| Performance DNA | Emotional range, Drama, Screen presence | Transformation, Drama, Screen presence |
| Career timeline | 2004–2004 | 2006–2026 |
| Most iconic role | Mary — Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Odysseus — The Odyssey |
| Most rewatchable film | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | Interstellar |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Sci-Fi Movies, Drama Movies
Matt Damon edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
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
23 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
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Mary
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Mary
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Hidden Figures
as Vivian Mitchell
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Housemaid's Secret
as Wendy Garrick
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Mary
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Spider-Man 2
as Mary Jane Watson
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Roofman
as Leigh Wainscott
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
as Mary
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 5 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
genre
Best Romance Movies
Features Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Romance Movies
Features Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at #1
Read the collectiontheme
Hidden Sci-Fi Gems
Features Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Read the collectiongenre
Sci-Fi Movies
Features Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Read the collectiongenre
Drama Movies
Features Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
Genre guide
The evolution of Kirsten Dunst, read through best romance movies
4 min read
Genre guide
Why Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind still sets the terms for romance movies
4 min read
Essay
Hidden Sci-Fi Gems: where Dunst fits
5 min read
Genre guide
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, explained
12 min read
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: sci-fi and adventure
Mark Ruffalo
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Tom Wilkinson
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Have your say
Community
Which Kirsten Dunst 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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