Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1776
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Kyra Sedgwick represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 37 years in, and Kyra is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Kyra Sedgwick appears in 24 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Kyra. Something the Lord Made is the clearest case: a film rated 7.4 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, crime, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Kevin Bacon, Viacheslav Rakovskyi, Michael J. Weithorn and others, Kyra Sedgwick 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.
Something the Lord Made (2004) as Mary Blalock · The Edge of Seventeen (2016) as Mona Franklin · The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) as Kyra Sedgwick (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #1776 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
24
1989–2026
Career length
37 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.4
Something the Lord Made
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
Something the Lord Made
Most frequent director
Kevin Bacon
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Kevin Bacon
Most common genre
Drama
13 titles
Average runtime
1h 38m
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
6.5
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
1980s
7.0 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Born on the Fourth of July — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.0
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
7.0
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. Born on the Fourth of July.
Most productive era
2010s
7 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 | 7.01 film | 6.82 films | 7.03 films | 6.64 films | 6.53 films |
| Action | — | — | 6.32 films | — | — |
| Thriller | — | — | 5.91 film | 6.44 films | 6.61 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.81 film | 6.82 films | 6.54 films | 4.63 films |
| Crime | — | 6.91 film | 6.71 film | 6.21 film | 6.61 film |
| Romance | — | 6.72 films | — | 6.91 film | 6.53 films |
| Horror | — | — | — | 6.32 films | 0.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1989Born on the Fourth of July
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Donna.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
7.4 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
2026Family Movie
The current state of the argument, as Ellen.
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.
24 of 24 films
as Mary Blalock
Directed by Joseph Sargent
as Cynthia Rand
Directed by Michael J. Weithorn
as Vicki
Directed by Nicole Kassell
as Mae
Directed by Tim McCanlies
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
Mary Blalock
Something the Lord Made (2004)
Performance score7.7
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Mary Blalock gives Kyra Sedgwick a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Cynthia Rand
The Best You Can (2025)
Performance score7.3
The Best You Can asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Cynthia Rand is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mona Franklin
The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
Performance score7.3
The Edge of Seventeen asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mona Franklin is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Vicki
The Woodsman (2004)
Performance score7.1
The Woodsman asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Vicki 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 Blalock
Start here. Something the Lord Made is the clearest statement of what Kyra Sedgwick does — accessible, 110 minutes, and rated 7.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Kyra 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.
Secondhand Lions (2003)
Keeps the drama register of Something the Lord Made but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Woodsman (2004)
Keeps the drama register of Secondhand Lions but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
Keeps the drama register of The Woodsman but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Best You Can (2025)
Keeps the comedy register of The Edge of Seventeen but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Born on the Fourth of July
Ron Underwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Heart and Souls
Jon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together
Notably Phenomenon
Tim McCanlies
Director
1 film together
Notably Secondhand Lions
Nicole Kassell
Director
1 film together
Notably The Woodsman
Joseph Sargent
Director
1 film together
Notably Something the Lord Made
Andy Fickman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Game Plan
Dave Bullock
Director
1 film together
Notably Justice League: The New Frontier
Brian Taylor
Director
1 film together
Notably Gamer
Ole Bornedal
Director
1 film together
Notably The Possession
John Krokidas
Director
1 film together
Notably Kill Your Darlings
Barry Levinson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Humbling
Jon Watts
Director
1 film together
Notably Cop Car
James Gunn
Director
1 film together
Notably The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Michael J. Weithorn
Director
1 film together
Notably The Best You Can
Viacheslav Rakovskyi
Director
1 film together
Notably The Ark
Kevin Bacon
Director
1 film together
Notably Family Movie
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Joseph Sargent
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Something the Lord MadeJames Gunn
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 Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday SpecialTim McCanlies
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Secondhand LionsOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Born on the Fourth of JulyJohn Krokidas
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kill Your DarlingsRon Underwood
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Heart and SoulsDave Bullock
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Justice League: The New FrontierNicole Kassell
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 WoodsmanMichael J. Weithorn
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 Best You CanAndy Fickman
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 Game PlanJon Turteltaub
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PhenomenonJon Watts
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cop CarOle Bornedal
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The PossessionBrian Taylor
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GamerBarry Levinson
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The HumblingKevin Bacon
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Family MovieViacheslav Rakovskyi
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 ArkSix 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
Something the Lord Made
as Mary Blalock
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Kill Your Darlings
as Marian Carr (uncredited)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Something the Lord Made
as Mary Blalock
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Kill Your Darlings
as Marian Carr (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Something the Lord Made
as Mary Blalock
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. Kyra Sedgwick 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
37 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
13 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
Something the Lord Made
as Mary Blalock
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Cop Car
as Dispatch
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Endings, Beginnings
as Ingrid
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Cop Car
as Dispatch
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Justice League: The New Frontier
as Lois Lane (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Justice League: The New Frontier
as Lois Lane (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Best You Can
as Cynthia Rand
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Humbling
as Louise Trenner
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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