Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1098
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Laura Linney represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 33 years in, and Laura is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Laura Linney appears in 30 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Laura. The Truman Show is the clearest case: a film rated 8.4 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 documentary, comedy, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Sam Levinson, Laura Chinn, Thaddeus O'Sullivan and others, Laura Linney 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.
The Truman Show (1998) as Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill · Mystic River (2003) as Annabeth Markum · Primal Fear (1996) as Janet Venable
Career snapshot
Ranked #1098 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
30
1993–2026
Career length
33 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.4
The Truman Show
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
The Truman Show
Most frequent director
Clint Eastwood
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Clint Eastwood
Most common genre
Drama
22 titles
Average runtime
1h 41m
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
1990s
7.3 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. The Truman Show, Absolute Power, Primal Fear — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.3
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.2
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Truman Show, Absolute Power, Primal Fear.
Most productive era
2010s
9 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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.54 films | 7.07 films | 6.47 films | 6.24 films |
| Action | 6.71 film | — | 6.11 film | — |
| Thriller | 7.61 film | 7.03 films | 6.72 films | — |
| Comedy | 7.62 films | 6.64 films | 6.14 films | 6.52 films |
| Crime | 7.22 films | 7.62 films | — | — |
| Romance | — | 6.53 films | 7.01 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1993Dave
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Randi.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1998The Truman Show
8.4 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
The current state of the argument, as Self (archive footage)(uncredited).
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.
30 of 30 films
as Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill
Directed by Peter Weir
as Janet Venable
Directed by Gregory Hoblit
as Annabeth Markum
Directed by Clint Eastwood
as Constance Hallaway
Directed by Alan Parker
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
Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill
The Truman Show (1998)
Performance score8.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill gives Laura Linney a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Janet Venable
Primal Fear (1996)
Performance score7.9
Primal Fear asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Janet Venable is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Annabeth Markum
Mystic River (2003)
Performance score7.7
Mystic River asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Annabeth Markum is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Constance Hallaway
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Performance score7.7
The Life of David Gale asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Constance Hallaway 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 Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill
Start here. The Truman Show is the clearest statement of what Laura Linney does — accessible, 103 minutes, and rated 8.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Laura 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.
Primal Fear (1996)
Keeps the drama register of The Truman Show but asks for a colder reading of it.
You Can Count on Me (2000)
Keeps the drama register of Primal Fear but asks for a colder reading of it.
Mystic River (2003)
Keeps the drama register of You Can Count on Me but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Life of David Gale (2003)
Keeps the crime register of Mystic River but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Bill Condon
Director
3 films together
Notably Kinsey
Clint Eastwood
Director
3 films together
Notably Mystic River
Richard Curtis
Director
2 films together
Notably Love Actually
Steven Zaillian
Director
1 film together
Notably Searching for Bobby Fischer
Ivan Reitman
Director
1 film together
Notably Dave
Gregory Hoblit
Director
1 film together
Notably Primal Fear
Peter Weir
Director
1 film together
Notably The Truman Show
Kenneth Lonergan
Director
1 film together
Notably You Can Count on Me
Alan Parker
Director
1 film together
Notably The Life of David Gale
Noah Baumbach
Director
1 film together
Notably The Squid and the Whale
Barry Levinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Man of the Year
Shari Springer Berman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Nanny Diaries
Roger Michell
Director
1 film together
Notably Hyde Park on Hudson
Tom Ford
Director
1 film together
Notably Nocturnal Animals
Viggo Mortensen
Director
1 film together
Notably Falling
Thaddeus O'Sullivan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Miracle Club
Laura Chinn
Director
1 film together
Notably Suncoast
Sam Levinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Euphoria: A Look Back
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Clint Eastwood
Director
3 films together · 7.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Mystic RiverBill Condon
Director
3 films together · 6.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
KinseyRichard Curtis
Director
2 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Love ActuallyPeter Weir
Director
1 film together · 8.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Truman ShowGregory Hoblit
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Primal FearTom Ford
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nocturnal AnimalsAlan Parker
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 Life of David GaleSteven Zaillian
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Searching for Bobby FischerNoah Baumbach
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Squid and the WhaleKenneth Lonergan
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
You Can Count on MeLaura Chinn
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SuncoastIvan Reitman
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DaveViggo Mortensen
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FallingShari Springer Berman
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Nanny DiariesThaddeus O'Sullivan
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Miracle ClubBarry Levinson
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Man of the YearRoger Michell
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hyde Park on HudsonSam Levinson
Director
1 film together · 3.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Euphoria: A Look BackSix 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
The Truman Show
as Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Sully
as Lorrie Sullenberger
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
The Truman Show
as Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Euphoria: A Look Back
as Self (archive footage)(uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Truman Show
as Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill
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. Laura Linney 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
33 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
Mystic River
as Annabeth Markum
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Mystic River
as Annabeth Markum
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Sully
as Lorrie Sullenberger
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Mystic River
as Annabeth Markum
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Truman Show
as Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
as Chief Vincent
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Hyde Park on Hudson
as Daisy
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Truman Show
as Meryl Burbank / Hannah Gill
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Robert Downey Jr.
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Have your say
Community
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Reference
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