Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#556
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Lauren Tom represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 37 years in, and Lauren is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Lauren Tom appears in 20 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Lauren. Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O. is the clearest case: a film rated 8.0 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, romance, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Bobby Roth, Andy Fickman, Paul Weitz and others, Lauren Tom 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.
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O. (2006) as Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice) · Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown (2017) as Sharon (voice) · Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare (2010) as Jessica (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #556 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
20
1987–2024
Career length
37 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
Most frequent director
Paul Weitz
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Paul Weitz
Most common genre
Comedy
14 titles
Average runtime
1h 33m
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
6.6
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
2010s
7.2 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown, Grandma, Justice League: Gods and Monsters — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
7.2
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
7.2
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. See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Wall Street.
Most productive era
1990s
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 | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.11 film | 6.04 films | 6.11 film | 6.41 film | 6.12 films |
| Action | — | 7.41 film | 7.32 films | 7.12 films | — |
| Thriller | — | 5.81 film | — | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.71 film | 5.83 films | 6.93 films | 7.34 films | 6.33 films |
| Crime | 6.92 films | 5.81 film | — | — | — |
| Romance | — | 6.52 films | 6.11 film | — | 6.52 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1987Wall Street
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Lady Broker.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2006Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
8.0 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
2024Good Men
The current state of the argument, as Self.
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.
20 of 20 films
as Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
Directed by Tom Warburton
as Sharon (voice)
Directed by Matt Peters
as Jessica (voice)
Directed by Ethan Spaulding
as Angela Chen (voice)
Directed by Toshihiko Masuda
as Lara Lor-Van (voice)
Directed by Sam Liu
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
Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O. (2006)
Performance score8.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice) gives Lauren Tom a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Sharon (voice)
Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown (2017)
Performance score7.6
Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Sharon (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Jessica (voice)
Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare (2010)
Performance score7.6
Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jessica (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Angela Chen (voice)
The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest (1997)
Performance score7.2
The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Angela Chen (voice) 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 Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
Start here. Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O. is the clearest statement of what Lauren Tom does — accessible, 73 minutes, and rated 8.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Lauren 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.
The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest (1997)
Keeps the action register of Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O. but asks for a colder reading of it.
Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare (2010)
Keeps the family register of The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest but asks for a colder reading of it.
Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)
Keeps the animation register of Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare but asks for a colder reading of it.
Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown (2017)
Keeps the animation register of Justice League: Gods and Monsters but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Paul Weitz
Director
3 films together
Notably Grandma
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably Wall Street
Arthur Hiller
Director
1 film together
Notably See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Roger Donaldson
Director
1 film together
Notably Cadillac Man
Kathryn Bigelow
Director
1 film together
Notably Blue Steel
Luis Mandoki
Director
1 film together
Notably When a Man Loves a Woman
Rob Reiner
Director
1 film together
Notably North
Toshihiko Masuda
Director
1 film together
Notably The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest
Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably The Other Sister
Lynne Southerland
Director
1 film together
Notably Mulan II
Tom Warburton
Director
1 film together
Notably Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
Ethan Spaulding
Director
1 film together
Notably Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare
Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Director
1 film together
Notably Kung Fu Panda 2
Sam Liu
Director
1 film together
Notably Justice League: Gods and Monsters
Matt Peters
Director
1 film together
Notably Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown
Andy Fickman
Director
1 film together
Notably One True Loves
Bobby Roth
Director
1 film together
Notably Good Men
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Paul Weitz
Director
3 films together · 6.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
GrandmaTom Warburton
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.Matt Peters
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's ShowdownEthan Spaulding
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! Camp ScareToshihiko Masuda
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 Batman/Superman Movie: World's FinestSam Liu
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Justice League: Gods and MonstersJennifer Yuh Nelson
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kung Fu Panda 2Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wall StreetArthur Hiller
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
See No Evil, Hear No EvilLuis Mandoki
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
When a Man Loves a WomanLynne Southerland
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mulan IIGarry Marshall
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 Other SisterAndy Fickman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
One True LovesKathryn 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 SteelRoger Donaldson
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cadillac ManRob Reiner
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NorthBobby Roth
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Good MenSix 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
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
as Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
When a Man Loves a Woman
as Amy
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
as Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Other Sister
as Makeup Artist (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
as Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
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. Lauren Tom 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.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
14 catalogue titles in comedy, 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
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
as Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
as Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
When a Man Loves a Woman
as Amy
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown
as Sharon (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
as Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Justice League: Gods and Monsters
as Lara Lor-Van (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O.
as Kuki 'Numbuh 3' Sanban (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
In Good Company
as Obstetrician
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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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
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