Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1625
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Mary Kay Place represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 45 years in, and Mary is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Mary Kay Place appears in 24 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Mary. Girl, Interrupted is the clearest case: a film rated 7.5 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 comedy, fantasy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Nora Twomey, Sia, Ryan Murphy and others, Mary Kay Place 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.
Girl, Interrupted (1999) as Mrs. Gilcrest · Being John Malkovich (1999) as Floris · The Intern (2015) as Jules's Mom
Career snapshot
Ranked #1625 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
24
1977–2022
Career length
45 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.5
Girl, Interrupted
Average Nutevio score
6.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.6
Girl, Interrupted
Most frequent director
Nancy Meyers
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Nancy Meyers
Most common genre
Comedy
15 titles
Average runtime
1h 50m
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
6.8
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
1990s
6.9 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Being John Malkovich, Girl, Interrupted, The Rainmaker — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.9
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.9
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1970s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. New York, New York.
Most productive era
2000s
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 | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.51 film | 6.71 film | 7.33 films | 6.54 films | 6.05 films | 5.81 film |
| Thriller | — | — | 7.01 film | — | — | — |
| Comedy | — | 6.71 film | 6.72 films | 6.55 films | 6.55 films | 6.52 films |
| Crime | — | — | 7.01 film | — | — | — |
| Romance | 6.51 film | — | — | 6.65 films | — | 6.21 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Bernice Bennett.
Highest rated performance
7.5 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
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 Narrator (voice).
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 Jules's Mom
Directed by Nancy Meyers
as Dot Black
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
as Sister Gladys Davis
Directed by Unknown
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Floris
Being John Malkovich (1999)
Performance score7.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Floris gives Mary Kay Place a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Mrs. Gilcrest
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Performance score7.3
Girl, Interrupted asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mrs. Gilcrest is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Jules's Mom
The Intern (2015)
Performance score7.2
The Intern asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jules's Mom is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Dot Black
The Rainmaker (1997)
Performance score7.1
The Rainmaker asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dot Black 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 Floris
Start here. Being John Malkovich is the clearest statement of what Mary Kay Place does — accessible, 113 minutes, and rated 7.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Mary 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 Rainmaker (1997)
Keeps the drama register of Being John Malkovich but asks for a colder reading of it.
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Keeps the drama register of The Rainmaker but asks for a colder reading of it.
Latter Days (2004)
Keeps the drama register of Girl, Interrupted but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Intern (2015)
Keeps the comedy register of Latter Days but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Nancy Meyers
Director
2 films together
Notably The Intern
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably New York, New York
Lawrence Kasdan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Big Chill
Joe Dante
Director
1 film together
Notably Explorers
Francis Ford Coppola
Director
1 film together
Notably The Rainmaker
James Mangold
Director
1 film together
Notably Girl, Interrupted
Spike Jonze
Director
1 film together
Notably Being John Malkovich
Michel Gondry
Director
1 film together
Notably Human Nature
Andy Tennant
Director
1 film together
Notably Sweet Home Alabama
Miguel Arteta
Director
1 film together
Notably Youth in Revolt
Nora Ephron
Director
1 film together
Notably Julie & Julia
Mike Mitchell
Director
1 film together
Notably Shrek Forever After
Brett Haley
Director
1 film together
Notably I'll See You in My Dreams
John Krasinski
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hollars
Alexander Payne
Director
1 film together
Notably Downsizing
Meredith Danluck
Director
1 film together
Notably State Like Sleep
Ryan Murphy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Prom
Sia
Director
1 film together
Notably Music
Nora Twomey
Director
1 film together
Notably My Father's Dragon
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Nancy Meyers
Director
2 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The InternJames Mangold
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Girl, InterruptedSpike Jonze
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Being John MalkovichFrancis Ford Coppola
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 RainmakerNora Ephron
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Julie & JuliaNora Twomey
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Father's DragonLawrence Kasdan
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 Big ChillMike Mitchell
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shrek Forever AfterAndy Tennant
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sweet Home AlabamaMartin Scorsese
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
New York, New YorkJohn Krasinski
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 HollarsBrett Haley
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I'll See You in My DreamsMiguel Arteta
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Youth in RevoltJoe Dante
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ExplorersRyan Murphy
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 PromMichel Gondry
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Human NatureSia
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MusicMeredith Danluck
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
State Like SleepAlexander Payne
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DownsizingSix 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
Girl, Interrupted
as Mrs. Gilcrest
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Julie & Julia
as Julie's Mom (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Girl, Interrupted
as Mrs. Gilcrest
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Julie & Julia
as Julie's Mom (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Being John Malkovich
as Floris
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. Mary Kay Place 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
45 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
15 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
Being John Malkovich
as Floris
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Rainmaker
as Dot Black
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Music
as Millie
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
City of Ember
as Mrs. Murdo
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Girl, Interrupted
as Mrs. Gilcrest
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Explorers
as Mrs. Crandall (uncredited)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
My Father's Dragon
as Narrator (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
State Like Sleep
as Elaine
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Tom Wilkinson
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Mark Ruffalo
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Have your say
Community
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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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