Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2825
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Matthew Broderick represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 42 years in, and Matthew is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Matthew Broderick appears in 31 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Matthew. The Lion King is the clearest case: a film rated 8.5 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 history, documentary, romance. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Gene Stupnitsky, Jeff Rowe, Kenneth Lonergan and others, Matthew Broderick 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 Lion King (1994) as Simba (voice) · Manchester by the Sea (2016) as Jeffrey Garner · Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) as Ferris Bueller
Career snapshot
Ranked #2825 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
31
1983–2025
Career length
42 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.5
The Lion King
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.3
The Lion King
Most frequent director
Kenneth Lonergan
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Kenneth Lonergan
Most common genre
Comedy
20 titles
Average runtime
1h 48m
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
1990s
6.9 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Election, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Godzilla — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.9
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
6.9
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. Glory, Biloxi Blues, She's Having a Baby.
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 | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.64 films | 7.14 films | 6.32 films | 6.05 films | — |
| Action | — | 5.91 film | — | 6.11 film | 7.21 film |
| Thriller | 7.01 film | 6.02 films | — | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.74 films | 6.52 films | 5.94 films | 5.87 films | 6.33 films |
| Romance | 5.91 film | 7.01 film | 5.61 film | 5.83 films | 6.71 film |
| Horror | — | — | 5.71 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1983WarGames
Where our catalogue meets this career, as David Lightman.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
1994The Lion King
8.5 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 Reader.
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.
31 of 31 films
as Simba (voice)
Directed by Rob Minkoff
as Col. Robert Gould Shaw
Directed by Edward Zwick
as Simba (voice)
Directed by Darrell Rooney
as David Lightman
Directed by John Badham
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
Simba (voice)
The Lion King (1994)
Performance score8.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Simba (voice) gives Matthew Broderick a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Ferris Bueller
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Performance score8.1
Ferris Bueller's Day Off asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ferris Bueller is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Col. Robert Gould Shaw
Glory (1989)
Performance score7.9
Glory asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Col. Robert Gould Shaw is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Simba (voice)
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)
Performance score7.6
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Simba (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 Simba (voice)
Start here. The Lion King is the clearest statement of what Matthew Broderick does — accessible, 89 minutes, and rated 8.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Matthew 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.
WarGames (1983)
Keeps the drama register of The Lion King but asks for a colder reading of it.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
A deliberate change of key after WarGames — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Glory (1989)
A deliberate change of key after Ferris Bueller's Day Off — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)
Keeps the drama register of Glory but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Kenneth Lonergan
Director
3 films together
Notably Manchester by the Sea
John Hughes
Director
2 films together
Notably Ferris Bueller's Day Off
John Badham
Director
1 film together
Notably WarGames
Richard Donner
Director
1 film together
Notably Ladyhawke
Mike Nichols
Director
1 film together
Notably Biloxi Blues
Edward Zwick
Director
1 film together
Notably Glory
Rob Minkoff
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lion King
Ben Stiller
Director
1 film together
Notably The Cable Guy
Roland Emmerich
Director
1 film together
Notably Godzilla
Darrell Rooney
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Alexander Payne
Director
1 film together
Notably Election
Frank Oz
Director
1 film together
Notably The Stepford Wives
Susan Stroman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Producers
Helen Hunt
Director
1 film together
Notably Then She Found Me
Simon J. Smith
Director
1 film together
Notably Bee Movie
Brett Ratner
Director
1 film together
Notably Tower Heist
Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably New Year's Eve
Judd Apatow
Director
1 film together
Notably Trainwreck
Warren Beatty
Director
1 film together
Notably Rules Don't Apply
Jeff Rowe
Director
1 film together
Notably Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Gene Stupnitsky
Director
1 film together
Notably No Hard Feelings
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Kenneth Lonergan
Director
3 films together · 7.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Manchester by the SeaJohn Hughes
Director
2 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Ferris Bueller's Day OffRob Minkoff
Director
1 film together · 8.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Lion KingEdward Zwick
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GloryJeff Rowe
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant MayhemDarrell Rooney
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 Lion King II: Simba's PrideJohn Badham
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WarGamesAlexander Payne
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ElectionRichard Donner
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LadyhawkeGene Stupnitsky
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
No Hard FeelingsMike Nichols
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Biloxi BluesSimon J. Smith
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bee MovieSusan Stroman
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 ProducersBrett Ratner
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tower HeistBen Stiller
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Cable GuyGarry Marshall
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
New Year's EveRoland Emmerich
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GodzillaWarren Beatty
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rules Don't ApplyJudd Apatow
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TrainwreckFrank Oz
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 Stepford WivesHelen Hunt
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Then She Found MeSix 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 Lion King
as Simba (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
The Lion King
as Simba (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
The Lion King
as Simba (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
as Ferris Bueller (archive footage) (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
The Lion King
as Simba (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. Matthew Broderick 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
42 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
20 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
The Lion King
as Simba (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Lion King
as Simba (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
as Simba (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Ladyhawke
as Phillipe Gaston
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Lion King
as Simba (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
as Ferris Bueller (archive footage) (uncredited)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
as Simba (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Godzilla
as Dr. Niko Tatopoulos
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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Reference
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