Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#17
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Naomi Watts represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 33 years in, and Naomi is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Naomi Watts appears in 54 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Naomi. Mulholland Drive is the clearest case: a film rated 7.8 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 action, science fiction, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Destin Daniel Cretton, Matt Sobel, Phillip Noyce and others, Naomi Watts 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.
Mulholland Drive (2001) as Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn · The Book of Henry (2017) as Susan Carpenter · Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) as E.V. (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #17 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
54
1993–2026
Career length
33 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
Mulholland Drive
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Most frequent director
David Lynch
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With David Lynch
Most common genre
Drama
37 titles
Average runtime
1h 49m
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
2000s
6.5 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. The International, Mother and Child, Funny Games — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.5
Across 18 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.5
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. Babe: Pig in the City, Dangerous Beauty, Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering.
Most productive era
2010s
23 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 | 6.53 films | 6.612 films | 6.518 films | 6.24 films |
| Action | 5.51 film | 6.53 films | 6.32 films | 7.22 films |
| Thriller | — | 6.611 films | 6.48 films | 6.24 films |
| Comedy | 6.03 films | 5.62 films | 6.37 films | 6.71 film |
| Crime | — | 6.85 films | 6.21 film | — |
| Romance | 7.01 film | 6.34 films | 6.23 films | — |
| Horror | 4.51 film | 6.36 films | — | 6.31 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1993Matinee
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Shopping Cart Starlet.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2001Mulholland Drive
7.8 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 E.V. (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.
54 of 54 films
as Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn
Directed by David Lynch
as Susan Carpenter
Directed by Colin Trevorrow
as Maria Bennett
Directed by J. A. Bayona
as Anna Ivanovna Khitrova
Directed by David Cronenberg
as Kitty Fane
Directed by John Curran
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
Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Performance score8.3
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn gives Naomi Watts a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Susan Carpenter
The Book of Henry (2017)
Performance score8.1
The Book of Henry asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Susan Carpenter is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Maria Bennett
The Impossible (2012)
Performance score8.0
The Impossible asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Maria Bennett is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Anna Ivanovna Khitrova
Eastern Promises (2007)
Performance score7.7
Eastern Promises asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Anna Ivanovna Khitrova 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 Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn
Start here. Mulholland Drive is the clearest statement of what Naomi Watts does — accessible, 147 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Naomi 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 Painted Veil (2006)
Keeps the drama register of Mulholland Drive but asks for a colder reading of it.
Eastern Promises (2007)
A deliberate change of key after The Painted Veil — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Impossible (2012)
Keeps the thriller register of Eastern Promises but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Book of Henry (2017)
Keeps the drama register of The Impossible but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
David Lynch
Director
3 films together
Notably Mulholland Drive
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Director
2 films together
Notably Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Robert Schwentke
Director
2 films together
Notably Insurgent
Destin Daniel Cretton
Director
2 films together
Notably Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Joe Dante
Director
1 film together
Notably Matinee
Rachel Talalay
Director
1 film together
Notably Tank Girl
Greg Spence
Director
1 film together
Notably Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
Marshall Herskovitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Dangerous Beauty
George Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Babe: Pig in the City
Gore Verbinski
Director
1 film together
Notably The Ring
James Ivory
Director
1 film together
Notably Le Divorce
Gregor Jordan
Director
1 film together
Notably Ned Kelly
David O. Russell
Director
1 film together
Notably I ♥ Huckabees
Marc Forster
Director
1 film together
Notably Stay
Hideo Nakata
Director
1 film together
Notably The Ring Two
Peter Jackson
Director
1 film together
Notably King Kong
John Curran
Director
1 film together
Notably The Painted Veil
David Cronenberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Eastern Promises
Michael Haneke
Director
1 film together
Notably Funny Games
Rodrigo García
Director
1 film together
Notably Mother and Child
Tom Tykwer
Director
1 film together
Notably The International
Doug Liman
Director
1 film together
Notably Fair Game
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Jim Sheridan
Director
1 film together
Notably Dream House
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably J. Edgar
J. A. Bayona
Director
1 film together
Notably The Impossible
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Director
1 film together
Notably Diana
Brett Ratner
Director
1 film together
Notably Movie 43
Theodore Melfi
Director
1 film together
Notably St. Vincent
Noah Baumbach
Director
1 film together
Notably While We're Young
Gaby Dellal
Director
1 film together
Notably 3 Generations
Farren Blackburn
Director
1 film together
Notably Shut In
Jean-Marc Vallée
Director
1 film together
Notably Demolition
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably The Sea of Trees
Colin Trevorrow
Director
1 film together
Notably The Book of Henry
Julius Onah
Director
1 film together
Notably Luce
Glendyn Ivin
Director
1 film together
Notably Penguin Bloom
Joe Carnahan
Director
1 film together
Notably Boss Level
James DeMonaco
Director
1 film together
Notably This Is the Night
Phillip Noyce
Director
1 film together
Notably The Desperate Hour
Matt Sobel
Director
1 film together
Notably Goodnight Mommy
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
David Lynch
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
Mulholland DriveDestin Daniel Cretton
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Spider-Man: Brand New DayAlejandro G. Iñárritu
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)Robert Schwentke
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
InsurgentColin Trevorrow
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Book of HenryJ. A. Bayona
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 ImpossibleDavid Cronenberg
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Eastern PromisesJohn Curran
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Painted VeilTheodore Melfi
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
St. VincentPeter Jackson
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
King KongMarshall Herskovitz
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dangerous BeautyJoe Carnahan
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Boss LevelGlendyn Ivin
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Penguin BloomJean-Marc Vallée
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DemolitionGore Verbinski
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 RingJoe Dante
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MatineeRodrigo García
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mother and ChildMichael Haneke
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Funny GamesMarc Forster
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StayDoug Liman
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fair GameJulius Onah
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LuceGaby Dellal
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
3 GenerationsMatt Sobel
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Goodnight MommyTom Tykwer
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 InternationalDavid O. Russell
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 ♥ HuckabeesGus Van Sant
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 Sea of TreesClint Eastwood
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
J. EdgarJim Sheridan
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dream HouseGregor Jordan
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ned KellyPhillip Noyce
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 Desperate HourNoah Baumbach
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
While We're YoungWoody Allen
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
You Will Meet a Tall Dark StrangerHideo Nakata
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Ring TwoGeorge Miller
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Babe: Pig in the CityOliver Hirschbiegel
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DianaRachel Talalay
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tank GirlJames DeMonaco
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
This Is the NightFarren Blackburn
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shut InJames Ivory
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Le DivorceBrett Ratner
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Movie 43Greg Spence
Director
1 film together · 4.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Children of the Corn IV: The GatheringSix 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
Mulholland Drive
as Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn
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 Painted Veil
as Kitty Fane
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Mulholland Drive
as Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Babe: Pig in the City
as Additional Character Voices (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Mulholland Drive
as Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn
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. Naomi Watts 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
37 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
Mulholland Drive
as Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Mulholland Drive
as Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Ophelia
as Queen Gertrude / Mechtild
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Inland Empire
as Suzie Rabbit (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
as E.V. (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
as E.V. (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Babe: Pig in the City
as Additional Character Voices (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
King Kong
as Ann Darrow
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
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
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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