Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1956
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Paul Walter Hauser works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Paul Walter Hauser appears in 31 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Paul. Cruella is the clearest case: a film rated 8.1 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, comedy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Peter Farrelly, Scott D'Amore, Zach Cregger and others, Paul Walter Hauser 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.
Cruella (2021) as Horace · Orange Crush & JCW: Superpower Slam 2026 (2026) as Paul Walter Hauser · Inside Out 2 (2024) as Embarrassment (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #1956 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
31
2017–2026
Career length
9 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
Cruella
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
Orange Crush & JCW: Superpower Slam 2026
Most frequent director
Craig Gillespie
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Craig Gillespie
Most common genre
Comedy
19 titles
Average runtime
1h 46m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.8
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
6.1
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
6.7 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Late Night, Richard Jewell, Beats — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.7
Across 7 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.6
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2010s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Late Night, Richard Jewell, Beats.
Most productive era
2020s
24 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 | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.15 films | 6.78 films |
| Action | — | 6.77 films |
| Thriller | — | 6.22 films |
| Comedy | 6.55 films | 6.514 films |
| Crime | 6.93 films | 6.66 films |
| Horror | — | 0.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2017I, Tonya
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Shawn.
Highest rated performance
2021Cruella
8.1 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2026Orange Crush & JCW: Superpower Slam 2026
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.
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 Horace
Directed by Craig Gillespie
as Richard Jewell
Directed by Clint Eastwood
as Shawn
Directed by Craig Gillespie
as Embarrassment (voice)
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
Paul Walter Hauser
Orange Crush & JCW: Superpower Slam 2026 (2026)
Performance score8.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Paul Walter Hauser gives Paul Walter Hauser a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Horace
Cruella (2021)
Performance score8.1
Cruella asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Horace is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Richard Jewell
Richard Jewell (2019)
Performance score8.0
Richard Jewell asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Richard Jewell is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Shawn
I, Tonya (2017)
Performance score7.6
I, Tonya asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Shawn 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 Paul Walter Hauser
Start here. Orange Crush & JCW: Superpower Slam 2026 is the clearest statement of what Paul Walter Hauser does — accessible, 324 minutes, and rated 8.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Paul 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.
I, Tonya (2017)
Keeps the drama register of Orange Crush & JCW: Superpower Slam 2026 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Richard Jewell (2019)
Keeps the drama register of I, Tonya but asks for a colder reading of it.
Cruella (2021)
Keeps the crime register of Richard Jewell but asks for a colder reading of it.
Inside Out 2 (2024)
Keeps the comedy register of Cruella but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Spike Lee
Director
2 films together
Notably BlacKkKlansman
Craig Gillespie
Director
2 films together
Notably Cruella
Jay Chandrasekhar
Director
1 film together
Notably Super Troopers 2
Eric Balfour
Director
1 film together
Notably 7 Days to Vegas
Chris Robinson
Director
1 film together
Notably Beats
Clint Eastwood
Director
1 film together
Notably Richard Jewell
Nisha Ganatra
Director
1 film together
Notably Late Night
Michael Uppendahl
Director
1 film together
Notably Adam
Tiller Russell
Director
1 film together
Notably Silk Road
Dave Willis
Director
1 film together
Notably Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm
Bill Burr
Director
1 film together
Notably Old Dads
Sean Charmatz
Director
1 film together
Notably Orion and the Dark
Doug Liman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Instigators
Akiva Schaffer
Director
1 film together
Notably The Naked Gun
Scott Cooper
Director
1 film together
Notably Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Tony Tost
Director
1 film together
Notably Americana
Matt Shakman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Fantastic 4: First Steps
Jeff Tremaine
Director
1 film together
Notably Jackass: Best and Last
Zach Cregger
Director
1 film together
Notably Resident Evil
Scott D'Amore
Director
1 film together
Notably Maple Leaf Pro: Multiverse 2026
Peter Farrelly
Director
1 film together
Notably Balls Up
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Craig Gillespie
Director
2 films together · 7.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
CruellaSpike Lee
Director
2 films together · 7.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
BlacKkKlansmanClint Eastwood
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Richard JewellMatt Shakman
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Fantastic 4: First StepsJeff Tremaine
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jackass: Best and LastChris Robinson
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BeatsScott Cooper
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Springsteen: Deliver Me from NowhereScott D'Amore
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Maple Leaf Pro: Multiverse 2026Sean Charmatz
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Orion and the DarkAkiva Schaffer
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 Naked GunMichael Uppendahl
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AdamNisha Ganatra
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Late NightDave Willis
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Aqua Teen Forever: PlantasmTony Tost
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AmericanaBill Burr
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Old DadsTiller Russell
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Silk RoadDoug Liman
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The InstigatorsJay Chandrasekhar
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Super Troopers 2Peter Farrelly
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Balls UpEric Balfour
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
7 Days to VegasZach Cregger
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Resident EvilSix 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
Cruella
as Horace
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Beats
as Terrence
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Cruella
as Horace
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Old Dads
as Tracy
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Orange Crush & JCW: Superpower Slam 2026
as Paul Walter Hauser
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. Paul Walter Hauser 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.
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
19 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
Cruella
as Horace
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Orange Crush & JCW: Superpower Slam 2026
as Paul Walter Hauser
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
as Mike Batlan
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Super Troopers 2
as Lonnie Laloush
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Orange Crush & JCW: Superpower Slam 2026
as Paul Walter Hauser
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Fantastic 4: First Steps
as Harvey Elder / Mole Man
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
BlacKkKlansman
as Ivanhoe
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Fantastic 4: First Steps
as Harvey Elder / Mole Man
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
David Krumholtz
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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