Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#7000
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Richard Roundtree represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 43 years in, and Richard is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Richard Roundtree appears in 18 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Richard. Se7en is the clearest case: a film rated 9.1 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 documentary, action, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Morgan Neville, Josh Margolin, Paul Weitz and others, Richard Roundtree 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.
Se7en (1995) as Talbot · Se7en (1995) as Talbot · Breakdown: 1975 (2025) as Self (Shaft- archive footage)
Career snapshot
Ranked #7000 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
18
1982–2025
Career length
43 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.1
Se7en
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.6
Se7en
Most frequent director
David Fincher
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With David Fincher
Most common genre
Crime
8 titles
Average runtime
1h 42m
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
7.0
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
8.0 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Se7en, Se7en, Bonanza: The Return — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
8.0
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.8
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. Maniac Cop, Q.
Most productive era
2000s
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 | — | — | 6.42 films | — | 5.91 film |
| Action | 6.21 film | — | 6.14 films | 6.51 film | 6.81 film |
| Thriller | — | 8.82 films | 6.01 film | — | — |
| Comedy | — | — | 5.83 films | 6.32 films | 6.32 films |
| Crime | 6.12 films | 8.82 films | 6.33 films | 6.51 film | — |
| Romance | — | — | — | 6.21 film | — |
| Horror | 6.12 films | — | — | — | 5.21 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1982Q
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Powell.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
1995Se7en
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.1 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
2025Breakdown: 1975
The current state of the argument, as Self (Shaft- archive footage).
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.
18 of 18 films
as Talbot
Directed by David Fincher
as Talbot
Directed by David Fincher
as Ben
Directed by Josh Margolin
as Self (Shaft- archive footage)
Directed by Morgan Neville
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Showing 20 of 20 titles · 20 total credits · active 1977–2025
Breakdown: 1975
2025 · Self (Shaft- archive footage)
Thelma
2024 · Ben
Moving On
2023 · Ralph
Haunting of the Mary Celeste
2020 · Tulls
Shaft
2019 · John Shaft, Sr.
What Men Want
2019 · Skip Davis
Harlem to Hollywood
2019 · Self
Star
2016 · TV · Charles Floyd
Speed Racer
2008 · Ben Burns
Brick
2006 · Assistant V.P. Trueman
Undercover Brother
2002 · John Shaft (archive footage) (uncredited)
Boat Trip
2002 · Felicia's Dad
Antitrust
2001 · Lyle Barton
Shaft
2000 · "Uncle" John Shaft
Se7en
1995 · Talbot
Bonanza: The Return
1993 · Jacob Briscoe
Maniac Cop
1988 · Commissioner Pike
Beauty and the Beast
1987 · TV · Cleon Manning
Q
1982 · Powell
Roots
1977 · TV · Sam Bennett
The defining work
#1
Talbot
Se7en (1995)
Performance score8.7
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Talbot gives Richard Roundtree a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Talbot
Se7en (1995)
Performance score8.3
Se7en asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Talbot is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Ben
Thelma (2024)
Performance score7.2
Thelma asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Ben is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Self (Shaft- archive footage)
Breakdown: 1975 (2025)
Performance score6.8
Breakdown: 1975 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self (Shaft- archive footage) 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 Talbot
Start here. Se7en is the clearest statement of what Richard Roundtree does — accessible, 127 minutes, and rated 9.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Richard 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.
Se7en (1995)
Same director as Se7en, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Shaft (2019)
Keeps the mystery register of Se7en but asks for a colder reading of it.
Thelma (2024)
Keeps the action register of Shaft but asks for a colder reading of it.
Breakdown: 1975 (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Thelma — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
David Fincher
Director
2 films together
Notably Se7en
Larry Cohen
Director
1 film together
Notably Q
William Lustig
Director
1 film together
Notably Maniac Cop
Jerry Jameson
Director
1 film together
Notably Bonanza: The Return
John Singleton
Director
1 film together
Notably Shaft
Peter Howitt
Director
1 film together
Notably Antitrust
Mort Nathan
Director
1 film together
Notably Boat Trip
Malcolm D. Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Undercover Brother
Rian Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably Brick
Lilly Wachowski
Director
1 film together
Notably Speed Racer
Alan Swyer
Director
1 film together
Notably Harlem to Hollywood
Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together
Notably What Men Want
Tim Story
Director
1 film together
Notably Shaft
Paul Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Moving On
Josh Margolin
Director
1 film together
Notably Thelma
Morgan Neville
Director
1 film together
Notably Breakdown: 1975
Brad Pitt
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
Morgan Freeman
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
Gwyneth Paltrow
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
John Cassini
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
Peter Crombie
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
Reg E. Cathey
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
R. Lee Ermey
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
Daniel Zacapa
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
Andrew Kevin Walker
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
George Christy
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
Endre Hules
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
Hawthorne James
Actor
1 film together
Notably Se7en
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
David Fincher
Director
2 films together · 8.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Se7enMorgan Neville
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Breakdown: 1975Josh Margolin
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ThelmaRian Johnson
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BrickTim Story
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ShaftLilly Wachowski
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Speed RacerJerry Jameson
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bonanza: The ReturnAdam Shankman
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
What Men WantWilliam Lustig
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Maniac CopPeter Howitt
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
AntitrustJohn Singleton
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ShaftLarry Cohen
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
QPaul Weitz
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Moving OnMalcolm D. Lee
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Undercover BrotherMort Nathan
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Boat TripAlan Swyer
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harlem to HollywoodSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Performer
Richard Roundtree
Where this journey starts
Director
David Fincher
2 collaborations, averaging 8.8
Film
Se7en
Their highest-rated film together (1995)
Performer
Morgan Freeman
Shares the frame in Se7en
Film
The Shawshank Redemption
Where Morgan goes next, and where you can too
Performer
Larry Brandenburg
Three steps from where you began
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Se7en
as Talbot
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
What Men Want
as Skip Davis
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Se7en
as Talbot
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Breakdown: 1975
as Self (Shaft- archive footage)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Se7en
as Talbot
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. Richard Roundtree has known it for a long time.”
“What's in the box?”
“Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
| Nutevio Performer Score | 8.0 | 8.9 |
|---|---|---|
| Career ranking | #411 of 681 | #2 of 681 |
| Awards on file | Unknown | 4 recorded |
| Oscar wins | Unknown | 2 |
| Oscar nominations | Unknown | 6 |
| Average Nutevio score | 9.1 | 9.3 |
| Genres | Crime, Thriller, Mystery | Sci-Fi, Adventure, Drama, Thriller |
| Directors | David Fincher | Christopher Nolan |
| Performance DNA | Intensity, Screen presence, Quiet performance | Transformation, Screen presence, Rewatchability |
| Career timeline | 1995–1995 | 2006–2014 |
| Most iconic role | Talbot — Se7en | Professor Brand — Interstellar |
| Most rewatchable film | Se7en | The Dark Knight |
| Filmography | 1 catalogue film | 4 catalogue films |
Films together
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared directors
Nothing in common in the library yet.
Shared collections
Movies With Incredible Endings, Mystery Movies, Thriller Movies, Crime Movies
Collaborators in common
Morgan Freeman
Michael Caine edges ahead here — a higher floor across a comparable body of work.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
43 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.
Crime Legend
Awarded
8 catalogue titles in crime, 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
Se7en
as Talbot
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Se7en
as Talbot
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
What Men Want
as Skip Davis
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Se7en
as Talbot
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Se7en
as Talbot
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Shaft
as "Uncle" John Shaft
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Antitrust
as Lyle Barton
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Se7en
as Talbot
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
Across the library
Every Nutevio collection this name turns up in, and how high they rank there.
Collection footprint
Appears in 7 Nutevio collections
Keep reading
theme
Movies With Incredible Endings
Features Se7en at #1
Read the collectiongenre
Best Psychological Thrillers
Features Se7en at #2
Read the collectiongenre
Best Detective Movies
Features Se7en at #2
Read the collectiongenre
Top 100 Crime Movies
Features Se7en at #3
Read the collectiongenre
Mystery Movies
Features Se7en at #3
Read the collectiongenre
Thriller Movies
Features Se7en
Read the collectionFrom the magazine
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Edward Norton
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Zach Grenier
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Richmond Arquette
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Bob Stephenson
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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