Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#3415
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Ronald Reagan represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 86 years in, and Ronald is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Ronald Reagan appears in 37 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Ronald. Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit is the clearest case: a film rated 8.0 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, war, music. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Leslie Iwerks, Morgan Neville, Jeffrey Schwarz and others, Ronald Reagan 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.
Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit (2020) as Self (archive footage) · Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress (2019) as Self (archive footage) · American Psycho (2000) as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Career snapshot
Ranked #3415 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
37
1940–2026
Career length
86 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit
Average Nutevio score
5.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit
Most frequent director
Michael Moore
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Michael Moore
Most common genre
Documentary
27 titles
Average runtime
1h 31m
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
6.8
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
2000s
7.1 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Capitalism: A Love Story, Milk, An Inconvenient Truth — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
7.1
Across 4 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
7.2
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1940s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Santa Fe Trail.
Most productive era
2020s
19 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 | 1940s | 1960s | 1980s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | — | — | 7.32 films | 6.62 films | 6.42 films |
| Action | — | — | — | — | 6.32 films | — |
| Thriller | — | — | — | 7.61 film | 6.32 films | 6.31 film |
| Comedy | — | 6.31 film | 6.81 film | — | 6.91 film | — |
| Crime | — | 6.71 film | — | 7.61 film | 6.91 film | 6.22 films |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1940Santa Fe Trail
Where our catalogue meets this career, as George Custer.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2020Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit
8.0 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
2026Spartamerika
The current state of the argument, as Self (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.
37 of 37 films
as Self (archive footage)
Directed by Unknown
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Directed by Mary Harron
as Self (archive footage)
Directed by Davis Guggenheim
as Self (archive footage)
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
Self (archive footage)
Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit (2020)
Performance score8.5
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self (archive footage) gives Ronald Reagan a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Self (archive footage)
Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress (2019)
Performance score7.5
Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self (archive footage) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
American Psycho (2000)
Performance score7.4
American Psycho asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self (archive footage) (uncredited) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Self (archive footage)
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
Performance score7.3
An Inconvenient Truth asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Self (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 Self (archive footage)
Start here. Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit is the clearest statement of what Ronald Reagan does — accessible, 38 minutes, and rated 8.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Ronald 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.
American Psycho (2000)
A deliberate change of key after Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
A deliberate change of key after American Psycho — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress (2019)
Keeps the documentary register of An Inconvenient Truth but asks for a colder reading of it.
Sid & Judy (2019)
Same director as Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Michael Moore
Director
2 films together
Notably Capitalism: A Love Story
Michael Curtiz
Director
1 film together
Notably Santa Fe Trail
Don Siegel
Director
1 film together
Notably The Killers
Bob Rafelson
Director
1 film together
Notably Head
Mary Harron
Director
1 film together
Notably American Psycho
Davis Guggenheim
Director
1 film together
Notably An Inconvenient Truth
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably Milk
Doug Liman
Director
1 film together
Notably American Made
David Leitch
Director
1 film together
Notably Atomic Blonde
Brad Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably Beirut
Barak Goodman
Director
1 film together
Notably Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation
Avi Belkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Mike Wallace Is Here
Dawn Porter
Director
1 film together
Notably John Lewis: Good Trouble
Michael Showalter
Director
1 film together
Notably The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Stanley Nelson
Director
1 film together
Notably Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
James Rogan
Director
1 film together
Notably Freddie Mercury: The Final Act
Jeffrey Schwarz
Director
1 film together
Notably Commitment to Life
Morgan Neville
Director
1 film together
Notably Breakdown: 1975
Leslie Iwerks
Director
1 film together
Notably Disneyland Handcrafted
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Michael Moore
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
Capitalism: A Love StoryMary Harron
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American PsychoBarak Goodman
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a GenerationLeslie Iwerks
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Disneyland HandcraftedGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MilkMorgan 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: 1975Doug Liman
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
American MadeDavis Guggenheim
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
An Inconvenient TruthStanley Nelson
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & ConspiracyJames Rogan
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Freddie Mercury: The Final ActDon Siegel
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 KillersMichael Showalter
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Eyes of Tammy FayeAvi Belkin
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mike Wallace Is HereDavid Leitch
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Atomic BlondeBrad Anderson
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BeirutBob Rafelson
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HeadMichael Curtiz
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Santa Fe TrailDawn Porter
Director
1 film together · 4.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
John Lewis: Good TroubleJeffrey Schwarz
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Commitment to LifeSix 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
Breakpoint: A Counter History of Progress
as Self (archive footage)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Milk
as Self (archive footage)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit
as Self (archive footage)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
American Made
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit
as Self (archive footage)
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. Ronald Reagan 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
86 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.
Documentary Legend
Awarded
27 catalogue titles in documentary, 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
Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit
as Self (archive footage)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
American Psycho
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Milk
as Self (archive footage)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Killers
as Jack Browning
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Ronald Reagan: His Winning Wit
as Self (archive footage)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Atomic Blonde
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
American Made
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Santa Fe Trail
as George Custer
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
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