Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#5577
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Rooney Mara 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.
Rooney Mara appears in 21 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Rooney. Lion 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 drama, comedy, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Werner Herzog, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Sarah Polley and others, Rooney Mara 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.
Lion (2016) as Lucy · Her (2013) as Catherine · Kubo and the Two Strings (2016) as The Sisters (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #5577 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
21
2009–2026
Career length
17 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
Lion
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.0
Lion
Most frequent director
Garth Davis
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Garth Davis
Most common genre
Drama
17 titles
Average runtime
1h 56m
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
6.4
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
6.8 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Mary Magdalene, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, The Secret Scripture — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.8
Across 15 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Winning Season, Youth in Revolt.
Most productive era
2010s
15 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 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.22 films | 6.911 films | 5.24 films |
| Action | — | 6.01 film | — |
| Thriller | — | 6.44 films | 6.91 film |
| Comedy | 6.22 films | 6.71 film | 6.91 film |
| Crime | — | 6.73 films | 6.91 film |
| Romance | 6.11 film | 6.86 films | — |
| Horror | — | 5.51 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Wendy.
Highest rated performance
2013Her
8.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2016Lion
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026Bucking Fastard
The current state of the argument, as Joan Holbrooke.
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.
21 of 21 films
as Young Roseanne McNulty
Directed by Jim Sheridan
as Therese Belivet
Directed by Todd Haynes
as Catherine
Directed by Spike Jonze
as The Sisters (voice)
Directed by Travis Knight
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
Lucy
Lion (2016)
Performance score8.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Lucy gives Rooney Mara a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Young Roseanne McNulty
The Secret Scripture (2017)
Performance score7.8
The Secret Scripture asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Young Roseanne McNulty is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Therese Belivet
Carol (2015)
Performance score7.8
Carol asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Therese Belivet is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Catherine
Her (2013)
Performance score7.8
Her asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Catherine 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 Lucy
Start here. Lion is the clearest statement of what Rooney Mara does — accessible, 118 minutes, and rated 8.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Rooney 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.
Her (2013)
Keeps the drama register of Lion but asks for a colder reading of it.
Carol (2015)
Keeps the romance register of Her but asks for a colder reading of it.
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
A deliberate change of key after Carol — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Secret Scripture (2017)
A deliberate change of key after Kubo and the Two Strings — 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 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Garth Davis
Director
2 films together
Notably Lion
Miguel Arteta
Director
1 film together
Notably Youth in Revolt
David Lowery
Director
1 film together
Notably Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Spike Jonze
Director
1 film together
Notably Her
Todd Haynes
Director
1 film together
Notably Carol
Joe Wright
Director
1 film together
Notably Pan
Travis Knight
Director
1 film together
Notably Kubo and the Two Strings
Charlie McDowell
Director
1 film together
Notably The Discovery
Terrence Malick
Director
1 film together
Notably Song to Song
Jim Sheridan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Secret Scripture
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
Guillermo del Toro
Director
1 film together
Notably Nightmare Alley
Sarah Polley
Director
1 film together
Notably Women Talking
Alonso Ruizpalacios
Director
1 film together
Notably La Cocina
Werner Herzog
Director
1 film together
Notably Bucking Fastard
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
David Fincher
Director
2 films together · 7.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Girl with the Dragon TattooGarth Davis
Director
2 films together · 7.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
LionSpike Jonze
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
HerTravis Knight
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kubo and the Two StringsTodd Haynes
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CarolJim Sheridan
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Secret ScriptureAlonso Ruizpalacios
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
La CocinaGuillermo del Toro
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Nightmare AlleySarah Polley
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Women TalkingGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on FootCharlie McDowell
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 DiscoveryDavid Lowery
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ain't Them Bodies SaintsMiguel Arteta
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Youth in RevoltJoe Wright
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PanTerrence Malick
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Song to SongWerner Herzog
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Bucking FastardSix 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
Her
as Catherine
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Carol
as Therese Belivet
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Her
as Catherine
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Her
as Catherine
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Lion
as Lucy
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. Rooney Mara 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.
Drama Legend
Awarded
17 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
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
as Lisbeth Salander
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
as Lisbeth Salander
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Secret Scripture
as Young Roseanne McNulty
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
as Lisbeth Salander
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Kubo and the Two Strings
as The Sisters (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Pan
as Tiger Lily
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Youth in Revolt
as Taggarty
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Her
as Catherine
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Morgan Freeman
Works with the same directors — David Fincher
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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
Which Rooney Mara performance holds up best?
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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