Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#430
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Sam Worthington represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 29 years in, and Sam is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Sam Worthington appears in 38 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Sam. Hacksaw Ridge is the clearest case: a film rated 8.4 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 James Cameron, David Mackenzie, Alejandro Monteverde and others, Sam Worthington 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.
Hacksaw Ridge (2016) as Captain Glover · Avatar (2009) as Jake Sully · Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) as Jake
Career snapshot
Ranked #430 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
38
2002–2031
Career length
29 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.4
Hacksaw Ridge
Average Nutevio score
5.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Hacksaw Ridge
Most frequent director
James Cameron
5 films together
Longest collaboration
5×
With James Cameron
Most common genre
Drama
20 titles
Average runtime
1h 47m
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
6.4
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
2000s
6.6 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Avatar, Terminator Salvation, Rogue — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
6.6
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2000s
6.6
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. Avatar, Terminator Salvation, Rogue.
Most productive era
2020s
17 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 | 2030s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.41 film | 6.511 films | 5.78 films | — |
| Action | 6.74 films | 5.85 films | 5.79 films | 0.01 film |
| Thriller | 6.22 films | 5.98 films | 5.28 films | — |
| Comedy | — | — | 6.41 film | — |
| Crime | — | 5.83 films | 6.44 films | — |
| Romance | — | 6.21 film | — | — |
| Horror | 6.31 film | — | 5.01 film | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2002Hart's War
Where our catalogue meets this career, as as Cpl. B.J. 'Depot' Guidry.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2016Hacksaw Ridge
8.4 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
2031Avatar 5
The current state of the argument, as Jake Sully.
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.
38 of 38 films
as Captain Glover
Directed by Mel Gibson
as Jake Sully
Directed by James Cameron
as Jake
Directed by James Cameron
as Jake Sully
Directed by James Cameron
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
Captain Glover
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Performance score8.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Captain Glover gives Sam Worthington a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Jake Sully
Avatar (2009)
Performance score8.4
Avatar asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jake Sully is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Jake
Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)
Performance score8.3
Avatar: Fire and Ash asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jake is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Jake Sully
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Performance score8.3
Avatar: The Way of Water asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jake Sully 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 Captain Glover
Start here. Hacksaw Ridge is the clearest statement of what Sam Worthington does — accessible, 139 minutes, and rated 8.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Sam 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.
Avatar (2009)
A deliberate change of key after Hacksaw Ridge — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
The Shack (2017)
A deliberate change of key after Avatar — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
A deliberate change of key after The Shack — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025)
Same director as Avatar: The Way of Water, 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.
James Cameron
Director
5 films together
Notably Avatar
Kevin Costner
Director
2 films together
Notably Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2
David Mackenzie
Director
2 films together
Notably Fuze
Gregory Hoblit
Director
1 film together
Notably Hart's War
John Dahl
Director
1 film together
Notably The Great Raid
Greg McLean
Director
1 film together
Notably Rogue
McG
Director
1 film together
Notably Terminator Salvation
John Madden
Director
1 film together
Notably The Debt
Louis Leterrier
Director
1 film together
Notably Clash of the Titans
Ami Canaan Mann
Director
1 film together
Notably Texas Killing Fields
Jonathan Liebesman
Director
1 film together
Notably Wrath of the Titans
Daniel Barnz
Director
1 film together
Notably Cake
David Ayer
Director
1 film together
Notably Sabotage
Baltasar Kormákur
Director
1 film together
Notably Everest
Mel Gibson
Director
1 film together
Notably Hacksaw Ridge
Jonathan Mostow
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hunter's Prayer
Lennart Ruff
Director
1 film together
Notably The Titan
Brad Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably Fractured
Matt Nable
Director
1 film together
Notably Transfusion
April Mullen
Director
1 film together
Notably Simulant
F. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together
Notably Lift
Joshua John Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably The Exorcism
Alejandro Monteverde
Director
1 film together
Notably Zero A.D.
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
James Cameron
Director
5 films together · 4.7 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 5 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
AvatarDavid Mackenzie
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
FuzeKevin Costner
Director
2 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2Mel Gibson
Director
1 film together · 8.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hacksaw RidgeBrad Anderson
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FracturedBaltasar Kormákur
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
EverestJohn Madden
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The DebtJohn Dahl
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 Great RaidF. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LiftGregory Hoblit
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hart's WarDaniel Barnz
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CakeGreg McLean
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RogueMatt Nable
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TransfusionMcG
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Terminator SalvationApril Mullen
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SimulantLouis Leterrier
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Clash of the TitansJonathan Liebesman
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wrath of the TitansAmi Canaan Mann
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Texas Killing FieldsJonathan Mostow
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Hunter's PrayerDavid Ayer
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SabotageLennart Ruff
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The TitanJoshua John Miller
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The ExorcismAlejandro Monteverde
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Zero A.D.Six 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
Hacksaw Ridge
as Captain Glover
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Everest
as Guy Cotter
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Hacksaw Ridge
as Captain Glover
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Great Raid
as PFC Lucas
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Hacksaw Ridge
as Captain Glover
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. Sam Worthington 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
29 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
20 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
Hacksaw Ridge
as Captain Glover
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Fuze
as X
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Everest
as Guy Cotter
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Kidnapping Mr. Heineken
as Willem Holleeder
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Avatar
as Jake Sully
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Avatar: The Way of Water
as Jake Sully
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
as Trent Gephart
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Avatar
as Jake Sully
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
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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