Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#8623
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Spencer Wilding 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.
Spencer Wilding appears in 20 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Spencer. Guardians of the Galaxy 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, physical 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, comedy. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Macon Blair, John Francis Daley, F. Gary Gray and others, Spencer Wilding 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.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) as Mean Guard · Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) as Darth Vader · Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) as Gorg
Career snapshot
Ranked #8623 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
20
2005–2025
Career length
20 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
Guardians of the Galaxy
Average Nutevio score
6.2
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
Guardians of the Galaxy
Most frequent director
Macon Blair
1 film together
Longest collaboration
1×
With Macon Blair
Most common genre
Action
13 titles
Average runtime
1h 52m
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
6.3
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
2020s
6.6 average MV
The 2020s are where the work and the material meet. The Toxic Avenger Unrated, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, The Devil Conspiracy — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2020s
6.6
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2020s
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. Stardust, The Golden Compass, Eragon.
Most productive era
2010s
12 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 | 5.61 film | 5.72 films | — |
| Action | 5.32 films | 6.110 films | 6.01 film |
| Thriller | — | 5.93 films | 6.51 film |
| Comedy | 6.71 film | 6.32 films | 6.72 films |
| Crime | — | 6.61 film | — |
| Romance | 7.31 film | — | — |
| Horror | — | — | 6.51 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2005The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Vogon Soldier.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
8.1 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
The current state of the argument, as Monster Garbinger, his Imperfect Self / Him Under the Hood, mysterious guitar.
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.
20 of 20 films
as Mean Guard
Directed by James Gunn
as Darth Vader
Directed by Gareth Edwards
as Gorg
Directed by John Francis Daley
as Pirate
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
as Eteon's Uber Merc
Directed by David Leitch
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
Mean Guard
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Mean Guard gives Spencer Wilding a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Darth Vader
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Performance score7.3
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Darth Vader is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Gorg
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Performance score7.2
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Gorg is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Pirate
Stardust (2007)
Performance score7.2
Stardust asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Pirate 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 Mean Guard
Start here. Guardians of the Galaxy is the clearest statement of what Spencer Wilding does — accessible, 121 minutes, and rated 8.1 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Spencer 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.
Stardust (2007)
Keeps the adventure register of Guardians of the Galaxy but asks for a colder reading of it.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Keeps the adventure register of Stardust but asks for a colder reading of it.
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Keeps the action register of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story but asks for a colder reading of it.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
Keeps the comedy register of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Sturla Gunnarsson
Director
1 film together
Notably Beowulf & Grendel
Garth Jennings
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Chris Weitz
Director
1 film together
Notably The Golden Compass
Matthew Vaughn
Director
1 film together
Notably Stardust
Brian Taylor
Director
1 film together
Notably Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Jonathan Liebesman
Director
1 film together
Notably Wrath of the Titans
Danny Boyle
Director
1 film together
Notably Trance
James Nunn
Director
1 film together
Notably Green Street 3: Never Back Down
Renny Harlin
Director
1 film together
Notably The Legend of Hercules
James Gunn
Director
1 film together
Notably Guardians of the Galaxy
Paul McGuigan
Director
1 film together
Notably Victor Frankenstein
Lilly Wachowski
Director
1 film together
Notably Jupiter Ascending
Joe Wright
Director
1 film together
Notably Pan
Gareth Edwards
Director
1 film together
Notably Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
David Leitch
Director
1 film together
Notably Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
F. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together
Notably Men in Black: International
John Francis Daley
Director
1 film together
Notably Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Macon Blair
Director
1 film together
Notably The Toxic Avenger Unrated
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
James Gunn
Director
1 film together · 8.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Guardians of the GalaxyGareth Edwards
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryJohn Francis Daley
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among ThievesMatthew Vaughn
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
StardustDavid Leitch
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & ShawGarth Jennings
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 Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyDanny Boyle
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TranceChris Weitz
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 Golden CompassMacon Blair
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Toxic Avenger UnratedJoe 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
PanPaul McGuigan
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Victor FrankensteinF. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Men in Black: InternationalJonathan 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 TitansSturla Gunnarsson
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Beowulf & GrendelLilly Wachowski
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jupiter AscendingJames Nunn
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Green Street 3: Never Back DownBrian Taylor
Director
1 film together · 5.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ghost Rider: Spirit of VengeanceRenny Harlin
Director
1 film together · 4.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Legend of HerculesSix 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
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Mean Guard
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Stardust
as Pirate
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Mean Guard
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
as Vogon Soldier
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Mean Guard
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. Spencer Wilding 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
20 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.
Action Legend
Awarded
13 catalogue titles in action, 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
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Mean Guard
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Mean Guard
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Stardust
as Pirate
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Trance
as 60's Robber
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Mean Guard
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Pan
as Growler
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Stardust
as Pirate
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Guardians of the Galaxy
as Mean Guard
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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