Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2207
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
T.J. Miller 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.
T.J. Miller appears in 28 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without T.J.. How to Train Your Dragon 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, 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, horror. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Jamie Babbit, David Leitch, Steven Spielberg and others, T.J. Miller 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.
How to Train Your Dragon (2010) as Tuffnut (voice) · Big Hero 6 (2014) as Fred (voice) · Deadpool (2016) as Weasel
Career snapshot
Ranked #2207 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
28
2009–2020
Career length
11 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
How to Train Your Dragon
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
How to Train Your Dragon
Most frequent director
David Leitch
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With David Leitch
Most common genre
Comedy
21 titles
Average runtime
1h 37m
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
6.2
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
6.5 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Deadpool 2, Ready Player One, Once Upon a Deadpool — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.5
Across 23 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.5
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. Extract, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.
Most productive era
2010s
23 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 | — | 6.33 films | — |
| Action | — | 7.38 films | 6.31 film |
| Thriller | — | 6.61 film | 3.01 film |
| Comedy | 5.72 films | 6.418 films | 5.31 film |
| Romance | — | 6.43 films | — |
| Horror | — | — | 6.31 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2009Extract
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Rory.
Highest rated performance
8.1 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2014Big Hero 6
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2020Facade
The current state of the argument, as Uncle Renny.
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.
28 of 28 films
as Fred (voice)
Directed by Chris Williams
as Weasel
Directed by Tim Miller
as Tuffnut (voice)
Directed by Dean DeBlois
as I-R0k (voice)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
as Weasel
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.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Fred (voice)
Big Hero 6 (2014)
Performance score8.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Fred (voice) gives T.J. Miller a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Weasel
Deadpool (2016)
Performance score7.9
Deadpool asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Weasel is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Tuffnut (voice)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Performance score7.8
How to Train Your Dragon asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tuffnut (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
I-R0k (voice)
Ready Player One (2018)
Performance score7.7
Ready Player One asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. I-R0k (voice) 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 Fred (voice)
Start here. Big Hero 6 is the clearest statement of what T.J. Miller does — accessible, 102 minutes, and rated 8.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet T.J. 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.
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Keeps the adventure register of Big Hero 6 but asks for a colder reading of it.
Deadpool (2016)
Keeps the adventure register of How to Train Your Dragon but asks for a colder reading of it.
Ready Player One (2018)
Keeps the action register of Deadpool but asks for a colder reading of it.
Deadpool 2 (2018)
Keeps the action register of Ready Player One but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Dean DeBlois
Director
2 films together
Notably How to Train Your Dragon
David Leitch
Director
2 films together
Notably Deadpool 2
Neal Brennan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
Mike Judge
Director
1 film together
Notably Extract
Jim Field Smith
Director
1 film together
Notably She's Out of My League
Tony Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Unstoppable
Eric Brevig
Director
1 film together
Notably Yogi Bear
Nicholas Stoller
Director
1 film together
Notably Get Him to the Greek
Rob Letterman
Director
1 film together
Notably Gulliver's Travels
Tom Owens
Director
1 film together
Notably Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury
Jesse Peretz
Director
1 film together
Notably Our Idiot Brother
Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together
Notably Rock of Ages
Lorene Scafaria
Director
1 film together
Notably Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Michael Bay
Director
1 film together
Notably Transformers: Age of Extinction
Chris Williams
Director
1 film together
Notably Big Hero 6
Ross Shuman
Director
1 film together
Notably Hell and Back
Josh Gordon
Director
1 film together
Notably Office Christmas Party
Tim Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Deadpool
Jay Baruchel
Director
1 film together
Notably Goon: Last of the Enforcers
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably Ready Player One
Jamie Babbit
Director
1 film together
Notably The Stand In
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Dean DeBlois
Director
2 films together · 7.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
How to Train Your DragonDavid Leitch
Director
2 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Deadpool 2Chris Williams
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Big Hero 6Tim Miller
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DeadpoolSteven Spielberg
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ready Player OneTom Owens
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dragons: Gift of the Night FuryLorene Scafaria
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Seeking a Friend for the End of the WorldTony Scott
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
UnstoppableJim Field Smith
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
She's Out of My LeagueAdam 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
Rock of AgesJesse Peretz
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Our Idiot BrotherMichael Bay
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transformers: Age of ExtinctionNicholas Stoller
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Get Him to the GreekMike Judge
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ExtractJay Baruchel
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Goon: Last of the EnforcersJosh Gordon
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Office Christmas PartyEric Brevig
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Yogi BearNeal Brennan
Director
1 film together · 5.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell HardJamie Babbit
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 Stand InRoss Shuman
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hell and BackRob Letterman
Director
1 film together · 5.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gulliver's TravelsSix 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
How to Train Your Dragon
as Tuffnut (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
How to Train Your Dragon
as Tuffnut (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
How to Train Your Dragon
as Tuffnut (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Get Him to the Greek
as Brian
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Big Hero 6
as Fred (voice)
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. T.J. Miller 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.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
21 catalogue titles in comedy, 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
How to Train Your Dragon
as Tuffnut (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Big Hero 6
as Fred (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Rock of Ages
as Rolling Stone Receptionist
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
How to Train Your Dragon
as Tuffnut (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Big Hero 6
as Fred (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Underwater
as Paul Abel
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Rock of Ages
as Rolling Stone Receptionist
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Deadpool
as Weasel
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
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Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Elliot Page
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
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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