Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#186
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Toby Jones represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 28 years in, and Toby is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Toby Jones appears in 62 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Toby. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 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 mystery, comedy, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Bharat Nalluri, Marc Evans, Duke Johnson and others, Toby Jones 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.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) as Dobby (voice) · Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) as Dobby (voice) · Tetris (2023) as Robert Stein
Career snapshot
Ranked #186 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
62
1998–2026
Career length
28 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.0
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Average Nutevio score
6.5
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.8
Tetris
Most frequent director
Oliver Parker
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Oliver Parker
Most common genre
Drama
29 titles
Average runtime
1h 55m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
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
6.5
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
1990s
7.0 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Les Misérables, EverAfter — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
7.0
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
7.0
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1990s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Les Misérables, EverAfter.
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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 7.03 films | 6.88 films | 6.16 films | 6.412 films |
| Action | 6.51 film | — | 6.88 films | 6.52 films |
| Thriller | — | — | 6.39 films | 6.45 films |
| Comedy | 7.51 film | 6.24 films | 6.04 films | 6.54 films |
| Crime | 7.01 film | 6.51 film | 5.53 films | 6.42 films |
| Romance | 7.32 films | 7.31 film | 6.02 films | 6.61 film |
| Horror | — | — | 5.73 films | 6.81 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1998Les Misérables
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Doorkeeper.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2002Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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
2026Othello
The current state of the argument, as Iago.
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.
62 of 62 films
as Dobby (voice)
Directed by David Yates
as Dobby (voice)
Directed by Chris Columbus
as Robert Stein
Directed by Jon S. Baird
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
Vanya
Uncle Vanya (2020)
Performance score8.0
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Vanya gives Toby Jones a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Dobby (voice)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Performance score8.0
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dobby (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Dobby (voice)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Performance score8.0
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Dobby (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Robert Stein
Tetris (2023)
Performance score7.6
Tetris asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Robert Stein 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 Vanya
Start here. Uncle Vanya is the clearest statement of what Toby Jones does — accessible, 149 minutes, and rated 7.4 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Toby 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.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
A deliberate change of key after Uncle Vanya — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
Keeps the fantasy register of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets but asks for a colder reading of it.
Tetris (2023)
A deliberate change of key after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford (2023)
A deliberate change of key after Tetris — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Oliver Parker
Director
3 films together
Notably St Trinian's
Francis Lawrence
Director
2 films together
Notably The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Tomas Alfredson
Director
2 films together
Notably Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Marc Forster
Director
2 films together
Notably Christopher Robin
Andy Tennant
Director
1 film together
Notably EverAfter
Bille August
Director
1 film together
Notably Les Misérables
Luc Besson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together
Notably Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Stephen Frears
Director
1 film together
Notably Mrs. Henderson Presents
John Curran
Director
1 film together
Notably The Painted Veil
Douglas McGrath
Director
1 film together
Notably Infamous
Michael Apted
Director
1 film together
Notably Amazing Grace
Woody Allen
Director
1 film together
Notably Scoop
Ron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably Frost/Nixon
Oliver Stone
Director
1 film together
Notably W.
Jon Amiel
Director
1 film together
Notably Creation
David Yates
Director
1 film together
Notably Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
David Gordon Green
Director
1 film together
Notably Your Highness
Mikael Håfström
Director
1 film together
Notably The Rite
Joe Johnston
Director
1 film together
Notably Captain America: The First Avenger
Simon Curtis
Director
1 film together
Notably My Week with Marilyn
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably The Adventures of Tintin
Gary Ross
Director
1 film together
Notably The Hunger Games
Rodrigo Cortés
Director
1 film together
Notably Red Lights
James Bobin
Director
1 film together
Notably Muppets Most Wanted
Susanne Bier
Director
1 film together
Notably Serena
Anthony Russo
Director
1 film together
Notably Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Luke Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Morgan
Saul Dibb
Director
1 film together
Notably Journey's End
David Leitch
Director
1 film together
Notably Atomic Blonde
J. A. Bayona
Director
1 film together
Notably Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Dee Rees
Director
1 film together
Notably The Last Thing He Wanted
Sam Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Danny Boy
Will Sharpe
Director
1 film together
Notably The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
Antoine Fuqua
Director
1 film together
Notably Infinite
Sam Mendes
Director
1 film together
Notably Empire of Light
Scott Cooper
Director
1 film together
Notably The Pale Blue Eye
Eran Creevy
Director
1 film together
Notably Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts
Jon S. Baird
Director
1 film together
Notably Tetris
James Mangold
Director
1 film together
Notably Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Doug Liman
Director
1 film together
Notably The Instigators
Duke Johnson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Actor
Marc Evans
Director
1 film together
Notably Mr. Burton
Bharat Nalluri
Director
1 film together
Notably Flavia
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Oliver Parker
Director
3 films together · 5.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
St Trinian'sMarc Forster
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
Christopher RobinFrancis Lawrence
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
The Hunger Games: Catching FireTomas Alfredson
Director
2 films together · 5.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Tinker Tailor Soldier SpyDavid Yates
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsJon S. Baird
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
TetrisAnthony Russo
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Captain America: The Winter SoldierAndy Tennant
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
EverAfterEran Creevy
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to HogwartsRon Howard
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Frost/NixonJohn Curran
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Painted VeilGary Ross
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 Hunger GamesJoe Johnston
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Captain America: The First AvengerBille August
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Les MisérablesWill Sharpe
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Electrical Life of Louis WainSteven Spielberg
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Adventures of TintinMichael Apted
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Amazing GraceMarc Evans
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mr. BurtonScott Cooper
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Pale Blue EyeSam Miller
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Danny BoySimon Curtis
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Week with MarilynStephen Frears
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mrs. Henderson PresentsSam Mendes
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Empire of LightAntoine Fuqua
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
InfiniteWoody Allen
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ScoopJames Mangold
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Indiana Jones and the Dial of DestinyJ. A. Bayona
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Jurassic World: Fallen KingdomDouglas McGrath
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
InfamousLuc Besson
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 Messenger: The Story of Joan of ArcDavid 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 BlondeJon Amiel
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
CreationSaul Dibb
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Journey's EndJames Bobin
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Muppets Most WantedBharat Nalluri
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FlaviaRodrigo Cortés
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Red LightsOliver Stone
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
W.Duke Johnson
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 ActorDoug Liman
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 InstigatorsMikael Håfström
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 RiteLuke Scott
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MorganSusanne Bier
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SerenaDavid Gordon Green
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Your HighnessDee Rees
Director
1 film together · 4.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Last Thing He WantedSix 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
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
as Dobby (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
Tetris
as Robert Stein
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
as Dobby (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc
as English Judge
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Uncle Vanya
as Vanya
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. Toby Jones 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
28 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
29 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
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
as Dobby (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Hunger Games
as Claudius Templesmith
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Tetris
as Robert Stein
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Pale Blue Eye
as Dr. Daniel Marquis
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
as Dr. Arnim Zola
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
as Basil Shaw
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
as Sir William Ingram
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
as Dobby (voice)
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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Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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