Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#805
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Vince Vaughn represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 34 years in, and Vince is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Vince Vaughn appears in 39 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Vince. 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 comedy, adventure, science fiction. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Peter Atencio, BenDavid Grabinski, Stephen Chbosky and others, Vince Vaughn 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 Sgt Howell · Into the Wild (2007) as Wayne Westerberg · Rudy (1993) as Jamie O'Hara
Career snapshot
Ranked #805 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
39
1993–2027
Career length
34 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.4
Hacksaw Ridge
Average Nutevio score
6.0
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Hacksaw Ridge
Most frequent director
Peter Billingsley
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Peter Billingsley
Most common genre
Comedy
27 titles
Average runtime
1h 44m
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
6.5
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
6.4 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Psycho, Return to Paradise, The Lost World: Jurassic Park — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.4
Across 5 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.5
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. Psycho, Return to Paradise, The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
Most productive era
2000s
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 | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.83 films | 6.35 films | 6.44 films | 5.31 film |
| Action | 6.61 film | 6.12 films | 6.13 films | 5.81 film |
| Thriller | 5.82 films | 6.03 films | 6.23 films | 5.81 film |
| Comedy | 6.81 film | 6.112 films | 5.97 films | 5.37 films |
| Crime | — | 5.74 films | 6.61 film | 6.33 films |
| Romance | 6.51 film | 5.94 films | 5.61 film | — |
| Horror | 5.11 film | — | — | 6.61 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1993Rudy
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Jamie O'Hara.
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
2027Animal Friends
The current state of the argument.
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.
39 of 39 films
as Sgt Howell
Directed by Mel Gibson
as Wayne Westerberg
Directed by Sean Penn
as Joe Scaravella
Directed by Stephen Chbosky
as Eddie
Directed by Doug Liman
as John 'Sheriff' Volgecherev
Directed by Unknown
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
Sgt Howell
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Performance score8.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Sgt Howell gives Vince Vaughn a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Wayne Westerberg
Into the Wild (2007)
Performance score7.7
Into the Wild asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Wayne Westerberg is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Joe Scaravella
Nonnas (2025)
Performance score7.4
Nonnas asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Joe Scaravella is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Eddie
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Performance score7.3
Mr. & Mrs. Smith asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Eddie 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 Sgt Howell
Start here. Hacksaw Ridge is the clearest statement of what Vince Vaughn 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 Vince 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.
Return to Paradise (1998)
Keeps the drama register of Hacksaw Ridge but asks for a colder reading of it.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Keeps the drama register of Return to Paradise but asks for a colder reading of it.
Into the Wild (2007)
Keeps the drama register of Mr. & Mrs. Smith but asks for a colder reading of it.
Nonnas (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Into the Wild — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Todd Phillips
Director
2 films together
Notably Old School
Adam McKay
Director
2 films together
Notably Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Doug Liman
Director
2 films together
Notably Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Peter Billingsley
Director
2 films together
Notably Term Life
David Anspaugh
Director
1 film together
Notably Rudy
Steven Spielberg
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Gus Van Sant
Director
1 film together
Notably Psycho
Jon Favreau
Director
1 film together
Notably Made
Paul Abascal
Director
1 film together
Notably Paparazzi
David Dobkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Wedding Crashers
F. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together
Notably Be Cool
Peyton Reed
Director
1 film together
Notably The Break-Up
Sean Penn
Director
1 film together
Notably Into the Wild
Seth Gordon
Director
1 film together
Notably Four Christmases
Ron Howard
Director
1 film together
Notably The Dilemma
Akiva Schaffer
Director
1 film together
Notably The Watch
Kat Coiro
Director
1 film together
Notably A Case of You
Shawn Levy
Director
1 film together
Notably The Internship
Mel Gibson
Director
1 film together
Notably Hacksaw Ridge
Stephen Merchant
Director
1 film together
Notably Fighting with My Family
Jeremy Garelick
Director
1 film together
Notably The Binge
Clark Duke
Director
1 film together
Notably Arkansas
Stephen Chbosky
Director
1 film together
Notably Nonnas
BenDavid Grabinski
Director
1 film together
Notably Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice
Peter Atencio
Director
1 film together
Notably Animal Friends
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Doug Liman
Director
2 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Mr. & Mrs. SmithAdam McKay
Director
2 films together · 6.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron BurgundyTodd Phillips
Director
2 films together · 6.2 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Old SchoolPeter Billingsley
Director
2 films together · 5.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Term LifeMel 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 RidgeSean Penn
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Into the WildDavid Anspaugh
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
RudyStephen Chbosky
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
NonnasStephen Merchant
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Fighting with My FamilyBenDavid Grabinski
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mike & Nick & Nick & AliceSteven Spielberg
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 Lost World: Jurassic ParkDavid Dobkin
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wedding CrashersShawn Levy
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The InternshipPeyton Reed
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Break-UpClark Duke
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ArkansasSeth Gordon
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Four ChristmasesJon Favreau
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MadeKat Coiro
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Case of YouAkiva Schaffer
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The WatchF. Gary Gray
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Be CoolJeremy Garelick
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 BingeRon Howard
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 DilemmaPaul Abascal
Director
1 film together · 5.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PaparazziGus Van Sant
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
PsychoPeter Atencio
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Animal FriendsSix 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 Sgt Howell
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Rudy
as Jamie O'Hara
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 Sgt Howell
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie
as Wes Mantooth (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Hacksaw Ridge
as Sgt Howell
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. Vince Vaughn 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
34 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.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
27 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
Hacksaw Ridge
as Sgt Howell
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Hacksaw Ridge
as Sgt Howell
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Return to Paradise
as John 'Sheriff' Volgecherev
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Domestic Disturbance
as Rick Barnes
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Into the Wild
as Wayne Westerberg
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
as Nick Van Owen
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Made
as Ricky Slade
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Hacksaw Ridge
as Sgt Howell
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
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Robert Downey Jr.
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
Which Vince Vaughn performance holds up best?
Our readers argue about this one. Make your case, or read the ranked debate already in progress.
Join the conversation
Reference
Continue exploring
Trending performers
Directors they work with
Collections to read next
