Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#385
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Will Forte represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 25 years in, and Will is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Will Forte appears in 42 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Will. Will & Harper is the clearest case: a film rated 7.4 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, family, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Eric Appel, Tyler Spindel, Brent Hodge and others, Will Forte 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.
Will & Harper (2024) as Self · The Lego Movie (2014) as Abraham Lincoln (voice) · Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023) as Gordon Lighthouse (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #385 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
42
2001–2026
Career length
25 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.4
Will & Harper
Average Nutevio score
5.9
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.5
The Breadwinner
Most frequent director
Phil Lord
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Phil Lord
Most common genre
Comedy
41 titles
Average runtime
1h 35m
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
2010s
6.3 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. The Laundromat, Extra Ordinary, Good Boys — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.3
Across 21 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.3
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. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Fanboys, The Slammin' Salmon.
Most productive era
2010s
21 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 | 7.11 film | 6.23 films | 0.01 film |
| Action | 6.01 film | 6.15 films | 5.81 film |
| Comedy | 6.17 films | 6.321 films | 5.113 films |
| Crime | 6.21 film | 6.14 films | — |
| Romance | 6.01 film | 6.12 films | 2.82 films |
| Horror | — | 6.41 film | 5.91 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2001Ghost World
Where our catalogue meets this career, as (uncredited).
Highest rated performance
2014The Lego Movie
7.4 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2020Scoob!
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026Coyote vs. Acme
The current state of the argument, as Kevin Avery.
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.
42 of 42 films
as Shaggy Rogers (voice)
Directed by Tony Cervone
as Otis (voice)
Directed by Jared Hess
as Gordon Lighthouse (voice)
Directed by Kirk DeMicco
as Doug
Directed by Josh Greenbaum
as Self
Directed by Josh Greenbaum
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
Shaggy Rogers (voice)
Scoob! (2020)
Performance score7.6
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Shaggy Rogers (voice) gives Will Forte a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Otis (voice)
Thelma the Unicorn (2024)
Performance score7.3
Thelma the Unicorn asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Otis (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Gordon Lighthouse (voice)
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)
Performance score7.3
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Gordon Lighthouse (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Doug
Strays (2023)
Performance score7.3
Strays asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Doug 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 Shaggy Rogers (voice)
Start here. Scoob! is the clearest statement of what Will Forte does — accessible, 94 minutes, and rated 7.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Will 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.
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)
Keeps the comedy register of Scoob! but asks for a colder reading of it.
Strays (2023)
Keeps the comedy register of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken but asks for a colder reading of it.
Thelma the Unicorn (2024)
A deliberate change of key after Strays — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Will & Harper (2024)
A deliberate change of key after Thelma the Unicorn — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Phil Lord
Director
3 films together
Notably The Lego Movie
Frank Coraci
Director
2 films together
Notably Around the World in 80 Days
Jake Szymanski
Director
2 films together
Notably Tour de Pharmacy
Josh Greenbaum
Director
2 films together
Notably Will & Harper
Eric Appel
Director
2 films together
Notably The Breadwinner
Terry Zwigoff
Director
1 film together
Notably Ghost World
Bob Odenkirk
Director
1 film together
Notably The Brothers Solomon
Michael McCullers
Director
1 film together
Notably Baby Mama
Kevin Heffernan
Director
1 film together
Notably The Slammin' Salmon
Adam Shankman
Director
1 film together
Notably Rock of Ages
Akiva Schaffer
Director
1 film together
Notably The Watch
Cody Cameron
Director
1 film together
Notably Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Dennis Dugan
Director
1 film together
Notably Grown Ups 2
Peter Bogdanovich
Director
1 film together
Notably She's Funny That Way
Jorma Taccone
Director
1 film together
Notably Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
Peter Atencio
Director
1 film together
Notably Keanu
David Wain
Director
1 film together
Notably A Futile and Stupid Gesture
Olivia Wilde
Director
1 film together
Notably Booksmart
Mike Mitchell
Director
1 film together
Notably The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Gene Stupnitsky
Director
1 film together
Notably Good Boys
Enda Loughman
Director
1 film together
Notably Extra Ordinary
Donick Cary
Director
1 film together
Notably Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics
Tony Cervone
Director
1 film together
Notably Scoob!
Matt Thompson
Director
1 film together
Notably America: The Motion Picture
Kirk DeMicco
Director
1 film together
Notably Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
Jared Hess
Director
1 film together
Notably Thelma the Unicorn
Brent Hodge
Director
1 film together
Notably Downey Wrote That
Tyler Spindel
Director
1 film together
Notably Kinda Pregnant
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Phil Lord
Director
3 films together · 7.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Lego MovieJosh Greenbaum
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
Will & HarperEric Appel
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
The BreadwinnerJake Szymanski
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Tour de PharmacyFrank Coraci
Director
2 films together · 5.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Around the World in 80 DaysKirk DeMicco
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ruby Gillman, Teenage KrakenTerry Zwigoff
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ghost WorldTony Cervone
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scoob!Olivia Wilde
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BooksmartJared Hess
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Thelma the UnicornGene Stupnitsky
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Good BoysMike Mitchell
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 Lego Movie 2: The Second PartDonick Cary
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Have a Good Trip: Adventures in PsychedelicsJorma Taccone
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Popstar: Never Stop Never StoppingDavid Wain
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Futile and Stupid GestureCody Cameron
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2Enda Loughman
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Extra OrdinaryDennis Dugan
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Grown Ups 2Adam 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 AgesPeter Atencio
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
KeanuMichael McCullers
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Baby MamaPeter Bogdanovich
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
She's Funny That WayMatt Thompson
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
America: The Motion PictureKevin Heffernan
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Slammin' SalmonTyler Spindel
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kinda PregnantAkiva 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 WatchBob Odenkirk
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 Brothers SolomonBrent Hodge
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Downey Wrote ThatSix 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
Will & Harper
as Self
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Thelma the Unicorn
as Otis (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
The Lego Movie
as Abraham Lincoln (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Grown Ups 2
as Male Cheerleader (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Scoob!
as Shaggy Rogers (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. Will Forte 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
25 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
41 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
Scoob!
as Shaggy Rogers (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Scoob!
as Shaggy Rogers (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Thelma the Unicorn
as Otis (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Scoob!
as Shaggy Rogers (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
as Abraham Lincoln (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Ridiculous 6
as Will Patch
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Rock of Ages
as Mitch Miley
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
as Joe Towne (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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Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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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