Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1234
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Will Poulter 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.
Will Poulter appears in 20 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Will. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 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 science fiction, comedy, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Boots Riley, Ray Mendoza, Daniel Minahan and others, Will Poulter 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 Vol. 3 (2023) as Adam Warlock · The Revenant (2015) as Jim Bridger · The Maze Runner (2014) as Gally
Career snapshot
Ranked #1234 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
20
2007–2026
Career length
19 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.1
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Average Nutevio score
6.4
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
7.9
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Most frequent director
Wes Ball
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Wes Ball
Most common genre
Drama
8 titles
Average runtime
1h 53m
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
6.8 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Midsommar, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Maze Runner: The Death Cure — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
6.8
Across 11 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
6.8
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. Son of Rambow.
Most productive era
2010s
11 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 | — | 6.95 films | 3.93 films |
| Action | — | 6.83 films | 7.62 films |
| Thriller | — | 7.14 films | 5.31 film |
| Comedy | 6.71 film | 6.42 films | 6.22 films |
| Crime | — | 6.42 films | 6.01 film |
| Romance | — | — | 5.82 films |
| Horror | — | 6.52 films | 6.41 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2007Son of Rambow
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Lee Carter.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2023Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
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
2026Union County
The current state of the argument, as Cody.
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 Adam Warlock
Directed by James Gunn
as Philip Krauss
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
as Jim Bridger
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu
as Gally
Directed by Wes Ball
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
Adam Warlock
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Adam Warlock gives Will Poulter a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Philip Krauss
Detroit (2017)
Performance score7.6
Detroit asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Philip Krauss is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Jim Bridger
The Revenant (2015)
Performance score7.6
The Revenant asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Jim Bridger is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Erik
Warfare (2025)
Performance score7.5
Warfare asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Erik 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 Adam Warlock
Start here. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the clearest statement of what Will Poulter does — accessible, 150 minutes, and rated 8.1 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.
The Maze Runner (2014)
Keeps the action register of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Revenant (2015)
A deliberate change of key after The Maze Runner — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Detroit (2017)
Keeps the drama register of The Revenant but asks for a colder reading of it.
Warfare (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Detroit — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Wes Ball
Director
2 films together
Notably The Maze Runner
Garth Jennings
Director
1 film together
Notably Son of Rambow
Michael Apted
Director
1 film together
Notably The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Dexter Fletcher
Director
1 film together
Notably Wild Bill
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Director
1 film together
Notably The Revenant
Kathryn Bigelow
Director
1 film together
Notably Detroit
Lenny Abrahamson
Director
1 film together
Notably The Little Stranger
David Slade
Director
1 film together
Notably Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
Ari Aster
Director
1 film together
Notably Midsommar
Brad Baruh
Director
1 film together
Notably Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
James Gunn
Director
1 film together
Notably Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Daniel Minahan
Director
1 film together
Notably On Swift Horses
Ray Mendoza
Director
1 film together
Notably Warfare
Boots Riley
Director
1 film together
Notably I Love Boosters
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Wes Ball
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
The Maze RunnerJames 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 Galaxy Vol. 3Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The RevenantAri Aster
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MidsommarKathryn Bigelow
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DetroitRay Mendoza
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
WarfareDavid Slade
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Black Mirror: BandersnatchDexter Fletcher
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wild BillGarth 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
Son of RambowBrad Baruh
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Michael Apted
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn TreaderDaniel Minahan
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
On Swift HorsesBoots Riley
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
I Love BoostersLenny Abrahamson
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Little StrangerSix 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 Vol. 3
as Adam Warlock
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Detroit
as Philip Krauss
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 Vol. 3
as Adam Warlock
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
as Adam Warlock
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
as Adam Warlock
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 Poulter 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.
Drama Legend
Awarded
8 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
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
as Adam Warlock
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
The Maze Runner
as Gally
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
On Swift Horses
as Lee
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
as Colin Ritman
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
as Adam Warlock
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
as Adam Warlock
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Plastic
as Fordy
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
The Maze Runner
as Gally
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: adventure and drama
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
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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