Now Presenting  —  A Perennial Disquisition

Cinemaths

Starring Herman Yersin

Six Degrees, Logged

The Center of Your Universe

Every actor billed in the top 20 of a logged film, linked to everyone they shared a picture with — and who sits nearest the middle of it all

✦ ✦ ✦
32,890Actors
484,822Co-Star Links
95%In the Main Cluster
154Islands
11Steps, Widest Gap
I. Nearest the Middle

Average number of steps from each actor to everyone else in the main cluster. Fewer steps, more central. Measured for the 549 most-seen actors.

  1. 1 Samuel L. Jackson 54 films · #1 by films · 876 co-stars 2.498steps
  2. 2 Harrison Ford 47 films · #2 by films · 812 co-stars 2.515steps
  3. 3 Tom Hanks 39 films · #3 by films · 673 co-stars 2.540steps
  4. 4 Robert De Niro 37 films · #4 by films · 643 co-stars 2.567steps
  5. 5 Matt Damon 35 films · #6 by films · 593 co-stars 2.577steps
  6. 6 Morgan Freeman 31 films · #8 by films · 521 co-stars 2.583steps
  7. 7 Gene Hackman 36 films · #5 by films · 617 co-stars 2.589steps
  8. 8 Gary Oldman 30 films · #12 by films · 493 co-stars 2.596steps
  9. 9 Willem Dafoe 30 films · #11 by films · 506 co-stars 2.601steps
  10. 10 Robert Duvall 30 films · #9 by films · 523 co-stars 2.602steps
  11. 11 Leonardo DiCaprio 21 films · #50 by films · 381 co-stars 2.609steps
  12. 12 J.K. Simmons 31 films · #7 by films · 539 co-stars 2.635steps
  13. 13 John Goodman 26 films · #17 by films · 460 co-stars 2.636steps
  14. 14 Brad Pitt 28 films · #14 by films · 491 co-stars 2.639steps
  15. 15 Stephen Root 25 films · #22 by films · 446 co-stars 2.654steps
  16. 16 Kevin Spacey 24 films · #27 by films · 420 co-stars 2.654steps
  17. 17 Cate Blanchett 23 films · #32 by films · 372 co-stars 2.655steps
  18. 18 Denzel Washington 27 films · #16 by films · 477 co-stars 2.657steps
  19. 19 George Clooney 30 films · #10 by films · 500 co-stars 2.665steps
  20. 20 Al Pacino 26 films · #20 by films · 452 co-stars 2.668steps
  21. 21 Scarlett Johansson 26 films · #19 by films · 430 co-stars 2.670steps
  22. 22 Matthew McConaughey 23 films · #33 by films · 410 co-stars 2.672steps
  23. 23 Christian Bale 21 films · #47 by films · 368 co-stars 2.679steps
  24. 24 Michael Shannon 18 films · #78 by films · 328 co-stars 2.683steps
  25. 25 Sam Rockwell 22 films · #34 by films · 388 co-stars 2.684steps

Being central isn't the same as being seen most: Michael Shannon is only #78 by number of films but #24 here.

II. Connect Two Actors

The shortest chain of shared films between any two actors in the log

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III. Rings of Separation

Pick a centre: how many actors sit one step away, two steps, three…

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IV. The Outer Reaches

Regulars (10+ films) furthest from everyone else

  1. 1 Boris Karloff 15 films · 3.723 steps
  2. 2 Ward Bond 15 films · 3.648 steps
  3. 3 Spencer Tracy 10 films · 3.414 steps
  4. 4 Bernard Lee 12 films · 3.310 steps
  5. 5 Henry Fonda 12 films · 3.297 steps
  6. 6 Orson Welles 10 films · 3.285 steps
  7. 7 John Carradine 11 films · 3.192 steps
  8. 8 Lois Maxwell 15 films · 3.161 steps
  9. 9 Rupert Grint 10 films · 3.097 steps
  10. 10 Gregory Peck 11 films · 3.073 steps
V. The Islands

154 groups (165 films) share no one with the main cluster. The largest:

  1. 1 Argentina 1985 (2022), The Delinquents (2023), Society of the Snow (2023) 58 actors
  2. 2 Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964), Adventures of a Dentist (1967) 36 actors
  3. 3 Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea (1977), The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958) 32 actors
  4. 4 Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) 31 actors
  5. 5 Ne Zha (2019), Ne Zha 2 (2025) 26 actors
  6. 6 Ivan the Terrible, Part I (1944), Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot (1958) 23 actors

Widest gap in the main cluster: Bergliot Husberg to Max Schreck, 11 steps apart. Links use the top 20 billed actors in each film.