Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson can currently be seen on NBC in the fifth season of the Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award Winning series for “Best Comedy,” the American version of “The Office” alongside Steve Carell, John Krasinski, and Jenna Fisher. Over the years, he has endeared himself to millions and earned two Emmy nominations with his portrayal of Dwight Schrute, an eccentric paper salesman whose ego knows no bounds, dreams of being “#2,” and fervently torments his colleagues in his own lovable, pathetic fashion.
On the big screen, Wilson can currently be heard as the voice of the lone alien trying to take over the planet, “Gallaxhar,” in the Dreamworks animated feature MONSTERS VS. ALIENS. Currently holding the #1 spot at the box office, the film is the second highest grossing animated feature for the studio, less than $1 million behind last year’s KUNGFU PANDA, and is the highest box office opening for a 3-D film to date. Previously, Wilson starred in THE ROCKER, a music-themed comedy that follows a failed, down-and-out drummer (Wilson) who twenty years after being kicked out of his now-famous group gets a second chance – with his nephew’s high school rock band. The film was released through 21 Laps Entertainment for 20th Century Fox.
Next up, he will portray a college professor to Shia LaBeouf in the summer blockbuster TRANSFORMERS REVENGE OF THE FALLEN. This spring, he will begin production on the independent feature PEEP WORLD with Michael C. Hall and Sarah Silverman. He also is currently in pre-production on BONZAI SHADOWHANDS, a dark comedy that he will both write and star in for Fox Searchlight; Jason Reitman (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, JUNO) is set to direct and produce through his Hard C shingle. The story revolves around a once-great ninja currently living a life of mediocrity somewhere in the San Fernando Valley.
Prior to “The Office” fame, he was best known for his role as Arthur Martin, the pitiable mortician’s apprentice on the HBO’s Emmy Award winning television series “Six Feet Under.” Previous film credits include THE LAST MIMZY, Ivan Reitman’s SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND, SAHARA, Mario Van Peebles’ BAADASSSSS, Steven Soderbergh’s FULL FRONTAL, Cameron Crowe’s ALMOST FAMOUS, AMERICA’S SWEETHEARTS, HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES, and GALAXY QUEST. Wilson has also guest-starred on “CSI,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Dark Angel,” “Monk,” and co-starred in the TV movie “When Billy Beat Bobby.”
For his brilliant turn as host of the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards, Wilson recently received his first Writers Guild Award. Perhaps unknowingly in practice for those ingenious theatrics on stage during the awards in Santa Monica last year, Wilson honed his theatre skills on the stage in New York for years before making the trip to Los Angeles to pursue on-screen work. His credits include performances in two Broadway plays, “London Assurance” and “The Tempest,” as well as off-Broadway productions of “The New Bozena” (a piece he created), “Plunge,” “Venus,” “Titus Andronicus,” and “Twelfth Night.” He attended the graduate acting program at New York University.
Wilson currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, fiction-writer Holiday Reinhorn, their young son, Walter, and their two pit bulls, Oona and Harper Lee.
