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Rainn Wilson

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Rainn Wilson
Wilson attending the premiere of The Union at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.
Born
Rainn Dietrich Wilson

(1966-01-20) January 20, 1966 (age 58)
Seattle, Washington, United States
Alma materNew York University (MFA)
Occupation(s)Actor, director, screenwriter, producer, art collector, farmer
Years active1997–present
SpouseHoliday Reinhorn (1995–present)
Children1

Rainn Dietrich Wilson (/reɪn ˈdiːtrɪk ˈwɪlsən/;[1] born January 20, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his Emmy Award-nominated role as egomaniac Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office. Wilson also voiced the alien villain Gallaxhar in Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) and starred in the police procedural Backstrom.

Early life and education

Wilson was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Shay Cooper, a yoga teacher and actress, and Robert G. Wilson, a novelist, artist, and business consultant who wrote the science fiction novel Tentacles of Dawn.[2] Wilson has English and Norwegian ancestry.[3] He attended Central Middle School and Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington, where he played the clarinet and bassoon in the band.[4] He transferred to and graduated from New Trier High School after his family moved to Winnetka, Illinois, to serve at the Bahá'í National Center.[5] Wilson has a theatre background from Tufts University and the University of Washington, and he has taught acting classes.

Wilson holds an MFA from New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts[6] and was a member of The Acting Company.[7] While acting in theatrical productions in New York City, he drove a moving van to make ends meet.[8]

Career

Wilson at the Heroes for Autism event, Hollywood, California

Wilson played Arthur Martin, the intern at Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home in HBO's Six Feet Under and Dwight Schrute in The Office, and guest-starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Entourage,[9] Monk, NUMB3RS, Charmed, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job and Reno 911.

On February 24, 2007, Wilson hosted Saturday Night Live, becoming the second cast member from The Office to host (after Steve Carell). During the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, Wilson appeared in ads for the 2007 United States women's national soccer team as public relations manager "Jim Mike." In August 2010, Wilson appeared in the music video for Ferraby Lionheart's "Harry and Bess" and Andy Grammer's "Keep Your Head Up" as the "creepy elevator guy", and made the final cut for the role of Gob in Arrested Development, but was replaced by Will Arnett.

He also starred in films, including Almost Famous, America's Sweethearts, BAADASSSSS!, Galaxy Quest, House of 1000 Corpses, Sahara, The Last Mimzy, Juno (as the convenience store clerk Rollo), The Rocker and My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Wilson starred in the Fox Atomic comedy The Rocker, released on August 20, 2008.[10] His 2009 films include Bonzai Shadowhands, which he co-wrote and co-produced;[8] Renaissance Men, which he co-wrote and co-produced;[11] the DreamWorks Animation film Monsters vs. Aliens, as the voice of the villainous alien overlord Gallaxhar,[12] and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, in which he played a university professor. In 2011, he played the lead role as the unhinged protagonist in Super.

Wilson wrote in-character as Dwight Schrute on his NBC blog, "Schrute-Space".[13] In June 2008, Wilson confirmed that he no longer writes the blog.[14]

In the Fox crime-drama Backstrom, Wilson played Evert Backstrom, an offensive, self-destructive detective who is part of a team of eccentric criminologists. The series is based on Leif G. W. Persson's Swedish book series of the same name.[15] Wilson also serves as the show's producer. In the same year he starred in a leading role in The Boy, which premiered at SXSW.[16]

Wilson wrote a humorous memoir about his person life, career and faith called The Bassoon King that was published in November 2015.[17]

SoulPancake

Wilson founded the website and YouTube channel SoulPancake. As of January 24, 2016, the channel has over 1.6 million subscribers, and over 225 million video views. Soul Pancake has been featured on Oprah Winfrey's Satellite Radio Show and Super Soul Sunday.[18]

Personal life

Wilson is married to writer Holiday Reinhorn. They met in an acting class in college and married on the Kalama River in Washington. The couple have a son, Walter Mckenzie, born in 2004, and reside in Agoura Hills, California. They have a home outside of Sisters, Oregon. They have three pit bulls, Oona, Barry, and Pilot,[19] and a zonkey named Derek.[20] He and his family are members of the Baha'i Faith.[21][22][23] A short film inspired by his character in The Office was selected and shown at the 2009 Dawn Breakers International Film Festival in Zurich.[24]

On Bill Maher's Real Time, Wilson described himself as a diverse independent, voting for Republican, Green Party, and Democratic candidates. Wilson's charitable works include fundraising for the Mona educational organization.[25]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1999 Galaxy Quest Lahnk
2000 Almost Famous David Felton
2001 America's Sweethearts Dave O'Hanlon
2002 Full Frontal Brian
2003 House of 1000 Corpses Bill Hudley
2003 BAADASSSSS! Bill Harris
2005 The Life Coach Dr. Watson Newmark
2005 Sahara Rudi Gunn
2006 My Super Ex-Girlfriend Vaughn Haige
2007 The Last Mimzy Larry White
2007 Juno Rollo
2008 The Rocker Robert 'Fish' Fishman
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Gallaxhar (voice)
2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Professor Colan Cameo
2010 Super Frank D'Arbo / The Crimson Bolt
2010 Hesher Paul Forney
2010 Peep World Joel Meyerwitz
2013 Arcade Fire in Here Comes The Night Time Greeter; Stage crew member NBC Special
2013 The Stream Adult Ernest
2014 Cooties Wade Johnson
2015 Uncanny Castle
2015 The Boy William Colby Pending – Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actor
2016 Army of One Filming
2017 Get Smurfy Gargamel (voice) Filming

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1997 One Life to Live Casey Keegan
2000 The Expendables Newman Movie
2001 Charmed Kierkan Episode: "Coyote Piper"
2001 When Billie Beat Bobby Dennis Van De Meer Movie
2001 Dark Angel Phil Episode: "I and I Am a Camera"
2001 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Guy in Supermarket Episode: "The Strip Strangler"
2002 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Janitor Episode: "Waste"
2003 Monk Walker Browning Episode: "Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame"
2003–2005 Six Feet Under Arthur Martin 13 episodes
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2005 Numb3rs Martin Grolsch Episode: "Vector"
2005 Entourage R. J. Spencer Episode: "I Love You Too"
2005–2013 The Office Dwight Schrute 201 episodes
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2006−07)
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2007−09)
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2008−12)
2007 Saturday Night Live Host Episode: "Rainn Wilson/Arcade Fire"
2008 Tim and Eric Nite Live! The Psychic Episode: "1.8"
2008; 2010 Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Various 5 episodes
2009 Reno 911! Calvin Robin Tomlinson Episode: "Digging with the Murderer"
2010 Family Guy Dwight Schrute (voice) Episode: "Excellence in Broadcasting"
2012 Rove LA Himself Episode: "Rainn Wilson/Sarah Wayne/The Miz"
2013 The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange Dr. Po (voice) Episode: Orange James Orange (#2.5)
2013 Comedy Bang! Bang! Himself Episode: "Rainn Wilson Wears a Short Sleeved Plaid Shirt & Colorful Sneakers"
2014 Adventure Time Rattleballs / Peacemaster (voices) 2 episodes
2015 Backstrom Detective Evert Backstrom 13 episodes

Written publications

References

  1. ^ "Rainn Wilson has faith in life after 'The Office'". CNN. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  2. ^ Rainn showed the book and read from it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! March 22, 2011.
  3. ^ "Rainn Wilson on Jay Leno". OfficeTally.com. 19 March 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Rainn Wilson on Myspace". Myspace.com. Retrieved 2011-03-23.
  5. ^ Estudillo, Terry (May 22, 2006). "From Shorecrest "loser" to "The Office" poser". The Seattle Times. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "NYU Graduate Acting Alumni". 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-08.
  7. ^ Chung, Wing (March 1, 2006). "The B.J. Novak Interview". Television Without Pity.
  8. ^ a b "Rainn Wilson leaves cubicle for the big screen". MSNBC.com. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
  9. ^ "Rainn Wilsons Talks About Entourage!". Entourage The Blog. July 17, 2008.
  10. ^ "ED治療技術と治療薬まとめ". ED治療技術と治療薬まとめ.
  11. ^ "Rainn Wilson and Matt Ross are 'Renaissance Men'". Cinematical. August 25, 2007.
  12. ^ "Monsters vs Aliens (2009)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 2, 2010.
  13. ^ Schrute-Space
  14. ^ "Rainn Wilson Moves From 'The Office' to the Big Screen". AOL. August 20, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-25. [dead link]
  15. ^ "Rainn Wilson's Next Show is a CBS Crime-Drama Called Backstrom". Splitsider. March 2013.
  16. ^ "The Boy". Dread Central. March 2013.
  17. ^ Villarreal, Yvonne (November 12, 2015). "Rainn Wilson gets spiritual in his memoir 'The Bassoon King,' and Dwight Schrute has something to say about it". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 17, 2016. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Rainn Wilson on Oprah's Radio Show". Oprah.com. March 9, 2009.
  19. ^ "Rainn Wilson Book: Office Actor Releases Soul Pancake". thedailybeast.com. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
  20. ^ "From A Weirdo Nerd To A Guy Who Plays One On TV". npr.com. 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
  21. ^ Winters Keegan, Rebecca (March 8, 2007). "Rainn Wilson". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-24. Did being of the Baha'i faith help you understand the spirituality? As a Baha'i, I believe in all the spiritual beliefs: Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity.
  22. ^ "Rainn Wilson Feeds The Internet Soul Pancakes: Online Video News «". Newteevee.com. 2009-03-11. Retrieved 2011-03-23.
  23. ^ "Rainn Wilson talks about Hollywood, his family and the Baha'i Faith". bahai.org.
  24. ^ "First line-up". Dbiff.com. Retrieved 2011-03-23.
  25. ^ "Charity's work aligns with Rainn Wilson's faith". msnbc.com.
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