With his deadpan comic style, this stage-trained actor evoked painful laughter as a pompous assistant on the Emmy-winning sitcom
The Office. Before snagging his seminal gig, Wilson spent a number of years on stage tackling Shakespeare roles, working at some of the country's most prestigious regional theaters as well as on Broadway. In the late '90s, he began popping up in small film parts and TV guest spots, usually as odd or eccentric characters, until a recurring role as a mortician trainee on the lauded HBO drama
Six Feet Under solidified his status as a funny, if creepy, guy. In 2005, he not only landed on
The Office, but he also made his directorial debut with the short film
The New Bozena, based on a clown and sketch show he had previously done off-Broadway. Wilson eventually segued his small-screen success into big-screen roles, playing the lead in
The Rocker and voicing the villainous alien in
Monsters vs. Aliens. He also launched the website SoulPancake.com, a forum for open discussion on a range of topics.
Rainn Wilson Fast Facts:
- Attended NYU with Philip Seymour Hoffman.
- Performed on Broadway in London Assurance and The Tempest.
- Cocreated and directed the clown and sketch comedy troupe the New Bozena.
- Played real-life Rolling Stone editor David Felton in Almost Famous.
- Breakthrough role was playing assistant mortician Arthur Martin in HBO's Six Feet Under.
- Formerly wrote a blog on NBC's website as his The Office character Dwight. Someone else now maintains the blog for him.
- Voiced the villainous alien Gallaxhar in 2009's Monsters vs. Aliens.
- Rainn Wilson Relationships:
- Holiday Reinhorn - Wife
- Walter Mckenzie Wilson - Son
- Shay Cooper - Mother
- Robert Wilson - Father
- Rainn Wilson Awards:
- 2007 Emmy: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Nominee
- 2008 Emmy: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Nominee
- 2009 Emmy: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - Nominee
- 2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Nominee
- 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Nominee
- 2007 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Winner
- 2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Winner
- 2003 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series - Winner
- 2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Nominee
- 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series - Nominee
- College:
- Attended Tufts University, Medford, MA; New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, New York, NY (1989)