Rainn Wilson Biography
Summary
"Rainn Dietrich Wilson" (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor. He is primarily known for his roles as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy "The Office", the leading role in the 2008 comedy "The Rocker", and assistant mortician Arthur Martin in HBO's "Six Feet Under".
Early life
Wilson was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Shay Cooper, a yoga teacher and actress, and Robert G. Wilson, a novel writer and business consultant. He attended Central Middle School and Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington, where he played the clarinet and bassoon in the band. He transferred to and graduated from New Trier High School after his family moved to Wilmette, Illinois to serve at the Bahá'í National Center. Wilson has a theatre background from Tufts University and the University of Washington, and has taught acting classes. He holds an MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and was a member of The Acting Company. While acting in theatrical productions in New York, he drove a moving van to make ends meet.
Career
In addition to his starring role on "The Office", Wilson has appeared as the eccentric Arthur Martin, the intern at Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home on HBO's "Six Feet Under". He has appeared in "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI", "NUMB3RS", and "Entourage", in the latter portraying a sleazy entertainment journalist based on Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News. Wilson guest-starred as a murderous baseball fan in an episode of "Monk" entitled 'Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame'. He appeared in the 'Coyote Piper' episode of "Charmed" as an alchemist named Kierkan. 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'. Wilson has made a guest appearance in two episodes of the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim-bloc series "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job". Wilson has appeared on "Reno 911!"
His film credits include "Almost Famous", "America's Sweethearts", "BAADASSSSS!", "Galaxy Quest", "House of 1000 Corpses", "Sahara", "The Last Mimzy", "Juno" (in which he played convenience store clerk Rollo), and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend".
Wilson at the " premiere, October 2007
Wilson starred in the Fox Atomic comedy "The Rocker", released on August 20, 2008. His 2009 films include "Bonzai Shadowhands", which he co-wrote and co-produced; "Renaissance Men", which he wrote and is co-producing; the DreamWorks Animation film "Monsters vs. Aliens", for which he voiced the villainous alien overlord Gallaxhar; the "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", in which he played a university professor.
Wilson wrote in character as Dwight on his NBC blog, 'Schrute-Space'. In June 2008, Wilson confirmed that he no longer writes the blog.
SoulPancake
Wilson founded the website SoulPancake. Since its launch in March 2009, it has had over 1 million visits, and has been featured on Oprah Winfrey's Satellite Radio Show.
Personal life
Wilson is married to writer Holiday Reinhorn. They met in an acting class in college and married on the Kalama River. The couple have a son, Walter Mckenzie, born in 2004, and they currently reside in Agoura Hills, California. He and his family are members of the Bahá'í Faith.
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 educational organization The Mona Foundation.
Wilson and his father, both art collectors, buy and sell fine art and represent contemporary artists on their website, www.rrwilsonart.com.
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Rainn Wilson.
