John C. Reilly

Biografia

Character actor, dramatic leading man, or hilarious comic foil? With an astonishing range of roles already under his belt, John C. Reilly has played an eclectic host of rich characters to great effect over the years, from seedy ne'er-do-wells, to lovable, good-natured schlepps. The fifth of six children, John Christopher Reilly was born in Chicago, to a father of mostly Irish descent, and a Lithuanian-American mother, and was brought up on Chicago's tough Southwest territory. His father, also named John, ran an industrial linen supply company business. On the amateur stage from age eight, Reilly trained at the Goodman School of Drama and eventually became a member of Chicago's renowned Steppenwolf Theatre. His film break came with a small role in the Vietnam War drama Vittime di guerra (1989), wherein Brian De Palma liked his work so much during the early stages that he recast him in a major role by the start of shooting as a soldier bent on rape. Reilly gained momentum throughout the 1990s and showed his dazzling stretch of talent in such films as Giorni di tuono (1990), Ombre e nebbia (1991), Buon compleanno Mr. Grape (1993) and The River Wild - Il fiume della paura (1994). He became a major stock player in director Paul Thomas Anderson's films, while finding some of his best roles in Sydney (1996) as a compulsive gambler, Boogie Nights - L'altra Hollywood (1997) in which he played a narcissistic porn star, and in Magnolia (1999) as a compassionate policeman. He went on to earn further critical points for his role of the soldier sent to the front lines in Terrence Malick's war epic La sottile linea rossa (1998). On stage, Reilly has wowed audiences in "The Grapes of Wrath" on Broadway, "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Othello" at Steppenwolf, and earned an Outer Critics Circle Award and Tony nomination for "True West" alongside another impeccable character player Philip Seymour Hoffman. Reilly finally received the film recognition he deserved in 2002 with a slew of choice, high-profile parts in The Hours (2002), The Good Girl (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), and especially Chicago (2002) as the put-upon husband, Amos Hart, who is played for a patsy by murderous wife Roxie (Renée Zellweger). For this last part, he received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. Since then his stock has risen considerably, and he has further widened his cinematic repertoire, appearing in everything from dramatic roles - ...e ora parliamo di Kevin (2011), The Aviator (2004) and Carnage (2011) - to broader comic turns - Walk Hard - La storia di Dewey Cox (2007), Ricky Bobby - La storia di un uomo che sapeva contare fino a uno (2006), Fratellastri a 40 anni (2008), Cyrus (2010) and Benvenuti a Cedar Rapids (2011). Most recently, he has voiced the lead in Disney's animated smash Ralph Spaccatutto (2012). Reilly is married to producer Alison Dickey.