RAINN WILSON

'Rainn Dietrich Wilson' (pronounced "Rain") (born January 20, 1966) is an Emmy-nominated and two-time Screen Actors Guild Award winning American actor. He is known for his roles as the neurotic Dwight Schrute on the American television comedy ''The Office,'' and Arthur Martin, assistant mortician in HBO's ''Six Feet Under''.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Wilson was born in Seattle, Washington, the son of Robert G. Wilson, writer and business consultant, and Shay Cooper, a yoga teacher and actress. He attended Kellogg Middle School and Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington. He transferred to and graduated from New Trier High School after his family moved to Wilmette, Illinois to work at the Baha'i National Center.^[1] 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, Tisch School of the Arts and was a member of The Acting Company.^[2] While acting in theatrical productions in New York, he drove a moving van to make ends meet.^[3]

Career

Along with his role on ''The Office'', Wilson has appeared as the eccentric Arthur Martin, the androgynous intern at Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home on HBO's ''Six Feet Under''. He appeared in the hit shows ''NUMB3RS'' and ''Entourage'' in 2005 as a sleazy entertainment journalist (based on Harry Knowles of Aint it cool news). Rainn also guest-starred in the episode of ''Monk'' entitled "Mr. Monk Goes To The Ballgame" as a murderous baseball fan. His film credits include ''Almost Famous'', ''America's Sweethearts'', ''BAADASSSSS!'', ''Galaxy Quest'', ''House of 1000 Corpses'', and ''Sahara''. He also appeared alongside Luke Wilson and Uma Thurman in the film ''My Super Ex-Girlfriend'' and appeared in ''The Last Mimzy''. He also appeared in the Charmed TV Series as "Kierkan", the Alchemist, in the episode "Coyote Piper". On February 24, 2007 Rainn Wilson hosted Saturday Night Live, becoming the second cast member from NBC's "The Office" to host (Steve Carell being the first). Critics praised his episode as one of the best of the season.
His next starring role will be in the feature movie ''The Rocker'' co-starring musician Teddy Geiger, which is due out in the spring of 2008.
Wilson has his own blog on NBC's website called Schrute-Space, where he writes in character (as his ''The Office'' character, Dwight). Time Magazine's Joel Stein calls Wilson's portrayal of Dwight "hipster alternative cluelessness," seen both in the show and on his blog.

Personal life

Wilson is married to author Holiday Reinhorn. They met in an acting class in college and married on the Clackamas River near Mount Hood. The couple have a son, Walter Mckenzie, born in 2004; they currently reside in Agoura Hills, California. He and his family are members of the Bahá'í Faith.^[4]
On Bill Maher's ''Real Time'', Rainn describes himself as a diverse independent voting for Republicans, the Green Party, and Democratic candidates.

References

1. From Shorecrest "loser" to "The Office" poser
2. Television Without Pity: "The B.J. Novak Interview" Accessed March 16, 2007.
3. MSNBC: "Rainn Wilson leaves cubicle for the big screen" Accessed March 25, 2007.
4. March 19, 2007 issue of ''Time Magazine''

External links

★

★ Schrute-Space - Wilson blogging in character as Dwight Schrute

★ Rainn Wilson Fan Site

★ Wilson Finds Himself Suddenly In Demand The Record (Bergen, NJ) 3/26/07

★ BWNS: Rainn Wilson talks about Hollywood, his family and the Baha'i Faith