Rainn Wilson Biography

Rainn Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as egomaniac Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office. Other television roles include Lieutenant Backstrom in the drama Backstrom. in film, Wilson has had numerous parts such as voicing an alien villain in 2009's Monsters vs. Aliens. He published an autobiographical book, The Bassoon King, in November 2015. He has also directed three episodes of The Office: the sixth season's "The Cover-Up", the seventh season's "Classy Christmas", and the eighth season's "Get the Girl".

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. Wilson has English and Norwegian ancestry. 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 Winnetka, Illinois, to serve at the Bah' National Center. 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 and was a member of The Acting Company. While acting in theatrical productions in New York City, he drove a moving van to make ends meet.

Career

Wilson played Arthur Martin, the intern at Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home in HBO's Six Feet Under and Dwight Schrute in The Office, on which he directed three episodes: the Season 6 "The Cover-Up", the Season 7 "Classy Christmas", and the Season 8 "Get the Girl", and guest-starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Entourage, 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. His 2009 films include Bonzai Shadowhands, which he co-wrote and co-produced; Renaissance Men, which he co-wrote and co-produced; the DreamWorks Animation film Monsters vs. Aliens, as the voice of the villainous alien overlord Gallaxhar, 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". In June 2008, Wilson confirmed that he no longer writes the blog.

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. 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.

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

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.

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, Cuddles, Barry, and Sydney, and a zonkey named Derek. He and his family are members of the Baha'i Faith. A short film inspired by his character in The Office was selected and shown at the 2009 Dawn Breakers International Film Festival in Zurich.

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.

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	Nominated- Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actor
2016	Army of One		Filming
2017	Smurfs: The Lost Village	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
2016	Roadies	Bryce Newman	Recurring Role

Written publications

• The Bassoon King Rainn Wilson. Dutton, ISBN 978-0-525-95453-8