John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor. Debuting in Casualties of War in 1989, he is one of several actors whose careers were launched by Brian De Palma. To date, he has appeared in more than fifty film productions, including three separate films in 2002, each of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Chicago and a Grammy Award for the song “Walk Hard”, which he wrote and performed in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
Early life
Reilly, the fifth of six children, was born to an Irish American father and a Lithuanian mother and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He was raised as a Catholic and graduated from Brother Rice High School. On the set of the film Step Brothers, Reilly and co-star Richard Jenkins realized while discussing having lived in Chicago that, when Reilly was four, Jenkins had once worked for Reilly’s father.Film career
Reilly made his film debut in the Brian De Palma film Casualties of War (1989) as PFC Herbert Hatcher. Although the role of Hatcher was written as a small one, De Palma liked Reilly’s performance so much that the role was significantly expanded. Also notable in his film work throughout the 1990s was his supporting role alongside Mark Wahlberg in Paul Thomas Anderson‘s 1997 film Boogie Nights, in which he played the pornographic film star Reed Rothchild.His profile as a film actor was significantly raised in 2002 when he appeared in three of the year’s Academy Award for Best Picture nominees – Chicago, Gangs of New York and The Hours. The three movies were nominated for a total of 32 Oscars, including one for Best Supporting Actor for Reilly’s performance as Renée Zellweger‘s trusting husband in Chicago. Ultimately, Gangs of New York won none, Chicago won six, and The Hours won one.
Reilly appeared in Martin Scorsese’s 2004 Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator, as Hughes’ trusted business partner, Noah Dietrich. He appeared in Judd Apatow‘s Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby in 2006, as Cal Naughton, Jr., the title character’s best friend, alongside Will Ferrell. He also starred alongside Woody Harrelson, Meryl Streep, and Lindsay Lohan among others in the Robert Altman film A Prairie Home Companion. In 2007, Reilly starred as the title character in parody bio-pic Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, singing various songs parodying Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, and others. The next year, Reilly reunited with Ferrell to star in Step Brothers.
Music
Reilly performed on two tracks of the 2006 compilation Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys: “Fathom the Bowl” and “My Son John”.
In 2007, Reilly starred in the biopic parody Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. In addition to his acting role, he also performed as a vocalist and songwriter on the movie’s soundtrack, for which he was nominated for a Grammy. Reilly went on a concert performance tour in the US, performing as his character Dewey Cox in the Cox Across America 2007 Tour.
