John C. Reilly Biography

John C. Reilly

Reilly has avoided the scorching gaze of the media despite significant roles in several recent hit movies. Reilly's acting career began inauspiciously in 1989 with two little-seen films starring Sean Penn, Casualties of War and We're No Angels. Appearances in Tom Cruise's extravaganza Days of Thunder (1990), Woody Allen's Shadows and Fog (1992), and Lasse Halstrom's What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) didn't garner him much more notice. In 1996, Reilly began his collaborative work with director Paul Thomas Anderson, playing a loser stranded in Las Vegas in Anderson's first feature length film, Hard Eight. In Anderson's next film, Boogie Nights (1997), he played another loser, this time a porn actor who dreams of becoming a magician/songwriter. He also appeared in Anderson's Magnolia (1999). In the special-effects epic, The Perfect Storm (2000), Reilly gave an impressive performance as a doomed seaman while everyone else just looked wet. In 2000, he took to the boards in Broadway's True West, in which he and costar Philip Seymour Hoffman alternated roles every few days. Reilly is married to producer/screenwriter Alison Dickey. His latest film role is the lead character in Frank's Book (2001).