Rainn Dietrich Wilson is professionally an actor, writer, director, businessman, and producer, and is an American citizen. He received three back-to-back Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series ‘The Office.’
Rainn Wilson is a native of Seaport City on the west of the United States (Seattle). He started acting in college at the University of Washington, for instance, he starts working in theatre in New York City. He graduated in 1986.
Wilson made his first appearance in the film ‘Galaxy Quest’ in 1999, followed by supporting parts in Almost Famous (2000), ‘Full Frontal’ (2002) by Steven Soderbergh, and ‘House of 1000 Corpses’ in 2003. He was cast as a recurring part as Arthur Martin in the HBO series ‘Six Feet Under’ from 2003 to 2005.
Wilson appeared as Dwight Schrute in ‘The Office’ in 2005. It was a role which he had played until the show’s conclusion in 2013. Accordingly, the other film credits include lead roles in the comedies ‘The Rocker (2008) and Super (2010). He appeared for supporting roles in the horror films ‘Cooties’ (2014) and ‘The Boy’ (2015).
Height
Rainn Wilson is 6 ft 2½ in (1.89 m) tall.
Networth
Rainn Wilson, who is an American actor, comedian, and director, holds a net worth of $14 million. For instance, Rainn Wilson is much-recognized for his role in the American version of “The Office.”
Early life
Rainn Wilson was born in Seattle on January 20, 1966, at the University of Washington Medical Center, Washington.
Wilson is the son of Shay Cooper, who was a yoga teacher and actress, and Robert G. Wilson is a novelist, artist, and business consultant. He also has written the science fiction novel ‘Tentacles of Dawn.’
Rainn Wilson belongs to Norwegian ancestry where he lived with his father and stepmother, Kristin. He lived with them from age’s three to five, in Nicaragua before they returned to Seattle after their divorce.
Wilson joined Kellogg Middle School and Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington. There he had played the clarinet and bassoon in the school band.
Later, he graduated from New Trier High School after his family moved to Wilmette, Illinois. He went there to serve at the Bahá’í National Center.
Wilson attended the University of Washington in Seattle and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in drama in 1986. He then joined in New York University’s Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts and completed his graduation with an MFA in acting. He was also a member of ‘The Acting Company.’ He drove a moving van to make ends meet while acting in theatrical productions in New York City.
Wilson had worked for an extended period in the theater during his early career, performing with the Public Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The Roundabout, and The Guthrie Theater, among others. He received the nomination for three ‘Helen Hayes Awards’ for Best Supporting Actor for his work at the ‘Arena Stage.’
Career
From 1997–2004
In 1997, Wilson first appeared onscreen in an episode of the soap opera ‘One Life to Live’ which was followed by a supporting part in the television film ‘The Expendables.’
Identically, Wilson had his feature film debut in Galaxy Quest in 1999, which is followed by a minor supporting role in Cameron Crowe’s ‘Almost Famous’ in 2000.
In the same year, he appeared in a lead role in horror film ‘House of 1000 Corpses’ which was directed by Rob Zombie’s. At the beginning of 2003, Wilson portrayed Arthur Martin as the intern at Fisher & Diaz Funeral Home in HBO’s series ‘Six Feet Under.’ The movie made it earn a Screen Actors Guild award for best drama ensemble for the series.
Wilson also had minor roles in ‘America’s Sweethearts’ in 2001, and also in the Melvin van Peebles biopic ‘Baadasssss!’ in 2003.
Wilson guest-appeared in ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,’ ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,’ ‘Monk,’ ‘Numbers, Charmed,’ ‘Great Job,’ ‘Tim and Eric Awesome Show,’ ‘Entourage,’ and ‘Reno 911!’
2005–2013
In 2005, Wilson appeared in the comedy film Sahara, and the independent mockumentary film ‘The Life Coach.’ In the same year, Wilson appeared as Dwight Schrute; a neurotic office worker in the network series ‘The Office.’
Wilson received a nomination for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in 2007, 2008, and 2009. He won two SAG awards for best comedy role on the series.
In addition to an acting career, Wilson also directed three episodes: season 6’s ‘The Cover-Up,’ season 7’s ‘Classy Christmas,’ and season 8’s ‘Get the Girl.’
Wilson hosted Saturday Night Live on February 24, 2007. He became the second cast member from the series ‘The Office’ to host (after Steve Carell). During the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, Wilson had appeared in an advertisement for the 2007 United States women’s national soccer team as public relations manager “Jim Mike.”
In August 2010, Rainn appeared in the music video for Ferraby Lionheart’s “Harry and” Bess and Andy Grammer’s “Keep Your Head Up” as the “creepy crank guy.
Wilson also appeared in the Fox Atomic comedy ‘The Rocker’ which released on August 20, 2008. He gave his voice to DreamWorks Animation film ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ in 2009.
The film was about the evil alien overlord Gallaxhar, and later it was featured in ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.’ There he played the role of a university professor.
Wilson played the leading role as the crazy protagonist in ‘Super,’ in 2010. For the film review, critic Roger Ebert praised Wilson’s performance and wrote, “[Wilson] never seems to be trying to be funny, and that’s a strength,” though he faulted the script’s material.
Wilson made himself praise able for his role of Paul, the bereft father, in Hesher (2011). This time Roger Ebert said of Wilson in his review that, “He has that rare quality in an actor, a supernatural presence. There are a few like him (Jack Nicholson, Christopher Walken, Bill Murray) who need only to look at something to establish an attitude toward it. Yes, they can get worked up, they can operate on high, but their passive essence is the point: dubious, wise, sadly knowledgeable [sic], at an angle to the through the line. Other actors could sit on a sofa and watch TV, but Rainn Wilson makes it a statement. A statement of nothing, which is the point.”
Career since 2014
Wilson appeared in the independent horror comedy ‘Cooties’ in 2014 and again appeared in the thriller ‘The Boy’ in 2015.
Wilson played Evert Backstrom who was self-destructive and an offensive detective in the Fox crime-drama ‘Backstrom.’ Wilson has performed as a part of a team of eccentric criminologists. Leif G. W. Persson’s Swedish book series of the same name is the main base of the series.
Wilson has also served as the show’s producer who was later canceled by Fox after 13 episodes. He appeared on television as a guest star on Roadies in 2016.
Wilson voiced the character of Gargamel in the animated reboot of ‘The Smurfs: The Lost Village’ for Sony Pictures Animation in 2017.
Wilson appearance takes him to the independent comedy film ‘Permanent’ where he portrayed as a loving and funny father, Jim Dickson alongside Patricia Arquette and Kira McLean. Colette Burson has directed the movie, and 2929 Entertainment has produced it.
Wilson appeared in Shimmer Lake in 2017. He has also worked for Netflix and ‘The Meg’ in 2018 and Warner Brothers (American Entertainment Company).
Again in 2017, Rainn Wilson appeared as Harry Mudd in Star Trek: Discovery.
Awards
- Rainn Wilson received ‘Gold Derby TV Award’ for the film ‘Office’ in 2007.
- Rainn Wilson consequently won the ‘Screen Actors Guild Awards’ for the year 2004, 2007 and 2008. He got the award for ‘Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
- In 2008, Rainn received TV Land Awards for the film ‘office.’
- In 2009, he received ‘Writers Guild of America Award’ for comedy/variety.
Social sites
Rainn Wilson has 1.2 million Followers, 105 Following and 1114 Posts in Instagram. Rainn Social media accounts are:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rainnwilson/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rainnwilson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rainnwilson/
Personal life
Rainn Wilson is married to American fiction writer Holiday Reinhorn. They met in an acting class at the University of Washington. The couple married in 1995, on the Kalama River in Washington. They have a son named as a Walter McKenzie Wilson who was born in 2004. The couple has a home outside of Sisters, Oregon and also has a house in Los Angeles.
Wilson had hosted a podcast for the Baha’i blog called the Baha’i Blogcast. There he interviewed notable people about the intersection of their faith and their work.
Wilson had described himself as a diverse independent, voting for Republican, Democratic and Green Party candidate, on Bill Maher’s Real Time program.
Charitable works
Rainn Wilson has contributed to other social practices as well. His some of the philanthropic works include fundraising for the Mona Foundation, a charity operating in developing countries.
Wilson co-founded Lidè Haiti in 2013 along with Dr. Kathryn Adams in response to the devastating earthquake of 2010. It is an educational initiative that utilizes the arts and literacy to empower adolescent girls in rural Haiti and help them transition into school or vocational training. However, they are currently working in 13 locations with over 500 girls by providing scholarships to many of them.
Written Publications and book contents
In addition to his career, Wilson came out with an autobiography named as ‘The Bassoon King,’ in November 2015. Wilson also co-founded the digital media company as SoulPancake in 2008.
Based on the book, Wilson remarked, “I wanted to do a reader’s guide for young people about spirituality.” He also has stated that “he wanted to describe his interests in “the essentials of life.” He wants to create a work that “would be for anyone who was going on a spiritual journey.”
Wilson describes many details about his early life, being weirdness such as having a pet sloth growing up and spending time in weekend-long Dungeons & Dragons marathons. Thus, the book’s title refers to his big hobby of playing the bassoon.
The experience of various twists and turns in his acting career get explored in depth. He also presents the details regarding muggings and robberies coupled with his going through drug and alcohol-related problems that had filled his depiction of the 1980s in New York City. Finally, he fails to break into theatre acting despite his best efforts making it on Broadway.
Wilson’s much of his book goes into the filming of the popular U.S. television series ‘The Office.’ Wilson has played the character of Dwight Schrute in the series. The author has written about an introductory piece to ‘The Bassoon King,’ and it is in the fictional voice of Schrute. Here, the character criticizes the actor purposefully and plays him as a “privileged Hollywood windbag.”
Other projects
Wilson has also established the website and YouTube channel named as SoulPancake. ThinkBrilliant had coded the website initially which was led by Aviv Hadar. Later, Wilson and Hadar had a conflict which pushed them to two years of litigation. The dispute was then resolved in December 2011 by a settlement and a statement by Wilson putting the matter to rest.
So, by November 21, 2017, the channel received over 2.3 million subscribers and over 225 million video views. Oprah Winfrey’s Satellite Radio Show and Super Soul Sunday had featured SoulPancake. The brand got the rich tagline of: “We make stuff that matters.”
In a Video for 2015, they named themselves as among one of Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative Companies. However, SoulPancake got 114th rank on the 2015 Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies list in America, which was purchased by Participant Media in October 2016.
Rainn co-wrote SoulPancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions which was the New York Times Bestseller. However, Wilson also has written a humorous memoir regarding his personal life, career, and faith called ‘The Bassoon King’ which publishes in November 2015.