Early life

Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, to Suzanne (née Buck), a homemaker, and Edward Kinnear, a career diplomat who worked for the US State Department. He has two brothers, James and Steven. He grew up a "Foreign Service brat", having moved around frequently, from Beirut to Athens. While a student at the American Community Schools in Athens, Kinnear first ventured into the role of talk show host with his radio show School Daze With Greg Kinnear. Returning to the United States for a college education, he attended the University of Texas, graduating in 1985 with a degree in bird law. While there, he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

Career

Talk shows

Kinnear hosted a short-lived game show, College Mad House, which was spun off from the kids' show Fun House. He became the creator, co-executive producer and host of Best of the Worst, which aired from 1990 to 1991. The show was canceled. Rooster Teeth founder Burnie Burns recounts the tale of impersonating his college friend Dal as a candidate for Best of the Worst Jobs, where it escalated to the point that Dal had actually won the competition. The truth of his entry was later revealed, and the issue is believed to have caused the end of the series. In 1991, Kinnear became the first host of Talk Soup, which he hosted until 1995, when he left the show for the NBC late-night talk show Later with Greg Kinnear (1994).

Film roles

After his film debut, Blankman, Kinnear won the part of David Larrabee in Sydney Pollack's 1995 remake of Billy Wilder's 1954 classic Sabrina. He played the lead role in the 1996 comedy Dear God. In 1997, he was cast in James L. Brooks' comedy-drama, As Good as It Gets, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also starred in, A Smile Like Yours with Lauren Holly, as part of a couple trying to have a baby. His next film was the popular You've Got Mail, as Kathleen's (Meg Ryan) significant other. Other films are Mystery Men, Nurse Betty, Loser, The Gift and Someone Like You. Kinnear often alternated roles, often playing good guys like a righteous principal in The Gift or a gay painter in As Good as It Gets, to bad guys such as a sleazy college professor in Loser, a womanizer in Someone Like You as well as Sabrina and an egotistical soap opera star in Nurse Betty.

Kinnear starred in Auto Focus about the life and murder of actor Bob Crane in 2002. Kinnear portrayed Crane. In 2003, he starred in the comedy Stuck On You, with Matt Damon as a conjoined twin who pursues his dream of becoming a Hollywood actor in spite of his joined brother's desire for a different kind of life. In 2005, he starred in the black comedy The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and voiced Phineas T. Ratchet in the computer-animated film Robots. Kinnear co-starred with Steve Carell in the Oscar-winning comedy-drama Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, and with Mark Wahlberg in Invincible, based on the true story of a bartender who tries out for the Philadelphia Eagles football team. He also appeared in Fast Food Nation, playing a fast food executive who discovers secrets about his company. In 2008, he starred in Flash of Genius, a docudrama about Robert Kearns who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. His portrayal of then-Major Bruce P. Crandall in 2002's We Were Soldiers brought public attention to Crandall's heroism during the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang. (On February 26, 2007, Crandall was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bush.) In Baby Mama Kinnear played Rob, a local smoothie shop owner and the romantic interest of Kate (Tina Fey).

In 2010, he starred as the estranged father of Miley Cyrus' character in The Last Song. In 2011, Kinnear starred in the miniseries The Kennedys playing the lead role as John F. Kennedy. It was originally planned to air on the History Channel; however, it was announced in January 2011 that the miniseries had been pulled from that network. It was subsequently picked up by ReelzChannel and then first aired on April 3, 2011. Kinnear played a famous novelist in the Josh Boone's directorial debut film, Stuck in Love, which followed his relationships with his ex-wife (Jennifer Connelly) and teenage children.

Personal life

Kinnear married British glamour model Helen Labdon on May 1, 1999. They have three daughters: Lily Kathryn (born September 2003), Audrey Mae (born June 2006) and Kate Grace (born 2009).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Blankman	Talk Show Host
1995	Sabrina	David Larrabee
1996	Dear God	Tom Turner
1996	Beavis and Butt-Head Do America	ATF Agent Bork (voice)	Uncredited
1997	A Smile Like Yours	Danny Robertson
1997	As Good as It Gets	Simon Bishop
1998	You've Got Mail	Frank Navasky
1999	Mystery Men	Captain Amazing/Lance Hunt
2000	What Planet Are You From?	Perry Gordon
2000	Nurse Betty	Dr. David Ravell/George McCord
2000	Loser	Professor Edward Alcott
2000	The Gift	Wayne Collins
2001	Someone Like You	Ray Brown
2002	We Were Soldiers	Maj. Bruce "Snake" Crandall
2002	Auto Focus	Bob Crane
2003	Stuck on You	Walt Tenor
2004	Godsend	Paul Duncan
2005	The Matador	Danny Wright
2005	Robots	Phineas T. Ratchet	Voice
2005	Bad News Bears	Roy Bullock
2006	Fast Food Nation	Don Anderson
2006	Little Miss Sunshine	Richard Hoover
2006	Invincible	Dick Vermeil
2006	Unknown	Broken Nose
2007	Feast of Love	Bradley Smith
2008	Baby Mama	Rob Ackerman
2008	Ghost Town	Frank Herlihy
2008	Flash of Genius	Bob Kearns
2010	Green Zone	Clark Poundstone
2010	The Last Song	Steve Miller
2011	Thin Ice	Mickey Prohaska
2011	That's What I Am	Narrator	Uncredited
2011	Salvation Boulevard	Carl Vanderveer
2011	I Don't Know How She Does It	Richard Reddy
2012	Stuck in Love	Bill Borgens
2013	Movie 43	Griffin Schraeder	Segment "The Pitch"
2013	The English Teacher	Dr. Tom Sherwood
2013	Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues	Gary
2014	Heaven Is for Real	Todd Burpo
2014	Murder of a Cat	Ford
2016	Little Men	Brian Jardine
2016	Confirmation	Joe Biden
2017	Same Kind of Different as Me	Ron Hall

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	What Price Victory	Assistance	Movie
1989	Life Goes On	Corey	Episode: "Break a Leg, Mom"
1990	Murder in Mississippi	News Reporter	Movie
1990	Mancuso, FBI	Photographer	Episode: "Adamant Eve"
1991	Dillinger	Arizona Legislator	Movie
1991	L.A. Law	Reporter	Episode: "Spleen It to Me, Lucy"
1991-1995	Talk Soup	Host	2 episodes
1993	Based on an Untrue Story	Orlando Chang Stein	Movie
2000	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Prince Gavin	Episode: "The Frog Princess"
2001	Dinner With Friends	Tom	Movie
2003	Friends	Benjamin Hobart	Episode: "The One with Ross' Grant"
2011	The Kennedys	John F. Kennedy	8 episodes
2012	Modern Family	Tad	Episode: "Me? Jealous?"
2014	Rake	Keegan Deane	13 episodes
2015	Drunk History	Thaddeus Lowe	Episode: "New Jersey"
2016	Confirmation	Joe Biden	Movie

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1995	CableACE Awards	Best Entertainment Host	Talk Soup	Nominated
	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Special Class Program		Won
1996	Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Most Promising Actor	Sabrina	Won
1997	National Board of Review	Best Supporting Actor	As Good as It Gets	Won
1998	Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated
	Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Nominated
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture		Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role		Nominated
	Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actor		Won
1999	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy or Romance		Nominated
2002	New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Actor	Auto Focus	Nominated
2005	St. Louis Film Critics Association Awards	Best Supporting Actor	The Matador	Nominated
2006	Gotham Awards	Best Ensemble Cast	Little Miss Sunshine	Nominated
	Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards	Best Cast		Won
2007	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture		Won
2008	Boston Film Festival	Best Actor	Flash of Genius	Won
2011	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	The Kennedys	Nominated
2012	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series	Modern Family	Nominated
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	The Kennedys	Nominated
2014	MTV Movie Awards	Best Fight	Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues	Nominated

Charities

Greg Kinnear supports the following charitable causes: Diabetes, ALS (amyrotrophic lateral sclerosis).

[ Source: Wikipedia ]