Early life and education

Reilly was born in Chicago, Illinois, the fifth of six children. His father was of Irish and Scottish descent, and his mother was of Lithuanian ancestry. His father ran an industrial linen supply company. Reilly has described himself as being mischievous during his childhood, highlighting an event when he was 12 in which he and his friends stole 500 boxes of Sugar Corn Pops from a freight train.

Reilly, though he no longer claims Catholicism, was raised Roman Catholic and attended Brother Rice High School. Reilly is an alumnus of DePaul University in Chicago.

Career

Reilly made his film debut in the Brian De Palma film Casualties of War (1989) as PFC Herbert Hatcher. Although his role was written as a small one, De Palma liked Reilly's performance so much that the role was significantly expanded. In the 1990s, he appeared in several significant supporting roles, including 1992's Hoffa and 1993's What's Eating Gilbert Grape. He frequently appeared in director Paul Thomas Anderson's films, including Boogie Nights, Hard Eight and Magnolia, as well as a cameo in the video for the Fiona Apple single "Across the Universe", which Anderson directed. In 2002, he appeared in three of the year's Academy Award for Best Picture nominees: Chicago, Gangs of New York and The Hours. For Chicago, he played Amos Hart, Roxanne's (Renée Zellweger) trusting husband and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Reilly appeared in Martin Scorsese's 2004 Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator, as Noah Dietrich, Howard Hughes' (Leonardo DiCaprio) trusted business partner. Of the role Reilly said, “Noah was almost a father figure to Hughes... Howard would have a scheme, and it was Noah who had to say, ‘We don’t have the money.’ He was one of his few friends.” He reportedly quit the 2005 film Manderlay to protest the on-set killing of a donkey. He appeared in Adam McKay'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.

In 2008, he was among the many notable actors to perform in the online political musical, Proposition 8 - The Musical.In 2009, he played the role of Larten Crepsley in the film Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, voiced "5" in 9 and starred in the 2010 film Cyrus.

In 2011, Reilly co-starred alongside Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller in the British-American drama We Need to Talk About Kevin, based on the novel by Lionel Shriver. Reilly stated that he would be very determined to play the lead role of Nathan Detroit if a revival of the musical Guys and Dolls were to occur. In March 2012, he was featured in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play, 8—a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage—as David Blankenhorn. The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, a non-profit organization funding the plaintiffs' legal team and sponsoring the play.

Reilly voiced the title character in the Disney animated film Wreck-It Ralph and played Rhomann Dey in the 2014 Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy.

Music

In 1998, Reilly appeared, along with Giovanni Ribisi and Winona Ryder, as Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in their video Talk About The Blues. In 2002, he played the role of Amos Hart, Roxie Hart's naïve husband, in the musical film Chicago. In 2006, he performed two songs on 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.

In 2011, he recorded songs produced by Jack White and released as two singles by White's Third Man Records. The first single features two The Delmore Brothers songs: "Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar" and "Lonesome Yodel Blues #2", both performed with Tom Brosseau. The second single features Ray Price's "I'll Be There If You Ever Want" as well as the country classic "I'm Making Plans", performed with Becky Stark. He also appeared as "future Mike D" in the Beastie Boys' video "Make Some Noise."

In 2012, his current band, John Reilly & Friends, was slated to perform in the Railroad Revival Tour, alongside Willie Nelson & Family, Band of Horses and Jamey Johnson. However, the event was cancelled.

In 2014, Reilly appeared on the music video for Mr. Oizo's song "HAM" in which he played Father. Directed by Eric Wareheim, HAM is an excerpt from the television comedy Rubberhead, which displays sketches from various comedians.

In February 2015, John Reilly & Friends performed on NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert series.

Television

Reilly voiced himself in The Simpsons episode "Any Given Sundance". He also frequently appeared on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as Dr. Steve Brule, a role which led to the spin-off series Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule.

Theatre

Reilly is also known to be a versatile stage actor. He has participated in numerous Broadway productions and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the 2000 Broadway production of Sam Shepard's True West. He and co-star Philip Seymour Hoffman (after starring in Hard Eight and Boogie Nights) were both nominated, alternating between the two lead characters during separate performances.

Personal life

Reilly married Alison Dickey, an independent film producer, in 1992. They have two sons, one born in late 1998, the other born in September 2001.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Casualties of War	PFC. Herbert Hatcher
1989	We're No Angels	Young Monk
1990	Days of Thunder	Buck Bretherton
1990	State of Grace	Stevie McGuire
1992	Shadows and Fog	Cop at Police Station
1992	Out on a Limb	Jim Jr.
1992	Hoffa	Pete Connelly
1993	What's Eating Gilbert Grape	Tucker Van Dyke
1994	The River Wild	Terry
1995	Dolores Claiborne	Const. Frank Stamshaw
1995	Georgia	Herman
1996	Hard Eight	John Finnegan
1996	Boys	Officer Kellogg Curry
1997	Nightwatch	Deputy Inspector Bill Davis	Uncredited
1997	Boogie Nights	Reed Rothchild
1997	Chicago Cab	Steve
1998	The Thin Red Line	Sergeant Storm
1999	The Settlement	Pat
1999	Never Been Kissed	Augustus Strauss
1999	For Love of the Game	Gus Sinski
1999	Magnolia	Jim Kurring
2000	The Perfect Storm	Dale 'Murph' Murphy
2001	The Anniversary Party	Mac Forsyth
2001	Frank's Book	Frank	Short film
2002	The Good Girl	Phil Last
2002	Gangs of New York	Happy Jack
2002	Chicago	Amos Hart
2002	The Hours	Dan Brown
2003	Anger Management	Older Arnie Shankman	Uncredited
2004	The Aviator	Noah Dietrich
2004	Criminal	Richard Gaddis
2005	Dark Water	Mr. Murray
2006	A Prairie Home Companion	Lefty
2006	Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby	Cal Naughton, Jr.
2006	Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny	Sasquatch	Uncredited
2007	Year of the Dog	Al
2007	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Dewford "Dewey" Cox
2008	The Promotion	Richard Wehlner
2008	Step Brothers	Dale Doback	Also writer
2009	9	5 (voice)
2009	Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant	Larten Crepsley
2010	The Extra Man	Gershon
2010	Cyrus	John
2011	Cedar Rapids	Dean Ziegler
2011	Fight for Your Right Revisited	Mike D (B-Boys 2)	Short film
2011	We Need to Talk About Kevin	Franklin
2011	Terri	Mr. Fitzgerald
2011	Carnage	Michael
2012	Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie	Taquito
2012	The Dictator	Clayton	Uncredited cameo
2012	Wreck-It Ralph	Wreck-It Ralph (voice)	Also wrote additional story material
2013	Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues	The Ghost of Stonewall Jackson	Uncredited cameo
2014	Bears	Narrator	Documentary
2014	Life After Beth	Maury Slocum
2014	Guardians of the Galaxy	Rhomann Dey
2015	Entertainment	John
2015	The Lobster	Lisping Man
2015	Tale of Tales	King of Longtrellis
2015	The Cowboys	L'Américain
2015	When Marnie Was There	Kiyomasa Oiwa (voice)	English dub
2016	Sing	Eddie (voice)	Post-production
2017	Kong: Skull Island		Filming
TBA	Wreck-It Ralph 2	Wreck-It Ralph (voice)	In development

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Tenacious D	Sasquatch	Episode: "Death of a Dream"
2004	Cracking Up	Steve Evers	Episode: "Prom Night"
2006	Tom Goes to the Mayor	John (voice)	Episode: "Friendship Alliance"
2006	Saturday Night Live	Host	Episode: "John C. Reilly/My Chemical Romance"
2007-10	Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!	Dr. Steven Brule	25 episodes
2008	The Simpsons	Himself (voice)	Episode: "Any Given Sundance"
2010	Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Chrimbus Special	Dr. Steve Brule	Television film
2010-11	Funny or Die Presents	John / Nikola Tesla	2 episodes
2010-present	Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule	Dr. Steve Brule	18 episodes; also writer and producer
2014	Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories	Jordan	Episode: "Baby"
2014-present	Stone Quackers	Officer Barry (voice)	12 episodes; also executive producer
2015	Bagboy	Dr. Steve Brule

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2008	Grand Theft Auto IV	Liberty Rock Radio 97.8 Imaging
2009	Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned	Liberty Rock Radio 97.8 Imaging
2009	Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony	Liberty Rock Radio 97.8 Imaging
2009	Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City	Liberty Rock Radio 97.8 Imaging

Awards and nominations

Year	Title	Award
1998	Boogie Nights	Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2000	Magnolia
2002	The Anniversary Party	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
2003	The Good Girl	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
	Chicago	Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
2005	The Aviator	Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007	A Prairie Home Companion	Nominated - Gotham Awards for Best Ensemble Cast
2008	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Song Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song Nominated - Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
2011	Cyrus	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2012	Cedar Rapids	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
2015	Guardians of the Galaxy	Nominated - Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast

[ Source: Wikipedia ]