Early life

Wilson was born in Norfolk, Virginia, the youngest son of Mary Kay Wilson, a voice teacher and professional singer, and John Franklin Wilson, a retired news anchor for WTVT in Tampa, Florida. Wilson's brother, Mark, currently works as a news anchor and reporter for WTVT. His ancestry is mostly English, with more distant Welsh, Scottish and German roots. Wilson grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida and attended Shorecrest Preparatory School.

Career

1995-2003: Stage roles and Angels in America

In 1995, Wilson graduated with a B.F.A. in Drama from Carnegie Mellon University. Shortly after, in 1995, Wilson made his acting debut as an understudy in the role of Chris in the U.S. touring production of Miss Saigon. The following year, he portrayed Billy Bigelow in the U.S. national tour of Carousel. A role in the Off-Broadway production of Bright Lights, Big City (1999) followed, and Wilson made his Broadway theatre debut in The Full Monty (2000), portraying Jerry Lukowski. For his performance in the role, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical.

Circa 2000, Wilson completed work on the film My Sister's Wedding, which has never been released. He sang "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady for Julie Andrews' awards ceremony when she received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001. In 2002, his performance as Curly in the Broadway production of Oklahoma! received critical acclaim, with Wilson being nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for the second time each. He won critical acclaim for his performance in Mike Nichols' 2003 HBO drama miniseries Angels in America. He received nominations for both the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. He played Joe Pitt, a closeted Mormon Republican.

2004-present: Transition into film

Wilson made his first film appearance in The Alamo, in 2004, playing William B. Travis. That same year, he co-starred in the musical film The Phantom of the Opera, as Viscount Raoul de Chagny. The following year, he starred alongside Ellen Page in the psychological thriller film Hard Candy, portraying a pedophile named Jeff Kohlver. In 2006, he starred as Brad Adamson in Todd Field's Little Children. Also in 2006, he appeared in the Golden Globe Award-nominated Running With Scissors as Michael Shephard, which was directed by Ryan Murphy and produced by Brad Pitt. In 2007, he starred as Brian Callahan in the independent film Purple Violets, which was written and directed by Edward Burns. In 2008, he starred in Neil LaBute's Lakeview Terrace.

Wilson played Dan Dreiberg / Nite Owl II in Zack Snyder's 2009 film adaptation of the graphic novel Watchmen, gaining 25 pounds for the role after filming flashback scenes as the slimmer Nite Owl II. This film reunited Wilson with his Little Children co-star, Jackie Earle Haley. On October 19, 2010, in Yankee Stadium, he sang "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees. On November 20, 2010, in Yankee Stadium, he sang the United States National Anthem before the first football game in the new stadium, played between Army and Notre Dame. Wilson played the primary antagonist Lynch in 2010's The A-Team, and co-starred with Rose Byrne in James Wan's horror film Insidious. He returned for the latter film's sequel, Insidious: Chapter 2, which was released in 2013. In 2013, Wilson portrayed the famous paranormal investigator Ed Warren, alongside Vera Farmiga starring as his wife Lorraine, in the horror film The Conjuring. The film was critically acclaimed, becoming one of the highest grossing horror films of all time. A sequel, The Conjuring 2, is set for release on June 10, 2016.

In January 2014, Wilson was announced as the lead for the second season of FX's anthology series Fargo, for which he is nominated for the 2015 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film. In March 2014, Wilson was cast in an unspecified role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man, but later left the film due to scheduling conflicts brought upon by multiple delays with the film's production. That same year, he was cast in the independent Western film Bone Tomahawk opposite Kurt Russell and Matthew Fox. In 2015, he joined the cast of John Lee Hancock's biopic The Founder, based on the life of McDonald's fast food restaurants founder Ray Kroc.

Personal life

On June 18, 2005, Wilson married Polish-American actress Dagmara Domińczyk, also a Carnegie Mellon University graduate (he graduated in 1995 with a drama degree; she graduated in 1998). On June 23, 2006, Domińczyk gave birth to their son, Kalin Patrick Wilson. On August 9, 2009, they welcomed their second son, Kassian McCarrell Wilson. He currently lives in Montclair, New Jersey with his family.

In May 2012, Wilson gave the keynote address for his alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University, in which he spoke of his memories from childhood and through his career.

On May 26, 2012, Wilson and his brothers, Mark and Paul, performed a benefit concert for Southeastern Guide Dogs' "Paws For Patriots" program in St. Petersburg, Florida. They raised $30,000 for the program and were honored by the organization with having puppies named after them. The brothers have also performed benefit concerts for All Children's Hospital and the St. Petersburg Free Clinic.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	My Sister's Wedding	Quinn	Unreleased
2004	The Alamo	William B. Travis
2004	The Phantom of the Opera	Viscount Raoul de Chagny
2005	Hard Candy	Jeff Kohlver
2006	Little Children	Brad Adamson
2006	Running with Scissors	Michael Shephard
2007	Purple Violets	Brian Callahan
2007	Evening	Harris Arden
2007	Brothers Three: An American Gothic	Peter
2008	Life in Flight	Will Sargent
2008	Lakeview Terrace	Chris Mattson
2008	Passengers	Eric Clark
2009	Watchmen	Dan Dreiberg / Nite Owl II
2010	Barry Munday	Barry Munday
2010	The A-Team	Agent Lynch
2010	The Switch	Roland
2010	Insidious	Josh Lambert
2010	Morning Glory	Adam Bennett
2011	The Ledge	Joe Harris
2011	Young Adult	Buddy Slade
2012	Prometheus	Shaw's Father
2013	The Conjuring	Ed Warren
2013	Insidious: Chapter 2	Josh Lambert
2014	Jack Strong	David Forden
2014	Space Station 76	Captain Glenn Terry
2014	Stretch	Stretch
2014	Let's Kill Ward's Wife	David	Also producer
2014	Big Stone Gap	Jack MacChesney
2015	Home Sweet Hell	Don Champagne
2015	Zipper	Sam Ellis
2015	Bone Tomahawk	Arthur O'Dwyer
2016	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	President of the United States	Cameo; Voice only
2016	A Kind of Murder	Walter Stackhouse
2016	The Conjuring 2	Ed Warren	Completed
2016	The Founder	Rollie Smith	Completed
2016	Matters of the Heart	Will	Completed
2016	The Hollow Point	Wallace	Completed

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Angels in America	Joe Pitt	6 episodes
2006	Tampa Bay: Living Legacy	Narrator	Documentary
2009	American Dad!	Jim	Voice; episode: "Wife Insurance"
2011-12	A Gifted Man	Dr. Michael Holt	16 episodes
2013	Girls	Joshua	Episode: "One Man's Trash"
2015	Fargo	Lou Solverson	10 episodes

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Miss Saigon	Chris	Understudy
1996	Carousel	Billy Bigelow	U.S. national tour
1999	Bright Lights, Big City	Jamie	Off-Broadway
2000	Tenderloin	Tommy	Broadway Encores! concert
2000-01	The Full Monty	Jerry Lukowski	Broadway
2002	Oklahoma!	Curly	Broadway
2006	Barefoot in the Park	Paul Bratter	Broadway
2008-09	All My Sons	Chris Keller	Broadway
2014	"Guys and Dolls"	Sky Masterson	Carnegie Hall concert

Audio work

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Watchmen: The End Is Nigh	Nite Owl II	Voice

Cast recordings

• Allegro (2009; studio cast recording)
• Bright Lights, Big City (2005; studio cast recording)
• The Full Monty (2001; original Broadway cast recording)
• Dreamgirls In Concert (as Film Executive; 2001 concert cast recording)
• Tenderloin (2000; Encores! concert cast recording)
• Lucky in the Rain (2000; studio cast recording)
• Terrence Mann's Romeo & Juliet: The Musical from William Shakespeare (1999)

Soundtracks

• The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

Audiobooks

• The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway (2006) (Simon & Schuster)
• The Ruins by Scott Smith (2006) (Simon & Schuster)

Miscellaneous

• Every Day Is a Holiday (2009 Christmas album) by Mary McBride
• Lucky (2004 CD) by Gary Kline
• Broadway Cares: Home for the Holidays (2001 CD)
• The Dreams in You (2001 CD)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work	Result
1999	Drama League Award	Bright Lights, Big City	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Drama League Award	Gershwin's Fascinating Rhythm	Nominated
2001	Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical	The Full Monty	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical		Nominated
	Drama League Award		Nominated
2002	Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical	Oklahoma!	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical		Nominated
2003	Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Angels in America	Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie		Nominated
	Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film		Nominated
2004	Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	The Phantom of the Opera	Nominated
2006	Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama	Little Children	Nominated
	Young Hollywood Award for Breakthrough Performance - Male		Nominated
	Awards Circuit Community Award for Best Cast		Nominated
	Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Relationship from Hell	Hard Candy (with Ellen Page)	Nominated
2011	Scream Award for Best Horror Actor	Insidious	Nominated
2013	Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series	Girls	Nominated
	Fright Meter Award for Best Actor	The Conjuring	Nominated
		Insidious: Chapter 2	Nominated
2014	Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Actor		2nd Place
2015	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film	Fargo	Nominated
2016	Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries		Nominated
	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television		Pending

[ Source: Wikipedia ]