See all of the incredible fashion at this year's Met Gala.

Met Gala 2025

See all of the incredible fashion at this year&#39;s Met Gala.

These actors totally transform for their roles. See them in some of their most memorable moments.

The Greatest Character Actors of All Time

IMDb celebrates the cinematic contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders with a list of some iconic films, new classics, and hidden gems to add to your Watchlist.

IMDb's Picks For Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

John C. Reilly and Andy Hirsch in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

Sally Field and John C. Reilly in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

John C. Reilly and Adrien Brody in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

John C. Reilly, Brett Cullen, and Jason Segel in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

John C. Reilly in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

John C. Reilly and Michael Chiklis in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

John C. Reilly, Stephen Adly Guirgis, and Shaylaren Hilton in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

John C. Reilly and Quincy Isaiah in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

John C. Reilly, Kirk Bovill, and Quincy Isaiah in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

John C. Reilly, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Jason Clarke, and Brett Cullen in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022)

John C. Reilly, Fred Armisen, and Tim Heidecker in Beef (2020)

John C. Reilly, Fred Armisen, and Tim Heidecker in Move the Base (2020)

John C. Reilly and Fred Armisen in Moonbase 8 (2020)

John C. Reilly and Tim Heidecker in Moonbase 8 (2020)

John C. Reilly, Fred Armisen, and Tim Heidecker in Moonbase 8 (2020)

John C. Reilly, Fred Armisen, Molly Shannon, Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, and Aubrey Plaza in The Little Hours (2017)

John C. Reilly and Tim Heidecker in Rats (2020)

John C. Reilly and Philip Baker Hall in Hard Eight (1996)

Gwyneth Paltrow, John C. Reilly, and Philip Baker Hall in Hard Eight (1996)

John C. Reilly, Jack Black, Kyle Gass, and Tenacious D in Tenacious D (1997)

John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix in The Sisters Brothers (2018)

John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell in Holmes & Watson (2018)

John C. Reilly, Will Ferrell, and Pam Ferris in Holmes & Watson (2018)

John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan in Granada Reports (1980)

John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell in Saturday Night Live (1975)

John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell in IMDb Interviews (2017)

John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan in Stan & Ollie (2018)

Character actor, dramatic leading man, or hilarious comic foil? With an astonishing range of roles already under his belt, John C. Reilly has played an eclectic host of rich characters to great effect over the years, from seedy ne'er-do-wells, to lovable, good-natured schlepps.

The fifth of six children, John Christopher Reilly was born in Chicago, to a father of mostly Irish descent, and a Lithuanian-American mother, and was brought up on Chicago's tough Southwest territory. His father, also named John, ran an industrial linen supply company business. On the amateur stage from age eight, Reilly trained at the Goodman School of Drama and eventually became a member of Chicago's renowned Steppenwolf Theatre.

His film break came with a small role in the Vietnam War drama Casualties of War (1989), wherein Brian De Palma liked his work so much during the early stages that he recast him in a major role by the start of shooting as a soldier bent on rape. Reilly gained momentum throughout the 1990s and showed his dazzling stretch of talent in such films as Days of Thunder (1990), Shadows and Fog (1991), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and The River Wild (1994). He became a major stock player in director Paul Thomas Anderson's films, while finding some of his best roles in Hard Eight (1996) as a compulsive gambler, Boogie Nights (1997) in which he played a narcissistic porn star, and in Magnolia (1999) as a compassionate policeman. He went on to earn further critical points for his role of the soldier sent to the front lines in Terrence Malick's war epic The Thin Red Line (1998).

On stage, Reilly has wowed audiences in "The Grapes of Wrath" on Broadway, "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Othello" at Steppenwolf, and earned an Outer Critics Circle Award and Tony nomination for "True West" alongside another impeccable character player Philip Seymour Hoffman. Reilly finally received the film recognition he deserved in 2002 with a slew of choice, high-profile parts in The Hours (2002), The Good Girl (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), and especially Chicago (2002) as the put-upon husband, Amos Hart, who is played for a patsy by murderous wife Roxie (Renée Zellweger). For this last part, he received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

Since then his stock has risen considerably, and he has further widened his cinematic repertoire, appearing in everything from dramatic roles - We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), The Aviator (2004) and Carnage (2011) - to broader comic turns - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Step Brothers (2008), Cyrus (2010) and Cedar Rapids (2011). Most recently, he has voiced the lead in Disney's animated smash Wreck-It Ralph (2012).

Reilly is married to producer Alison Dickey.

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John C. Reilly

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