John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor. A character actor, he is known for his work with leading and supporting roles in both independent films and major studio features. The recipient of various accolades, Reilly is one of only two people to have been nominated for an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award (EGOT) without winning any.
Reilly started his career in the late 1980s, gaining recognition for his supporting roles in Casualties of War (1989), Days of Thunder (1990), Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), Gangs of New York (2002) and The Aviator (2004). For his performance in the musical film Chicago (2002), he received nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Greater recognition came from Reilly's roles in comedy films Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), and Step Brothers (2008), in addition to his role as Dr. Steve Brule in the Adult Swim comedy series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007–2010) and spinoff Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule (2010–2016). He provided the voice of the titular character in the Wreck It Ralph films (2012–2018). He starred in the independent films Cyrus (2010), We Need to Talk About Kevin, and Carnage (both 2011), The Lobster (2015), The Sisters Brothers and Stan & Ollie (both 2018). For his portrayal of comedian Oliver Hardy in the latter, he received critical acclaim and awards nominations.
Reilly subsequently co-created and starred in the Showtime comedy series Moonbase 8 (2020) and the HBO sports drama series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022–2023). He also earned a nomination for the Children's and Family Emmy Award for his role in the Disney+ animated short film An Almost Christmas Story (2024). On stage, he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role in the Broadway revival of Sam Shepard's play True West (2000). Aside from acting, Reilly also performs with his band John Reilly and Friends.
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 grew up in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood.
Reilly was raised Catholic and attended Brother Rice High School. He attended DePaul University in Chicago.
Reilly made his film debut in the Brian De Palma war film Casualties of War as PFC Herbert Hatcher in 1989. Although his role was written as a small one, De Palma liked Reilly's performance so much that the role was significantly expanded. He played Buck, Tom Cruise's character's NASCAR crew member in Tony Scott's Days of Thunder in June 1990. That September, he played an Irish hoodlum named Stevie McGuire in the crime film State of Grace, which starred Sean Penn; Reilly had previously appeared as a monk in the comedy We're No Angels (1989), which also starred Penn. In 1992's Hoffa, Reilly played Jimmy Hoffa's (Jack Nicholson) associate who testifies against him at Hoffa's trial. Reilly appeared in a supporting role in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), playing one of the title character's friends. His next role was in The River Wild (1994), in which Reilly appeared alongside Kevin Bacon as a pair of criminals who terrorize a family during a rafting trip. In 1995, Reilly appeared in the psychological thriller Dolores Claiborne as a police constable and in the drama Georgia as a drug-addicted drummer in the band Jennifer Jason Leigh's character joins.
In Paul Thomas Anderson's directorial debut film Hard Eight (1996), Reilly played a near homeless man in Reno, Nevada, who is taken under the wing of a senior gambler (Philip Baker Hall). Reilly collaborated with Anderson on other films, playing a pornographic actor in Boogie Nights (1997); a deeply religious police officer in Magnolia (1999); and a cameo in the music video for Fiona Apple's single "Across the Universe". Terrence Malick's ensemble war film, The Thin Red Line (1998) featured Reilly in a supporting role that was written as a larger one, but much of his scenes were deleted along with those of many other cast members. In 1999, Reilly starred in the independent film The Settlement alongside William Fichtner, which Variety writer Robert Koehler dismissed as a "write-off" despite praising his performance. That same year, Reilly played one of the newspaper managing editors in the romantic comedy film Never Been Kissed. In Sam Raimi's sports drama For Love of the Game, released the same year, Reilly played fictional baseball catcher Gus Sinski.
The box office hit The Perfect Storm was his only release of 2000 and featured Reilly as a veteran crew member on the Andrea Gail fishing vessel which was caught in the 1991 Perfect Storm. In the Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming directed comedy The Anniversary Party (2001), he played director Mac Forsyth. In 2002, Reilly played a stoner husband in a lackluster marriage to Jennifer Aniston's character, who cheats on him with a younger man played by Jake Gyllenhaal, in Miguel Arteta's comedy-drama The Good Girl. Later that year, Reilly appeared in three of the year's Academy Award for Best Picture nominees – Chicago, Gangs of New York and The Hours. In Chicago, he played Amos Hart, Roxanne's (Renée Zellweger) trusting husband and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. Zellweger remarked that "John is so often the best thing about the movies he's in" and critic Roger Ebert praised the "pathetic sincere naivete" that Reilly brought to the role. Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York featured Reilly as corrupt 19th-century constable "Happy Jack" Mulraney, while Stephen Daldry's drama The Hours saw him play the husband to Julianne Moore's character. Reilly made a brief appearance in the comedy Anger Management (2003) as a monk.
2004–2011: Transition to comedy
Reilly has said that as a child, he was influenced by the pathos of the great clown Emmett Kelly. In a 2025 interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he called Kelly a "genius" and said he pays homage to him with a painting of the hobo clown in his office.
Reilly appeared in Martin Scorsese's 2004 Howard Hughes biopic, The Aviator, as Noah Dietrich, Howard Hughes's (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 played the lead role in the crime film Criminal (2004), with Diego Luna and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Based on the Argentine film Nine Queens (2000), Stephen Holden of The New York Times felt that "John C. Reilly may be one of our finer character actors, but his portrayal of Richard Gaddis, a gimlet-eyed con man, in Criminal allows too many vestiges of the duped schlub of a husband he played in Chicago to leak into his performance." Reilly reportedly quit the 2005 Lars von Trier film Manderlay to protest the on-set killing of a donkey. He played the lead in one of Miranda July's short films, Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody? (2005). He was in the Jennifer Connelly-led horror film Dark Water (2005) as the manager of a mysterious hotel. Reilly co-starred in Adam McKay's comedy about NASCAR drivers entitled Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby in August 2006 as Cal Naughton Jr., the best friend and teammate of the title character, played by Will Ferrell. The film was successful, grossing $163 million worldwide. He appeared in Robert Altman's last film A Prairie Home Companion that same year, in addition to making an uncredited cameo appearance in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny as a Sasquatch.