Greg Kinnear

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Birthday:

17 June 1963, Logansport, Indiana, USA

Birth Name:

Gregory B. Kinnear

Height:

178 cm

Greg Kinnear was born on June 17, 1963, in Logansport, Indiana, USA to Edward Kinnear, a career diplomat with the US State Department, and Suzanne (Buck) Kinnear, a homemaker. Greg has two brothers--James, vice president-investments at Wachovia Securities in Arizona who was born in 1957, and Steve, a business manager with the Billy Graham Training Center in North Carolina who was born in 1959. His family moved often, including Lebanon and Greece. While a student in Athens, Greg first ventured into the role of talk show host with his radio show "School Daze With Greg Kinnear."Returning to college in the States, he attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, graduating in 1985 with a degree in broadcast journalism. He headed out to Los Angeles, landing his first job as a marketing assistant with Empire Entertainment. He auditioned to be an MTV VJ, but was not selected and became an on-location reporter for the channel. He had bit parts on L.A. Law (1986) and Life Goes On (1989). He would later become the creator, co-executive producer, and host of Best of the Worst (1991), which aired from 1990 to 1991. His breakthrough was as first host of Talk Soup (1991) from 1994-1994, when he left the show for the NBC late-night talk show, Later with Greg Kinnear (1994). In 1994, Kinnear had his first big screen role, as a talk show host in the Damon Wayans comedy Blankman (1994). In 1995 he won the role of David Larrabee in Sydney Pollack's remake of Billy Wilder's 1954 classic Sabrina (1995). Next was the lead in the 1996 comedy Dear God (1996). In 1997, Greg was cast in James L. Brooks's blockbuster comedy-drama As Good as It Gets (1997), receiving an Oscar nomination as best supporting actor. In his next film, the romantic comedy A Smile Like Yours (1997), he starred opposite Lauren Holly as part of a couple trying to have a baby. The film met with lukewarm reviews and a low box office. His next film, You've Got Mail (1998), struck gold. He played Meg Ryan's significant other, a newspaper columnist. Next he played Captain Amazing in Mystery Men (1999). His more recent films have Nurse Betty (2000), Loser (2000), and Someone Like You... (2001). Show less «

Setting goals can blind you to opportunities. You might be trying to get to point C; when opportunity B comes, you don't even look at it bec...Show more »

Setting goals can blind you to opportunities. You might be trying to get to point C; when opportunity B comes, you don't even look at it because you're going straight to C. I've never had a clear road map. When things come along, I benefit. Show less «

[on success in Hollywood] I'd like to believe as much of myself as possible is unaffected by the things that can get a little heady. Being f...Show more »

[on success in Hollywood] I'd like to believe as much of myself as possible is unaffected by the things that can get a little heady. Being from Indiana has its benefits. Show less «

[on his school days] I was always explaining why my term papers were never on time. I think that's where I got my acting training!

I'm just doing the best I can with what I have. There are certain physical limitations to being a WASPy-looking dude from Indiana, right? "T...Show more »

I'm just doing the best I can with what I have. There are certain physical limitations to being a WASPy-looking dude from Indiana, right? "Travis Bickle [from Taxi Driver (1976)] Part 2" probably ain't coming my way. So with the roles I get, as best as I can I try to see the cracks within the face and then magnify them in an interesting way. Show less «

I'm pretty sure my getting cast in Sabrina (1995) was some sort of paperwork misshoveling over at Paramount. I know that, originally, Sydney...Show more »

I'm pretty sure my getting cast in Sabrina (1995) was some sort of paperwork misshoveling over at Paramount. I know that, originally, Sydney Pollack was saying. "Who the hell is Greg Kinnear?" but some women said he should check me out, and he did. When they called me about meeting Sydney Pollack for Sabrina, I assumed it was a crank call. But he was great at putting me at ease. When he found out that I'm from Indiana, and he's also from Indiana, I guess I had it sewed up at that point. It's just the craziest piece of luck. Show less «

I was born in Indiana. My father was with the State Department in Washington, D.C. We lived in Reston, Virginia, for about three years. And ...Show more »

I was born in Indiana. My father was with the State Department in Washington, D.C. We lived in Reston, Virginia, for about three years. And then he got his first diplomatic assignment, to the American Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1975, no less, which was the year that the war broke out. So we were there for about nine months. When we first got there it was great, and then it just gradually deteriorated and by the end of our time there I would wake up invariably to the sound of shelling and machine-gun fire. I was about 12 or 13. I'd be in a daze and just walk out to the living room, and there's my family, mom and dad, my brother, sitting there listening to the BBC radio broadcast, as the opera of machine-gun fire is going on around our house. It was just bizarre. We (eventually) got evacuated to Greece, and my dad was reassigned to the American Embassy in Athens. We were there for seven years, that's where I ended up finishing high school. Show less «

[on undertaking the role of lawyer "Keegan Deane Joye" in Rake (2014)] I don't know that I'd necessarily want him to represent me in a court...Show more »

[on undertaking the role of lawyer "Keegan Deane Joye" in Rake (2014)] I don't know that I'd necessarily want him to represent me in a court of law. I don't mean that as an indictment of the guy, because - without it seeming kitschy, without him being a lawyer 'with a heart of gold' - there are a lot of episodes where he learns nothing. He makes sizable mistakes, and he recognizes that. It's one of the things that makes him human, if not endearing exactly. It was that mix - his being brilliant, despite the self-destructive mechanisms in the rest of his life - that appealed to me. He's a mess. That absolute lack of need for others' approval is hugely attractive, especially if you're an actor. Show less «