Owen Wilson
Encyclopedia : O : OW : OWE : Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor and writer.
Biography
Early Life
Wilson was born in Dallas, Texas to Robert Andrew Wilson, a PBS executive, and Laura Cunningham, a photographer, both of whom were of Irish Catholic descent. Owen is the middle sibling of three brothers: Andrew, the eldest, and Luke, the youngest, who is also a well-known actor. He attended The Lamplighter School for grade school, and later visited the school in 2005. He also attended the St. Mark's School of Texas before graduating from high school at the New Mexico Military Institute. He was expelled from St. Mark's in tenth grade after stealing his teacher's textbook in an attempt to help him finish his math homework more quickly. Afterwards, he attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he met future collaborator Wes Anderson. Owen dropped out two courses shy of a degree; he needed a math and a Spanish class to graduate.Rise to Stardom
In 1993, Wilson co-wrote and starred in the short film version of Bottle Rocket, which was directed by Wes Anderson. After being screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Wilson and Anderson were recruited by filmmaker James L. Brooks to expand the Bottle Rocket short to feature-length for Gracie Films. The young team of filmmakers were given $5 million dollars to make the film, about a group of innocents who try their hands at being petty thieves. Although not a financial success upon its release in 1996, the film became a cult favorite and introduced Wilson's offbeat acting style to American audiences.Owen, along with his brothers Luke and Andrew, moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting careers. Owen landed minor roles in big budgeted movies very quickly such as The Cable Guy which was directed by Ben Stiller, an early admirer of Bottle Rocket. After minor appearances in action films like Anaconda, Armageddon and The Haunting, Owen got his big break with the 2000 comedy action hit Shanghai Noon starring opposite Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan. After the success of Rush Hour, producers thought the buddy formula could work again with Jackie Chan being paired with a white man this time, and they were right. The film was a success, grossing nearly US$100 million dollars worldwide.
Gene Hackman took notice of Owen's performance in Shanghai Noon and recommended him to play opposite him in the 2001 action film Behind Enemy Lines — it remained the only big budgeted film which Owen had a starring role that deviated from buddy comedy roles that Owen has since embraced.
Career
Buddy Comedy Success
Owen returned to the buddy comedy genre in 2002 with the action comedy I Spy, co-starring this time with Eddie Murphy. The big screen remake of the television series flopped at the box office. He then reunited with Chan to make Shanghai Knights (2003), teamed up with Ben Stiller in the movie remake of the television series Starsky & Hutch (2004), and partnered with Vince Vaughn in the 2005 Wedding Crashers which grossed over $200 million dollars in the US alone. This year he has starred in You, Me, and Dupree.Writing Career
Although he found initial success as a film actor after his turn as "Dignan" in Bottle Rocket, Wilson remained a key creative collaborator to Wes Anderson's next two directorial efforts. Rushmore was the two writers' second script, and was partially based on Wilson's own expulsion from St. Mark's as a teenager. Although he didn't appear in the film, he and Anderson acknowledged on the Criterion Collection DVD audio commentary that Wilson has a sort of quasi-cameo as Rosemary Cross's dead husband, Edward Appleby. The photographs of Appleby in Ms. Cross's room are ones taken of Wilson as a boy. [link]In 2001, Wilson and Anderson wrote their third film, The Royal Tenenbaums, which was a financial and critical success. The comedy featured an all-star cast, including Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, and Danny Glover. Wilson had a memorable supporting role in the film as a Professor-turned-bestseller "Eli Cash." It earned the writing team an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Due to his busy schedule as an actor, he wasn't able to collaborate on the script for Wes Anderson's fourth feature, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which was ultimately co-written by filmmaker Noah Baumbach. However, Wilson eventually did star in the film as Bill Murray's would-be son, Ned Plimpton, which was a role written specifically for Wilson. [link]
Frat Pack
Wilson's roles have varied between small, quirky comedy collaborations with Anderson and bigger budget box office fare. Wilson, along with Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Jack Black, and Steve Carell are considered members of the Frat Pack. [link] Owen is the first "Frat Pack" member to receive an Academy Award nomination.He has been in seven movies with Ben Stiller, up to this date. They are The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004) and Meet the Fockers (2004).
In early 2005, Wilson rushed to the defense of his long-time friend and fellow frat-packer after The New Yorker published a disparaging characterization of Stiller's film performances, calling him "the latest, and crudest, version of the urban Jewish male on the make." The esteemed magazine published a letter written by Wilson, charging that the critic David Denby was a "bully" who blithely dismissed all of Stiller's filmography with a touch of personal rancor. In Wilson's words, he jumped to defend Stiller "not because [the article] was good or fair toward my friend but exactly because it wasn’t." [link]
Personal Life
Owen Wilson dated Sheryl Crow when he was making the film Minus Man. The couple separated in 2000. Currently, Wilson is reportedly dating Francesca Versace, Donatella Versace's young niece, after becoming infatuated with her after spotting her during a night out in Los Angeles. Wilson is also a big Willie Nelson fan, and enjoys playing Ping Pong. He once played a publicized match against Regis Philbin on Regis and Kelly. Owen also likes to skateboard and appears in Yeah Right! a 2003 skateboarding movie.Nose
His trademark crooked nose was caused by having his nose broken once in high school and again in college during a flag football game at the University of Texas. When asked why he never had it fixed, he stated that it was his "trademark".Salary
- Wedding Crashers (2005) $10,000,000
- Starsky & Hutch (2004) $10,000,000
- Behind Enemy Lines (2001) $3,000,000
- Zoolander (2001) $2,000,000
- Shanghai Noon (2000) $4,000,000
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | You, Me and Dupree | Randy Dupree | Post-production |
| Cars | Lightning McQueen | Voice | |
| 2005 | The Wendell Baker Story | Neil King | |
| Wedding Crashers | John Beckwith | ||
| 2004 | The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou | Ned Plimpton | |
| Meet the Fockers | Kevin Rawley | Cameo | |
| Around the World in 80 Days | Wilbur Wright | Cameo | |
| Starsky & Hutch | Ken Hutchinson | ||
| The Big Bounce | Jack Ryan | ||
| 2003 | Shanghai Knights | Roy O'Bannon | |
| Yeah Right! | Himself | Cameo | |
| 2002 | I Spy | Alex Scott | |
| 2001 | Behind Enemy Lines | Lt. Chris Burnett | |
| The Royal Tenenbaums | Eli Cash | ||
| Zoolander | Hansel McDonald | ||
| 2000 | Meet the Parents | Kevin Rawley | |
| Shanghai Noon | Roy O'Bannon | ||
| 1999 | Heat Vision and Jack | Heat Vision/Doug (voice) | TV |
| The Haunting | Luke Sanderson | ||
| Breakfast of Champions | Monte Rapid | ||
| The Minus Man | Vann Siegert | ||
| 1998 | Rushmore | Edward Applebee | |
| Permanent Midnight | Nicky | ||
| Armageddon | Oscar Choi | ||
| 1997 | Anaconda | Gary Dixon | |
| 1996 | The Cable Guy | Robin's date | |
| Bottle Rocket | Dignan | ||
| 1994 | Bottle Rocket (short) | Dignan |
External links
- [Owen Wilson Fan Site]
- [The Wilsons Fan Forum]
- [Owen Wilson Website]
- [Owen Wilson Unofficial Site]
- [Owen Wilson Fanzone]
- [Owen Wilson Fansite]
- [Owen Wilson bio]
- [The Frat Pack tribute page]
References
- ↑ [Biography] on Yahoo! Movies
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