Owen Wilson Biography
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Born and reared in Dallas, Wilson raised enough hell in high school to get expelled from one institution in tenth grade, but he managed to attend college at the University of Texas in Austin and graduate in 1991. Along with his degree, Wilson’s Austin years resulted in a budding partnership with a like-minded creative classmate, aspiring filmmaker Wes Anderson.
Their first film together, a short about a bookstore heist called Bottle Rocket, played at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993, attracting the attention of producer Polly Platt and writer/director James L. Brooks. With Brooks’ support, Wilson and Anderson expanded the short into a feature, indie cult favorite Bottle Rocket (1996).
Though it made little impression at the box office, Anderson and Wilson’s distinctly offbeat, wry, and optimistic tale about aspiring criminal Dignan and his best friend Anthony (played by Wilson’s brother Luke Wilson) earned ardent fans among cineastes. Wilson’s inspired performance as Dignan, not to mention his blond hair, large grin, and affable drawl, became his Hollywood calling card. That same year, Wilson also began a fertile association with actor/director Ben Stiller, appearing in one memorable scene as a smooth, ill-fated date in Stiller’s black comedy The Cable Guy (1996).
Alternating between supporting roles in Hollywood spectacles, collaborations with Anderson and Stiller, and smaller independent projects, Wilson worked steadily for the rest of the 1990s. Though he always seemed to fill the generic slot of Guy Marked for Death, Wilson still managed to bring a reliably laid-back, humorous spark to the bombastic proceedings in Anaconda (1997), Armageddon (1998), and The Haunting (1999).
On a more artistically successful front, Wilson’s next script with Anderson resulted in the lauded coming-of-age film Rushmore (1998). With its singular cast of characters, distinctive combination of deadpan humor and true emotion, and superb performances by Jason Schwartzman as teen prodigy Max Fischer and Bill Murray as depressed millionaire Blume, Rushmore earned prizes from the critics (if not the Academy) and proved that Bottle Rocket was no fluke.
As far as acting, Wilson’s ability to suggest complexity beneath a breezy surface earned positive notice for his unsettling performance as a laconic, self-styled Good Samaritan serial killer in indie thriller The Minus Man (1999).
By 2000, Wilson began to take center stage in larger Hollywood projects as well. Though it was another Jackie Chan vehicle, Wilson’s hilarious co-starring turn as a surfer dude-tinged outlaw in the chop sockey Western Shanghai Noon (2000) nearly stole the movie. Wilson’s brief appearance as a Jesus-loving, super rich romantic rival to Ben Stiller’s put-upon Greg Focker was a comic highlight of the hit Meet the Parents (2000).
Stiller’s supermodel farce Zoolander (2001) further sealed Wilson’s status as a superlative comic actor. As Zoolander’s rival Hansel, Wilson’s offbeat timing made him the ultimate bubble-headed mannequin; his catwalk competition with Stiller provided the biggest laughs in a hit-or-miss movie. Even as he flourished in broad Hollywood comedy, Wilson continued his partnership with Wes Anderson, co-writing with Anderson and co-starring (with his brother and Stiller among others) in the unusual family story The Royal Tennenbaums (2001).
Branching out into serious roles, Wilson then co-starred with The Royal Tennenbaums patriarch Gene Hackman in the military drama Behind Enemy Lines (2001).
An increasingly prevalent figure in acton films following the millennial turnover, Wilson followed Behind Enemy Lines with I Spy (2002) and the Shanghai Noon sequel Shanghai Knights (2003) before appearing opposite Morgan Freeman in The Big Bounce and gearing up for the belated big screen adaptation of Starsky & Hutch.
Wilson returned to the buddy comedy genre in 2002 with the action comedy I Spy, co-starring Eddie Murphy. This big-screen remake of the television series flopped at the box office. He then reunited with Chan to make Shanghai Knights (2003) and the movie remake of the television series Starsky & Hutch (2004). Due to his busy schedule as an actor and an ongoing sinus condition, Wilson was unavailable to collaborate on the script for Wes Anderson’s fourth feature, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The 2004 film was ultimately co-written by filmmaker Noah Baumbach. However, Wilson did star in the film as Bill Murray’s would-be son, Ned Plimpton; a role written specifically for Wilson.
Wilson partnered with Vince Vaughn in the 2005 Wedding Crashers which grossed over $200 million in the US alone. Also in 2005, Owen collaborated with his brothers by appearing in The Wendell Baker Story, written by brother Luke, directed by Luke and brother Andrew.
In 2006, Wilson provided the voice of Lightning McQueen in the Disney/Pixar film Cars, starred in You, Me and Dupree with Kate Hudson, and appeared with Stiller in Night at the Museum as Jedediah, the cowboy, an uncredited role.
Wilson has appeared in nine movies with Stiller (a long-time friend) to date: The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004), Night at the Museum (2006), and the sequel Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009).
Wilson appeared in another Wes Anderson film, The Darjeeling Limited, which screened at the 45th annual New York Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival and opened September 30, 2007, co-starring Jason Schwartzman and Adrien Brody.[6] Wilson next starred in the Judd Apatow comedy, Drillbit Taylor, released in March 2008. He appeared in a film adaptation of John Grogan’s best-selling memoir, Marley & Me (2008), co-starring Jennifer Aniston.
Wilson’s many collaborations on high-grossing comedy movies have led the media to consider him part of the Frat Pack, along with other comedy actors such as Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell.
Owen also provided the voice for the Whackbat Coach Skip in Wes Anderson’s version of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Owen Wilson will be acting alongside Steve Martin in the upcoming film “The Big Year”, adapted by Howard Franklin from Mark Obmascik’s book The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature and Fowl Obsession. In 2010 Wilson made a guest appearance on the NBC comedy Community with fellow Frat Pack member Jack Black.
On August 26, 2007, Wilson was taken to St. John’s Health amid media reports of a suicide attempt. Once stabilized at St. John’s, Wilson was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where his condition was initially described as serious, then later described as stable. His lawyer later confirmed that he had been undergoing treatment for depression.
On August 27, Wilson issued a statement: “I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time.” On August 29, 2007, Wilson withdrew from starring in Tropic Thunder, produced by and starring friend and frequent collaborator, Ben Stiller. He was later replaced by Matthew McConaughey.
On October 4, 2007, Wilson made his first public appearance since the incident at the Los Angeles premiere of The Darjeeling Limited. Wilson has done limited press since his suicide attempt and has not spoken about it publicly.
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