John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and writer. After his film debut in Casualties of War (1989), he gained exposure through his supporting roles in Days of Thunder (1990), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and The River Wild (1994). He also starred in Paul Thomas Anderson's films Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999), as well as Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line (1998). For his performance in Chicago (2002), Reilly was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe Award. He worked with director Martin Scorsese on both Gangs of New York (2002) and The Aviator (2004). In 2007, he starred in the comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, garnering a Grammy Award nomination and a second Golden Globe Award nomination for the film's title song, "Walk Hard". Reilly starred with Will Ferrell in the Adam McKay-directed comedies Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) and Step Brothers (2008). He voiced the title character in the Wreck It Ralph film series (2012–⁠2018), and appeared in the superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Kong: Skull Island (2017). Reilly continued to act in independent films such as Cyrus, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and Carnage (all in 2011), as well as Yorgos Lanthimos's The Lobster (2015), and The Sisters Brothers (2018). In 2018 he starred as the comedian Oliver Hardy in the biopic Stan and Ollie. The role earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination as well as a Critics' Choice Award nomination. In 2020, he created and starred in a Showtime comedy series Moonbase 8. In 2022, he led an ensemble cast for the HBO sports drama series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. Reilly performs with his band John Reilly and Friends and worked as a stage actor in True West (2000), for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. 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 Roman Catholic and attended Brother Rice High School. He is an alumnus of The Theatre School at 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 titular character's (played by Johnny Depp) friends. His next role was in The River Wild (1994), in which Reilly appeared alongside Kevin Bacon as a pair of criminals who terrorise 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.