# Greg Kinnear

Gregory Buck Kinnear (born June 17, 1963) is an American actor and former talk show host. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in As Good as It Gets (1997).
Kinnear has appeared in many popular films, including Sabrina (1995), You've Got Mail (1998), Nurse Betty (2000), Someone like You (2001), We Were Soldiers, Auto Focus (both 2002), Stuck on You (2003), Robots (2005), Little Miss Sunshine, Invincible (both 2006), Green Zone, The Last Song (both 2010), Heaven Is for Real (2014), and Misbehaviour (2020). His television roles include Friends, Talk Soup, Modern Family, House of Cards, Rake, and the miniseries The Stand (2020). Kinnear portrayed John F. Kennedy in The Kennedys (2011), and Joe Biden in Confirmation (2016).

## Early life

Kinnear was born on June 17, 1963, in Logansport, Indiana, to Suzanne (née Buck), a homemaker, and Edward Kinnear, a career diplomat who worked for the US State Department. He has two older brothers, James (born 1957) and Steven (born 1959). He is of Scottish-Irish descent. Kinnear grew up a "Foreign Service brat", having moved around frequently, from Beirut to Athens. While a student at the American Community Schools in Athens, Kinnear first ventured into the role of talk show host with his radio show School Daze With Greg Kinnear. Returning to the United States for a university education, he attended the University of Arizona, graduating in 1985 with a degree in broadcast journalism. While there, he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

## Career

Kinnear hosted a short-lived game show, College Mad House, which was spun off from the kids' show Fun House. He became the creator, co-executive producer and host of Best of the Worst, which aired from 1991 to 1992. In 1991, Kinnear became the first host of Talk Soup, which he hosted until 1995, when he left the show for the NBC late-night talk show Later with Greg Kinnear (1994).
After his film debut, Blankman, Kinnear won the part of David Larrabee in Sydney Pollack's 1995 remake of Billy Wilder's 1954 classic Sabrina. He played the lead role in the 1996 comedy Dear God. In 1997, he was cast in James L. Brooks' comedy-drama As Good as It Gets, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also starred in A Smile Like Yours with Lauren Holly, as part of a couple trying to have a baby. His next film was the popular You've Got Mail as Kathleen's (Meg Ryan) significant other. Other films are Mystery Men, Nurse Betty, Loser, The Gift and Someone Like You. Kinnear often alternated roles, often playing good guys like a righteous principal in The Gift or a gay painter in As Good as It Gets, to bad guys such as a sleazy college professor in Loser, a womanizer in Someone Like You as well as Sabrina and an egotistical soap opera star in Nurse Betty.
In 2002, Kinnear starred in Auto Focus about the life and murder of actor Bob Crane. Kinnear portrayed Crane. In 2003, he starred in the comedy Stuck on You, with Matt Damon as a conjoined twin who pursues his dream of becoming a Hollywood actor in spite of his joined brother's desire for a different kind of life. In 2005, he starred in the black comedy The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and voiced Phineas T. Ratchet in the animated film Robots. Kinnear co-starred with Steve Carell in the Oscar-winning comedy-drama Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, and with Mark Wahlberg in Invincible, based on the true story of a bartender who tries out for the Philadelphia Eagles football team. He also appeared in Fast Food Nation, playing a fast food executive who discovers secrets about his company. In 2008, he starred in Flash of Genius, a docudrama about Robert Kearns who invented the intermittent windshield wiper. His portrayal of then-Major Bruce P. Crandall in 2002's We Were Soldiers brought public attention to Crandall's heroism during the 1965 Battle of Ia Drang. (On February 26, 2007, Crandall was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bush.) In Baby Mama, Kinnear played Rob, a local smoothie shop owner and the romantic interest of Kate (Tina Fey).
In 2010, he starred as the estranged father of Miley Cyrus' character in The Last Song. In 2011, Kinnear starred in the miniseries The Kennedys playing the lead role as John F. Kennedy. It was originally planned to air on the History Channel; however, it was announced in January 2011, that the miniseries had been pulled from that network. It was subsequently picked up by ReelzChannel and first aired on April 3, 2011. Kinnear played a famous novelist in Josh Boone's directorial debut film Stuck in Love, which followed his relationships with his former wife (Jennifer Connelly) and teenage children.
On March 9, 2023, Netflix announced that Kinnear will guest star in Part 2 of Season 4 of You as Tom Lockwood, the father of Joe Goldberg’s (Penn Badgley) latest love interest, Kate Galvin (Charlotte Ritchie).

## Personal life

On May 1, 1999, Kinnear married Helen Labdon, a retired British glamour model. They have three daughters.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1994 | Blankman | Talk Show Host | Film role debut |
| 1995 | Sabrina | David Larrabee | |
| 1996 | Dear God | Tom Turner | |
| 1996 | Beavis and Butt-Head Do America | ATF Agent Bork | Voice; uncredited |
| 1997 | A Smile Like Yours | Danny Robertson | |
| 1997 | As Good as It Gets | Simon Bishop | |
| 1998 | You've Got Mail | Frank Navasky | |
| 1999 | Mystery Men | Captain Amazing / Lance Hunt | |
| 2000 | What Planet Are You From? | Perry Gordon | |
| 2000 | Nurse Betty | Dr. David Ravell / George McCord | |
| 2000 | Loser | Professor Edward Alcott | |
| 2000 | The Gift | Wayne Collins | |
| 2001 | Someone like You | Ray Brown | |
| 2002 | We Were Soldiers | Maj. Bruce "Snake" Crandall | |
| 2002 | Auto Focus | Bob Crane | |
| 2003 | Stuck on You | Walter Tenor | |
| 2004 | Godsend | Paul Duncan | |
| 2005 | The Matador | Danny Wright | |
| 2005 | Robots | Phineas T. Ratchet | Voice |
| 2005 | Bad News Bears | Ray Bullock | |
| 2006 | Fast Food Nation | Robert Anderson | |
| 2006 | Little Miss Sunshine | Richard Hoover | |
| 2006 | Invincible | Dick Vermeil | |
| 2006 | Unknown | Broken Nose | |
| 2007 | Feast of Love | Bradley Miller | |
| 2008 | Baby Mama | Rob Ackerman | |
| 2008 | Ghost Town | Frank Herlihy | |
| 2008 | Flash of Genius | Bob Kearns | |
| 2010 | Green Zone | Clark Poundstone | |
| 2010 | The Last Song | Steve Miller | |
| 2011 | Thin Ice | Mickey Prohaska | |
| 2011 | That's What I Am | Narrator | Uncredited |
| 2011 | Salvation Boulevard | Carl Vanderveer | |
| 2011 | I Don't Know How She Does It | Richard Reddy | |
| 2012 | Stuck in Love | Bill Borgens | |
| 2013 | Movie 43 | Griffin Schraeder | Segment: "The Pitch" |
| 2013 | The English Teacher | Dr. Richard Riker | |
| 2013 | Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues | Gary Bragger | |
| 2014 | Heaven Is for Real | Todd Burpo | |
| 2014 | Murder of a Cat | Al Ford | |
| 2016 | Little Men | Brian Jardine | |
| 2017 | Brigsby Bear | Detective Vogel | |
| 2017 | Same Kind of Different as Me | Ron Hall | |
| 2018 | Brian Banks | Justin Brooks | |
| 2019 | Frankie | Gary | |
| 2019 | Strange but True | Richard Chase | |
| 2019 | Phil | Phil | Also director and executive producer |
| 2019 | The Red Sea Diving Resort | Walton Bowen | |
| 2020 | Misbehaviour | Bob Hope | |
| 2021 | Crisis | Dean Geoff Talbot | |
| 2024 | Sight | Misha Bartnovsky | |
| 2024 | The Present | Eric Diehl | |
| 2024 | You Gotta Believe | Coach Jon Kelly | |
| TBA | Off the Grid | TBA | Post-production |
| TBA | Shiver | TBA | Post-production |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1988 | What Price Victory | Teacher's Assistant | Television film |
| 1989 | Life Goes On | Corey | Episode: "Break a Leg, Mom" |
| 1990 | Murder in Mississippi | News Reporter | Television film |
| 1990 | Mancuso, F.B.I. | Photographer | Episode: "Adamant Eve" |
| 1991 | L.A. Law | Reporter | Episode: "Spleen It to Me, Lucy" |
| 1991 | Best of the Worst | Himself (host) | |
| 1991 | Dillinger | Arizona Legislator | Television film |
| 1991–1995 | Talk Soup | Himself (host) | Also executive producer |
| 1993 | Based on an Untrue Story | Orlando Chang Stein | Television film |
| 1994–1996 | Later with Greg Kinnear | Himself (host) | Also executive producer |
| 1998 | The Larry Sanders Show | Greg Kinnear | Episode: "Flip" |
| 2000 | Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child | Prince Gavin | Episode: "The Frog Princess" |
| 2001 | Dinner with Friends | Tom | Television film |
| 2003 | Friends | Benjamin Hobart | Episode: "The One with Ross's Grant" |
| 2011 | The Kennedys | John F. Kennedy | Main role |
| 2012 | Modern Family | Tad | Episode: "Me? Jealous?" |
| 2014 | Rake | Keegan Deane | Main role; also executive producer |
| 2015 | Drunk History | Thaddeus Lowe | Episode: "New Jersey" |
| 2016 | Confirmation | Joe Biden | Television film |
| 2016 | BoJack Horseman | Greg Kinglear | Voice role; episode: "Start Spreading the News" |
| 2018 | Electric Dreams | Father | Episode: "Father Thing" |
| 2018 | House of Cards | Bill Shepherd | 7 episodes |
| 2018, 2019 | Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | The Twilight Zone | Captain Lane Pendleton | Episode: "A Traveler" |
| 2020–2021 | The Stand | Glen Bateman | 5 episodes |
| 2022 | Black Bird | Brian Miller | Miniseries |
| 2022–2023 | Shining Vale | Terry Phelps | 16 episodes |
| 2023 | You | Tom Lockwood | 3 episodes |
| 2024 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Earl Mack | Episode: "No Lessons Learned" |
| TBA | Firebug | TBA | Upcoming miniseries |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Theatre | Refs. |
| 2012 | The Power of Duff | Charles Duff | Powerhouse Theater | |
| 2022 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Atticus Finch | Shubert Theatre, Broadway | |