Paul Rudd

His father, Michael Rudd (1943–2008), was a historical tour guide and former vice-president of TWA.

His mother, Gloria Irene Granville, was a sales manager at television station KSMO-TV in Kansas City, Missouri.

They were both from London, his father hailing from Edgware and his mother from Surbiton, and both were descended from Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants who moved to England from Belarus, Poland and Russia.

His grandfather changed his paternal family's original surname, Rudnitsky, to Rudd.

His maternal family's surname was Goldstein; his parents were second cousins.

Rudd had a Bar Mitzvah service in Ontario, Canada.

Growing up, he loved reading the British comics The Beano and The Dandy, which his uncle sent him from the United Kingdom.

When Rudd was ten, his family moved to Lenexa in Johnson County, Kansas.

Because of his father's occupation, they also spent three years in Anaheim, California.

Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is a British-American actor and comedian.

Paul Stephen Rudd was born on April 6, 1969, in Passaic, New Jersey, to English-born Jewish parents.

In Kansas, Rudd attended Broadmoor Junior High and graduated from Shawnee Mission West High School in 1987.

He attended the University of Kansas, where he majored in theater and belonged to the Sigma Nu fraternity's Nu Chapter.

He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, with fellow actor Matthew Lillard.

He also spent three months studying Jacobean drama at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford.

While at acting school, he worked as a DJ at bar mitzvahs.

After graduation, he had a variety of odd jobs, including glazing hams at the Holiday Ham Company in Overland Park.

He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before making his acting debut in 1991.

Rudd made his acting debut in 1991 when he starred in a Super Nintendo commercial.

In 1992, he starred in the television drama Sisters as Kirby Quimby Philby.

In 1994, he appeared in Wild Oats for six episodes.

His films include Clueless (1995), Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Wet Hot American Summer (2001), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Knocked Up (2007), I Love You Man (2009), This Is 40 (2012), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024).

He left Sisters in 1995 to appear in the comedy film Clueless with Alicia Silverstone.

Rudd followed Clueless with supporting roles films such as in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers as Tommy Doyle, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, The Locusts, Overnight Delivery, The Object of My Affection, and 200 Cigarettes.

He was in the cast of the 1999 film The Cider House Rules that received a SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

He played FBI Agent Ian Curtis in Benny Chan's 2000 Hong Kong action film Gen-Y Cops.

In 2002, he was cast on the sitcom Friends as Mike Hannigan, who dates and marries Phoebe Buffay, played by Lisa Kudrow.

The year 2004 marked the start of Rudd's work with director/producer Judd Apatow, first on the film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy as Brian Fantana with Steve Carell, David Koechner and Will Ferrell, produced by Apatow; and again in 2005 in The 40-Year-Old Virgin with Carell and Seth Rogen, directed by Apatow.

In 2006, he appeared in several episodes of Reno 911! as Guy Gerricault (pronounced "jericho"), the coach of a lamaze class; then portrayed a drug lord in the film Reno 911!: Miami. He guest-starred as a has-been 1990s rock star, Desmond Fellows, on the television series Veronica Mars, in the 2007 episode "Debasement Tapes".

He subsequently appeared in Apatow in 2007's Knocked Up as frustrated husband Pete, married to Leslie Mann's character, co-starring with Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel.

He narrated the 2007 edition of the long-running sports documentary series Hard Knocks, which featured the Kansas City Chiefs, whom he continues to support.

It was the only season not to feature the series' regular narrator, Liev Schreiber.

Rudd appeared as John Lennon in the comedy film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story in 2007; and as a drug-addled surf instructor in Nicholas Stoller's Forgetting Sarah Marshall in 2008 with Jason Segel and Jonah Hill, both of which Apatow produced.

Rudd had uncredited cameos in Year One (2009) and Bridesmaids (2011).

He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in July 2015, and was included on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list in 2019.

In 2021, he was named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive".

He has played Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Ant-Man (2015) and most recently in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).

Rudd has also appeared in numerous television shows, including the sitcom Friends as Mike Hannigan, guest roles on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Reno 911! and Parks and Recreation, and as guest host of Saturday Night Live multiple times.

He had a dual role in the comedy series Living with Yourself, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy.

He starred in the miniseries The Shrink Next Door (2021).