| Greg Kinnear  Born: 17-Jun-1963
Birthplace: Logansport, IN
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Talk Show Host Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Talk Soup Greg Kinnear's father worked for the State Department, so the Kinnears lived in several major European cities during his childhood. His first show business experience came in high school, while living in Athens, where he hosted his own School Daze show on Armed Forces Radio.
After college, he worked as a low-level assistant for a very low-level Hollywood distributor, helping to craft the ad campaigns for such motion pictures as Sex Sluts in the Slammer starring Sandra Sleeze and Peter North and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama with Linnea Quigley. That work quickly grew tiresome, so he re-invented himself as an actor, and landed a tiny role in What Price Victory, a cheesy TV movie about corruption in college football, starring George Kennedy and Robert Culp. After sending an audition tape to the little-seen MovieTime Channel, he worked there as an entertainment reporter until MovieTime changed management, became E! Entertainment Television, and let Kinnear go.
In 1991 he hosted Fox's Best of the Worst, a curmudgeonly once-weekly look at everything that sucks. As that show sank, Kinnear was hired again at E! and assigned to host Talk Soup, a nightly smorgasbord of clips from TV talk shows that became the network's biggest hit. Kinnear stayed with the show for four years, until he was lured to NBC to replace Bob Costas hosting the late night Later. Critics and the ratings agreed, though, that Kinnear was a poor fit for that format, and after two years he left Later.
Meanwhile he made his movie debut playing a talk show host in Blankman with Damon Wayans. In his second film, Kinnear took the William Holden role in a poorly received remake of the classic Sabrina with Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond in lieu of Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. That film was a flop, and so were Kinnear's first two chances as a leading man -- he starred in Dear God as a postal worker who answers letters to the Lord, and A Smile Like Yours, a comedy about infertility co-starring Lauren Holly.
Since then, though, Kinnear has segued into a reliable, appealing character actor with a knack for feigning a funny, shallow smarminess. He was Oscar-nominated as Jack Nicholson's gay neighbor in As Good As It Gets, and in other memorable performances he played Meg Ryan's self-righteous boyfriend in You've Got Mail, a superhero who sells ad space on his uniform in Mystery Men with Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo, the helicopter pilot in We Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson, Matt Damon's Siamese twin in Stuck on You, a down-on-his-luck businessman in The Matador with Pierce Brosnan, and a failed motivational speaker in Little Miss Sunshine with Steve Carell. Father: Edward Kinnear (US State Department employee)
Mother: Suzanne Kinnear
Brother: James Kinnear (executive with Wachovia Securities, b. 1957)
Brother: Steve Kinnear (works for Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, b. 1959)
Wife: Helen Labdon (former model, m. 1-May-1999, two daughters)
Daughter: Lily Kathryn Kinnear (b. 12-Sep-2003)
Daughter: Audrey Mae Kinnear (b. 13-Jun-2006)
High School: American Community School of Greece, Athens (1981)
University: BA Broadcast Journalism, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (1985)
Bill Bradley for President
Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity
TELEVISION
Later (1994-96)
Talk Soup Host (1991-95)
FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR
Phil (5-Apr-2019)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Phil (5-Apr-2019)
Brigsby Bear (23-Jan-2017)
Murder of a Cat (24-Apr-2014)
Heaven Is for Real (16-Apr-2014)
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (24-Nov-2013)
The English Teacher (26-Apr-2013)
Stuck in Love (9-Sep-2012)
I Don't Know How She Does It (15-Sep-2011) · Richard Reddy
The Kennedys (3-Apr-2011)
Thin Ice (25-Jan-2011)
Salvation Boulevard (24-Jan-2011) · Carl Vanderveer
The Last Song (31-Mar-2010) · Steve Miller
Green Zone (26-Feb-2010) · Clark Poundstone
Flash of Genius (7-Sep-2008)
Ghost Town (5-Sep-2008)
Baby Mama (23-Apr-2008)
Feast of Love (27-Sep-2007)
Unknown (1-Nov-2006)
Invincible (25-Aug-2006)
Little Miss Sunshine (26-Jul-2006)
Fast Food Nation (19-May-2006) · Don Anderson
The Matador (2-Sep-2005)
Bad News Bears (22-Jul-2005) · Roy Bullock
Robots (10-Mar-2005) [VOICE]
Godsend (30-Apr-2004)
Stuck On You (10-Dec-2003) · Walt
Auto Focus (8-Sep-2002) · Bob Crane
We Were Soldiers (25-Feb-2002) · Maj. Bruce Crandall
Dinner with Friends (11-Aug-2001)
Someone Like You... (30-Mar-2001) · Ray Brown
The Gift (20-Dec-2000)
Loser (20-Jul-2000) · Prof. Edward Alcott
Nurse Betty (11-May-2000) · Dr. David Ravell
What Planet Are You From? (3-Mar-2000) · Perry Gordon
Mystery Men (22-Jul-1999) · Lance
You've Got Mail (18-Dec-1998)
As Good As It Gets (19-Dec-1997) · Simon Bishop
A Smile Like Yours (22-Aug-1997)
Dear God (1-Nov-1996) · Tom Turner
Sabrina (15-Dec-1995) · David Larrabee
Blankman (19-Aug-1994)
Based on an Untrue Story (20-Sep-1993)
Dillinger (6-Jan-1991)
Murder in Mississippi (5-Feb-1990)
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