Paul Rudd
Birthdate: Apr 6, 1969
Birthplace: Passaic, New Jersey, USA
Paul Rudd (birthname: Paul Stephen Rudd) is a multifaceted actor (as well as writer and producer) who has worked frequently with filmmaker Judd Apatow, has taken on the comedy-tinged superhero of Ant-Man, and has voiced several animated film roles, starting with a part in writer-director Amy Heckerling’s hit teen comedy, Clueless (1995), starring Alicia Silverstone. Rudd was credited by his full name in a lead role in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), the sixth entry in the Halloween franchise, with Donald Pleasance, Marianne Hagan, Mitch Ryan, and Kim Darby.
Rudd played Juliet’s spurned fiancé named “Dave Paris” in Baz Luhrmann’s modernized Shakespeare, Romeo + Juliet (1996), co-starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, grossing over ten times costs with a $148 million global gross after premiering at the Berlin Film Festival, where DiCaprio won best actor and Luhrmann won the Alfred Bauer Prize. Rudd joined the colorful ensemble of Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Christopher Meloni, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, and Elizabeth Banks in the cult comedy from co-writer/director David Wain, Wet Hot American Summer (2001).
Paul Rudd then re-created his co-starring role from writer-director Neil LaBute’s stage play for the film version of The Shape of Things (2003), with Gretchen Mol, Rachel Weisz, and Fred Weller. Rudd’s feature debut as a writer-actor was in the brilliant comedy, Role Models (2008), which marked Rudd’s reunion with writer-director David Wain, and also featured Seann William Scott, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jane Lynch, and Elizabeth Banks, and which proved to be a smash hit for Universal Pictures with a global take of $92.4 million.
Rudd followed with another successful studio comedy, I Love You, Man (2009), co-written and directed by John Hamburg and co-starring Jason Segel, with Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, J.K. Simmons, Jane Curtin, Jon Favreau, and Jaime Pressley, and earning $92.3 million for distributor Paramount Pictures. Rudd has had many collaborations with comedy filmmaker Judd Apatow including Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Knocked Up (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), This is 40 (2012), and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013).
Paul Rudd soon landed the durable, off-beat superhero starring role of Ant-Man/Scott Lang in the Ant-Man franchise, starting with the Peyton Reed-directed Ant-Man (2015); the Anthony and Joe Russo-directed Captain America: Civil War (2016); director Reed’s Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018); the Russo Brothers-directed Avengers: Endgame (2019); and the Reed-directed $275-million-budgeted Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023); Rudd additionally co-wrote Ant-Man with Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, and Adam McKay, and co-wrote the script of Ant-Man and the Wasp with Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari.
Rudd has co-starred in another franchise, the Ghostbusters series, as Gary in the series revival Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)—directed by Jason Reitman--and then in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), directed by Gil Kenan and co-written by Kenan and Reitman, with Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Ernie Hudson. Rudd has contributed voice performances to a long roster of largely successful animated movies, including Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), The Little Prince (2015), Sausage Party (2016), Nerdland (2016), The Bob’s Burgers Movie (2022), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023).
Paul Rudd has starred in several American indie features, including writer-director Stephen Chbosky’s feature adaptation of his 1999 novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), with Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Dylan McDermott, and Joan Cusack; director-writer David Gordon Green’s comedy-drama, Prince Avalanche (2013), with Emile Hirsch; the Sundance-premiering period drama, The Catcher Was a Spy (2018), with Mark Strong, Sienna Miller, Jeff Daniels, Tom Wilkinson, Giancarlo Giannini, Hiroyuki Sanada, Guy Pearce, and Paul Giamatti; director-writer Alex Scharfman’s black comedy, Death of a Unicorn (date to be announced), with Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, and Richard E. Grant; writer-director Andrew DeYoung’s suburban comedy, Friendship (date to be announced), with Kate Mara; and The Invite (date to be announced) with Rudd co-starring with Amy Adams under Jonathan Dayton’s and Valerie Faris’s co-direction.
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Personal Details
Paul Rudd was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and was raised in numerous places (including Ontario, Canada, Anaheim, Kansas, Johnson County, Kansas, and Overland Park, Kansas) by parents Michael (TWA vice-president and tour guide) Gloria Rudd (television station sales manager), who were both born in London, England. Rudd has a sister, Mandi Rudd Arnold. Rudd was educated in Kansas at Broadmoor Junior High School and Shawnee Mission West High School in Kansas Rudd has been married to writer/producer/production unit publicist Julie Rudd; the couple has two children, Jack and Darby. Rudd’s height is 5’ 9”. Rudd’s estimated net worth is $70 million.
Filmography
actor
Previous (13)
- 2024 | Ghostbusters: Frozen EmpireasGary Grooberson
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age.
- 2023 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant MayhemasMondo Gecko
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
The Turtle brothers work to earn the love of New York City while facing down an army of mutants.
- 2023 | Ant-Man and the Wasp: QuantumaniaasScott Lang
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne are dragged into the Quantum Realm, along with Hope's parents and Scott's daughter Cassie. Together they must find a way to escape, but what secrets is Hope's mother hiding? And who is the mysterious K...
- 2021 | Ghostbusters: AfterlifeasGrooberson
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
When a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.
- 2019 | Avengers: EndgameasScott Lang
Avengers: Endgame
After the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to reverse Thanos' actions and restore balance to the universe.
- 2018 | Ant-Man and the WaspasScott Lang
Ant-Man and the Wasp
As Scott Lang balances being both a superhero and a father, Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.
- 2018 | The Catcher Was a SpyasMoe Berg
The Catcher Was a Spy
Former Major League Baseball player Moe Berg goes undercover in World War II Europe for the Office of Strategic Services.
- 2015 |
- 2013 | Anchorman 2: The Legend ContinuesasBrian Fantana
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
With the 1970s behind them, San Diego's top-rated newsman, Ron Burgundy, returns to take New York City's first twenty-four-hour news channel by storm.
- 2013 |
- 2012 | This Is 40asPete
This Is 40
Pete and Debbie are both about to turn 40, their kids hate each other, both of their businesses are failing, they're on the verge of losing their house, and their relationship is threatening to fall apart.
- 2012 | The Perks of Being a WallflowerasMr. Anderson
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Charlie, a 15-year-old introvert, enters high school and is nervous about his new life. When he befriends his seniors, he learns to cope with his friend's suicide and his tumultuous past.
- 2012 | WanderlustasGeorge Gergenblatt
Wanderlust
Rattled by sudden unemployment, a Manhattan couple surveys alternative living options, ultimately deciding to experiment with living on a rural commune where free love rules.
Some Facts About Paul Rudd
Heritage: Paul Rudd’s parents are both London-born and both have Ashkenazi Jewish heritage; Rudd’s paternal grandfather’s name was Rudnitsky, which he changed to Rudd when he emigrated to the United Kingdom.
Theater Guy: Rudd has frequently appeared in New York theater, including The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1997), Twelfth Night, with Kyra Sedgwick and Max Wright at Lincoln Center Theatre (1998), Richard Greenberg’s Three Days of Rain (2006) on Broadway, and Grace at Broadway’s Cort (now James Earl Jones) Theatre with Michael Shannon and Ed Asner (2012). Rudd has also appeared on the London stage in such productions as the Lyric Theatre’s 2000 revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night with Jessica Lange, Charles Dance and Olivia Colman, and Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things (2001), for which Dano re-created his performance on Off-Broadway and in the 2003 movie version directed by LaBute.
Fan Boy: Paul Rudd roots for the Kansas City Chiefs, the Kansas City Royals, and the teams of the University of Kansas Jayhawks program.
