Owen Wilson

WHY IS HE FAMOUS

Starring in a string of respectable box-office smashes and a few cultish hits, Owen Wilson can proudly pencil in Meet the Parents(and a bit part in its sequel, Meet the Fockers), Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, andDrillbit Taylor onto his resume.

Owen Wilson Quote

""You can think of Hollywood as high school. TV actors are freshmen, comedy actors are maybe juniors, and dramatic actors -- they're the cool seniors."  - Owen Wilson"

80 MAGNETISM

With his blonde, wind-blown hair, blue eyes and unmistakable crooked nose, Owen Wilson is an easily recognizable figure. Women, for the most part, dig his sporty, surfer look despite the zigzag schnoz, and there's little doubt the actor can do some damage at any public spot crammed with ladies. Younger brotherLuke Wilson, an equally-popular actor, has a more classic handsome look and often seems to steal Owen Wilson's rep as a ladies' man -- but that doesn't mean we would refuse some of Owen Wilson's pick-up tips.

81 SUCCESS

Though it's not his bread and butter these days, Owen Wilson got his start in Hollywood as a writer. Along with famed director Wes Anderson, he penned the short Bottle Rocket, which was given the funding to become a full-length feature. Though the full-length version of Bottle Rocket wasn't a big box-office draw, Owen Wilson's double-duty as star and writer of the film drew much acclaim after its 1996 release.

Owen Wilson went on to briefly appear in The Cable Guy in 1996, a comedy in which Owen Wilson met and befriended Ben Stiller. The two went on to make more than a half dozen movies together. Owen Wilson then starred in Anaconda, Armageddon and an independent thriller, The Minus Man.

It was only after Owen Wilson showcased his comedic talents in 2000's Shanghai Noon opposite Jackie Chan that his roles became more high-profile. After Shanghai Noon came the hit Meet the Parents and 2001's Oscar-nominated The Royal Tenenbaums, which costarred Owen Wilson and led to a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination (shared with Wes Anderson). Buddy movies like 2002'sI Spy, Shanghai Knights (the 2003 sequel to Noon) and the 2004 big screen reworking of Starsky & Hutch followed, and Owen Wilson was subsequently recognized as a legit Hollywood comedy star.

The witty The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was one of Owen Wilson's career highlights in 2004, in addition to a small role in the box-office smash Meet the Fockers. In 2005, Owen Wilson cracked people up in Wedding Crashers, costarring Vince Vaughn,  and had three more films released in 2006: Night at the Museum, You, Me and Dupree and Cars. However, he had a rough '07, appearing in The Darjeeling Limited but attempting suicide in August. Luckily, Owen Wilson was fine and withdrew from his role in Tropic Thunder, which was produced by and starred his friend and frequent collaborator, Ben Stiller. He was later replaced by Matthew McConaughey.

In 2008, Owen Wilson appeared in Drillbit Taylor and Marley & Me.

OWEN WILSON BIOGRAPHY

Born in Dallas, Texas, on November 18, 1968, Owen Cunningham Wilson is the middle sibling of three brothers: Andrew, the eldest, and Luke, the baby of the family. The three were each other's best friends and wreaked a lot of havoc on the household run by mother Laura, a photographer, and father Robert, an advertising executive.

Owen Wilson's Early Days

Though the three Wilson brothers were considered troublemakers, Owen admits that he was the worst one and caused his father a lot of embarrassment. His behavior came to a head in the 10th grade at St. Marks School of Texas, when, after stealing his teacher's textbook in an attempt to help him finish his math homework quicker, he was expelled.

Owen Wilson Meets Wes Anderson

After finishing his secondary studies at another nearby high school, Owen Wilson went on to a military academy in New Mexico and then returned to the Lone Star State to study at the University of Texas at Austin. It was there that he met his close friend and mentor (and future director), Wes Anderson. Both possessed an innate ability to write and soon enough they penned a short screenplay, Bottle Rocket, which they sent to a family friend who was working on a career as a screenwriter. The script ended up in the hands of famed director/writer/producer James L. Brooks, who gave Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson $5 million to produce a full-length feature.

Owen Wilson Releases Bottle Rocket

Debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, Bottle Rocket was released in 1996 and featured the acting debut of Owen and Luke Wilson. Though the film enjoyed only limited success, it helped springboard the middle Wilson to bigger things, including appearances in The Cable Guy, Anaconda and Armageddon in 1996, '97 and '98, respectively.

Owen Wilson In Cable Guy

While on the set of The Cable Guy, Owen Wilson befriended fellow funnyman Ben Stiller, director of the Jim Carrey vehicle. The two would work on many projects together thereafter, includingPermanent Midnight in 1998. Owen Wilson also had an uncredited role in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, which was written by Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson. In 1999, Owen Wilson landed the lead role in the film The Minus Man, an excellent independent thriller that costarred singer Sheryl Crow. The two became good friends and began dating, though the relationship was rocky and did not last very long.

Owen Wilson In Zoolander And Meet The Parents

In 2000, Owen Wilson teamed up with Jackie Chan to make the action-packed buddy flick, Shanghai Noon. The duo later reprised their roles for the sequel, Shanghai Knights, released in 2003. In between the first and second installments, Owen Wilson emerged as a consistently hilarious and versatile actor, joining Ben Stiller once again for Meet the Parents, Zoolander and The Royal Tenenbaums, a star-studded film that Owen Wilson also cowrote. Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson received a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination for Tenenbaums.

Owen Wilson In Starsky & Hutch

Big-budget films like I Spy, with Eddie Murphy, and Behind Enemy Lines (proving Owen Wilson could also tackle drama) with Gene Hackman, also appear on Owen Wilson's resume -- a resume that is filling up more and more as Owen Wilson kicks his career into high gear. He appeared in five films in 2004, including two more with Ben Stiller -- Meet the Fockers and Starsky & Hutch-- and one directed and cowritten by Wes Anderson, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zisso.

Owen Wilson In Wedding Crashers

The year 2005 was just as busy for Owen Wilson, as he starred with Vince Vaughn in the summer comedy Wedding Crashers, as well as in the "Luke/Andrew Wilson project" (the brothers served as directors while Luke wrote the screenplay), The Wendell Baker Story. The torrid pace continued in 2006 as Owen Wilson starred in three more movies, including Night at the Museum, You, Me and Dupree and Cars.

Owen Wilson Attempts Suicide

In 2007, Owen Wilson was hospitalized due to a suicide attempt. While he only released one statement asking that the public respect his privacy during this trying time, he refused, as did his publicist, to comment on the nature of his hospitalization. His first public appearance afterwards was at the premiere The Darjeeling Limited (2007).

His 2008 projects included Drillbit Taylor and Marley & Me.

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