Biographie

John is a wonderful singer who came out of a musical theater background. He did all of his own singing in Chicago (2002).

He met his wife in Thailand while he was filming Outrages (1989), who, at the time, was Sean Penn's assistant.

In April 2004, he left the filming of Manderlay (2005) to be replaced by Slovenian actor Zeljko Ivanek. According to a report in Entertainment Weekly, he did so to protest against the killing of a donkey during production.

For not only his broad, almost 6' 2" frame, curly hair, and everyman's mug, but also his straight-forward but thoughtful acting style, Reilly has frequently been dubbed "his generation's Gene Hackman".

In 2003, he starred in three out of the five movies nominated for Best Picture. They are Chicago (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), and The Hours (2002). All of these films were produced by Miramax Films.

(On his reputation as "character actor" rather than leading man): I think there's something about me...that people can relate to. And, you know, beauty can be its own prison.

I grew up a Catholic and went regularly to church. When I made the decision to make acting my vocation, I used to joke that the theatre is my church now. But, especially doing live theatre, where you have to do eight performances in six days, you really have to kind of live like a monk. Then you go to this big, dark place and experience emotions, and it's very spiritual.

"The C stands for Christopher. You can blame the union for that. The Screen Actors Guild make you do it if there's another member with the same name. I wasn't going to change my name, so I just included the middle one. It was a decision I had to make on Outrages (1989), my first film in 1989. I got a phone call and had to fly out to Thailand where Brian De Palma was shooting and it was a sudden decision, and I'm stuck with it. So I'm glad I didn't go for a stupid and exotic-sounding name just to grab attention, or you could be talking to a man named Tallulah or something".

Not because I find fame difficult, but because I fear that if you're too well known, you lose the ability to surprise your audience and that's what I like my characters to do. I can still get away with it, I think. I mean, those kids in the lobby didn't know my name and I did an interview yesterday where they looked very confused when I walked in. Turns out they were expecting Philip Seymour Hoffman, though they didn't really know his name either - they just sort of said to me: 'Have you lost weight and dyed your hair?"

I was a bit of a freak, but because I had a few older brothers I was afforded protection and people just kind of let me join their gangs. I was a kind of Zelig figure, moving between different groups. I'd hang with the jocks, the burn-outs, the academic types and I could empathise with all of them. I was curious about all of them, but I know I never felt I fitted in with them, you know? It sounds odd saying it now, but I just wasn't right there - until I started doing plays and then it was, like: "Ah, my people."