Biography
Armed with effortless charm and a disarming smile, actor Paul Rudd made his name on stage and screen in a number of notable projects, as well as cultivating an avid following as both a sensitive leading man and as a comic foil. While he became vaguely recognizable thanks to several prominent film and television roles - namely as Alicia Silverstone's know-it-all stepbrother in "Clueless" (1995), Phoebe's husband on "Friends" (NBC, 1994-2004), and Jennifer Aniston's gay best friend in the romantic comedy "The Object of My Affection" (1998) - Rudd eventually rode the Judd Apatow wave to stardom with a series of surprisingly successful comedies in which he was more often than not, the primary scene-stealer. His roles in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005), "Knocked Up" (2007), "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (2008), "Role Models" (2008) and "I Love You, Man" (2009) established the versatile actor, who oscillated easily between comedy and drama both on screen and on stage, as a bona fide box-office force and a rising star. Because of his raised profile, Rudd was able to take bigger risks in less mainstream projects, as he did for "Dinner for Schmucks" (2010) and "Our Idiot Brother" (2011). He took a step back with a leading role in James L. Brooks' critically maligned romantic comedy "How Do You Know" (2010) and stepped into a producer's role for the low-budget "Wanderlust" (2011), and later became an unlikely superhero in the Marvel hit "Ant-Man" (2015). But regardless of his projects' success or lack thereof, moviegoers held great reserves of goodwill for the actor. No matter how big or small the project, Rudd became one of Hollywood's most popular and marketable stars.
