Nathan Fillion

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Nathan Fillion

Nathan Fillion at the premiere of Serenity in 2005
Born Nathan C. Fillion
March 27, 1971 (1971-03-27) (age 38)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Occupation Actor
Years active 1994—present

Nathan Fillion (born March 27, 1971) is a Canadian actor known for his lead role as Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the television series Firefly and its film continuation, Serenity, his role as Joey Buchanan in One Life to Live and his current lead role as Richard Castle on Castle.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Fillion was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the son of Cookie and Bob Fillion, both of whom are retired English teachers.[1] He has an older brother, Jeff,[2] and attended Holy Trinity Catholic High School, Concordia University College of Alberta and the University of Alberta. According to Fillion, he is descended from Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early.[3]

[edit] Career

After working in several theatre, television and film productions, including Theatresports with Rapid Fire Theatre and the improvised soap opera Die-Nasty, Fillion moved to New York City in 1994 where he acted in the soap opera One Life to Live as Joey Buchanan, for which he was nominated in 1996 for a Daytime Emmy Award in the "Outstanding Younger Actor" category. In 1997, he left the series to pursue other projects (but would return for a brief guest appearance in 2007).[4] After moving to Los Angeles, he played a supporting role in the sitcom Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place and was cast as "James Fredrick Ryan" or "The Minnesota Ryan" in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan.

Fillion played Caleb in the final five episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". He also worked with Buffy creator Joss Whedon on "Firefly".

In 2002, Fillion starred as Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the Joss Whedon science fiction television series Firefly, for which he won the "Cinescape Genre Face of the Future - Male" award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA. Fillion also won the Syfy Genre Awards in 2006 for Best Actor/Television and was runner-up for Best Actor/Movie.[5] Although the show was cancelled, it was adapted to the big screen; Fillion reprised his role as Mal in Whedon's movie Serenity (2005). He also had a recurring role as Caleb in the final season of Whedon's series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fillion considered his time on Firefly to be the most fun he had on a television series.[6]

Fillion has lent his voice to the animated series King of the Hill in 2001, the video game Jade Empire (as the voice of Gao the Lesser), and the animated series Justice League Unlimited (as Vigilante in the episodes "Hunter's Moon" and "Patriot Act") in 2005 and 2006. Fillion starred in James Gunn's 2006 horror film Slither. For his starring role as Bill Pardy, he garnered a 2006 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards nomination in the category of Dude You Don't Wanna Mess With.[7] Fillion starred in the romantic comedy film Waitress, written and directed by the late Adrienne Shelly, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival January 21, 2007 and opened in theaters on May 2, 2007. According to Box Office Mojo, Waitress grossed $22,125,001 in worldwide sales as of May 13, 2008, and $29.22 million in rentals as of January 28, 2008.[8] [9] Fillion also starred in White Noise 2: The Light.[10] He has made one appearance in the 2006-2007 season of the television show Lost, as Kevin, Kate's ex-husband.[11][12]

In October 2006, Fillion signed a talent holding contract with the Fox Broadcasting Company, and in December 2006, The Hollywood Reporter[13] confirmed that Fillion was cast in the lead role of Alex Tully in the series Drive, which debuted on Fox in the spring of 2007.[14] Drive was created by Fillion's longtime friend and former Angel and Firefly writer Tim Minear. Ivan Sergei played Alex Tully in the original pilot episode of Drive. The first two Drive episodes premiered on April 13, 2007 in Canada (April 15, 2007 in the United States). However, the show did not deliver the ratings Fox desired, and on April 25, 2007, the network announced that the series was cancelled.[15][16] The final two produced episodes were supposed to air back-to-back on Fox in July 2007, but did not actually become available until July 15 when they were posted on Drives MySpace page.[17] Fox has since removed Drive episodes from that Myspace. All six episodes are now available for download from Amazon.com[18] and iTunes.[19]

Fillion reprised his 1990s role as One Life to Live's Joey for the series' 9,999th and 10,000th episodes, aired August 16, 2007 and August 17, 2007.[20][21][22]

Fillion joined the cast of ABC's Desperate Housewives at the beginning of the Fall 2007 season as Dr. Adam Mayfair, a gynecologist. His first appearance was in the episode "Now You Know", which aired on September 30, 2007.

Fillion plays the voice of a Marine Sergeant in the Xbox 360 game Halo 3. He is joined by his Firefly co-stars Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk who both voice marines. At one point early in the first mission, he identifies himself as "[Sergeant] Reynolds" over the radio, referring to his character's name from the TV series Firefly. All three actors are given personalities in the game that match those of their characters from Firefly. He is the voice actor for Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck in the Halo 3 expansion, Halo 3: ODST.[23] Nathan Fillion discusses his Halo 3: ODST role and on playing Halo with msnbc. [24] His character in ODST also looks like him. [25]

The independent feature film Trucker in which Fillion plays the character Runner was premiered at the New York 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.[26] Trucker gets Theatrical Release Date: September 18, 2009.[27]

On March 21, 2008 Fillion finished filming Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog which stars Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible and Felicia Day as Penny.[28]

Fillion announced in 2008 that he had written a pilot and couple of episodes for a comedy with the working title Repo Brothers[29][30] which has been picked up by ABC. Also in 2008, Fillion started working on a TV series for ABC called Castle, in which he plays Rick Castle, a mystery novelist who helps the NYPD solve crimes.[31][32] In August 2008, ABC green-lit the production of the series, which started airing on March 9, 2009 and has been renewed for a second season.[33] ABC is promoting Castle by releasing a Richard Castle novel 'Heat Wave' online and worldwide in hardback. [34]

Nathan Fillion made EW's The Must List: What's Hot for the Week of Oct. 5, 2008.[35]

Fillion also is featured in a spoof porn web video on Spike called "Nailing Your Wife", part of the PG Porn series.[36]

The Wonder Woman animated DVD in which he voice acted the character Steve Trevor debuted #5 on the 3/08/09 Numbers DVD Sales chart.[37]

He has been recognized several times for his looks including in 2007 when Fillion was featured in People magazine's Sexy Men issue under the "Domestic Bliss/Guys Worth Running Home to" section. As well, he was listed as one of Entertainment Weekly's "50 Actors We'd Watch in Anything".[38]

[edit] Projects

Fillion co-founded the non-profit organization Kids Need to Read with author PJ Haarsma in 2007 to help inspire kids' imagination by helping to get books into underfunded libraries. Fillion believes strongly in the importance of reading and believes every child deserves the chance to read good books.[39] Haarsma discovered while speaking at schools around the country that many libraries cannot afford to purchase new books and children would plead with him to get a copy of his book. Fillion took the dedication of his fans and put it to good use by directing their energies into something he believed was a worthwhile cause.

Fillion appears in the Martin Firrell project HERO.

[edit] Filmography (includes voice work in other media)

Acting Filmography
Strange and Rich (1994) Walter Hoade
One Life to Live (1994–1997, 2007) Joey Buchanan
Spin City (1996) Guy
Ep.: "A Star Is Born"
Total Security (1997) Troy Larson
Ep.: "Das Bootie"


Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (1998) Johnny Donnelly


Saving Private Ryan (1998) Private James Frederick Ryan


The Outer Limits (1999) Michael Ryan
Ep.: "Star Crossed"
Blast from the Past (1999) Cliff
Dracula 2000 (2000) Father David
King of the Hill (2001) Voice - Frisbee Guy
Ep.: "Luanne Virgin 2.0"
Firefly (2002) Malcolm Reynolds
Water's Edge (2003) Robert
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2003) Caleb
Miss Match (2003–2004) Adam Logan
Outing Riley (2004) Luke
Jade Empire (2005) Gao the Lesser (voice)
Pasadena (2005) Rev. Glenn Collins
Serenity (2005) Malcolm Reynolds
Justice League Unlimited (2005-2006) Vigilante - Gregory Saunders (voice)
Ep.: "Patriot Act (2006)"
Ep.: "Hunter's Moon (2005)"
Slither (2006) Bill Pardy
Lost (2006) Kevin
Ep.: "I Do"
White Noise 2: The Light (2006) Abraham Dale
Waitress (2007) Dr. Jim Pomatter
Drive (2007) Alex Tully
Halo 3 (2007) Gunnery Sergeant Reynolds (voice)
Desperate Housewives (2007) Dr. Adam Mayfair
Trucker (2008) Runner
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008) Captain Hammer
Wonder Woman (2009) Steve Trevor (voice)
Castle (2009) Rick Castle
Halo 3: ODST (2009) Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck (voice)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Serenity star was 'a geeky kid'
  2. ^ Nathan Fillion Biography - Yahoo! Movies
  3. ^ http://jimmyaquino.typepad.com/comicnewsinsider/2008/06/cni-one-shot-na.html Hour long Podcast interview with Nathan Fillion June 2008 Nathan talks about Early, Firefly, Serenity, Dr. Horrible, Casle pilot filming...just about everything.
  4. ^ Rancilio, Alicia (March 16, 2009). "Nathan Fillion proud of his soap opera roots". Yahoo! News (Associated Press). http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090316/ap_en_tv/tv_people_nathan_fillion_4. 
  5. ^ "Syfy Portal Awards". http://syfyportal.com/news.php?id=2895. Retrieved on 2006-10-08. 
  6. ^ Fillion, Nathan. Here's How It Was: The Making of Firefly. [Firefly: The Complete Series (DVD)]. 
  7. ^ ""Nathan Fillion nominated at Fango Chainsaw Awards 2006"". Fangoria. Whedon,info. August 28, 2006. http://www.whedon.info/article.php3?id_article=17655. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  8. ^ ""'Waitress: Summary"". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=waitress.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  9. ^ ""'Waitress: DVD/Home Video"". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=homevideo&id=waitress.htm. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  10. ^ "White Noise 2: The Light". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0496436/. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  11. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0883770/plotsummary Lost I Do episode plot summary
  12. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0883770/fullcredits Lost I Do episode full credits
  13. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2006-12-15). "'Drive' time for Fillion at Fox". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i0123c6f82e9d75a960daf0920816a410. 
  14. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770521/ imdb.com Drive page
  15. ^ Schneider, Michael (April 25, 2007). "Drive runs out of gas". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117963779.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  16. ^ Ausiello, Michael (April 25, 2007). "Fox cancels Drive". TV Guide. http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Fox-Cancels/800013604#comments. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  17. ^ TimMinear.net 5.0
  18. ^ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PGYV4A Drive episodes on Amazon Unbox
  19. ^ http://apple.com/itunes/store/tvshows.html itunes
  20. ^ "Fillion back to OLTL", Soap Opera Digest, Vol. 32, No. 31, July 31, 2007, page 5.
  21. ^ One Life to Live recap (8/16/07) - ABC.com
  22. ^ One Life to Live recap (8/17/07) - ABC.com
  23. ^ Robinson, Andy (2008-11-17). "Halo 3 Recon goes open-world". Computer and Video Games. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=201842. Retrieved on 2008-12-05. 
  24. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30501433/vp/31714988#31714988 Halo 3: ODST Interview
  25. ^ http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-halo-3-odst/51016 ODST game trailer clip
  26. ^ New York 2008 Tribeca Film Festival Trucker Schedule
  27. ^ http://www.truckermovie.net/theatrical-release-date-announced/121/ Trucker theater release 9/18/2009
  28. ^ Whedon, Joss (March 16, 2008). ""March 15 2008 (The bag is catless)"". Whedonesque. http://whedonesque.com/comments/15781#216963. Retrieved on 2008-05-13. 
  29. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1212971/IMDB Repo Brothers (2008)
  30. ^ http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=nathan_fillion_the_fannish_inquisition SFX article
  31. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219024/ IMDB Castle (2008) (TV)
  32. ^ http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/primetime-pilot-panic-the-hot-shows/ Primetime Pilot Panic: Updated Hot List
  33. ^ Rosen, Christopher (2009-03-03). A Quirky Cop Dramedy, an Office Spinoff and A Deadwooder Back to Life (HTML). The New York Observer. The New York Observer, LLC. Retrieved on 2009-03-07
  34. ^ http://castletv.net/pre-order-heat-wave-novel Richard Castle novel 'Heat Wave'.
  35. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20230875,00.html EW.com The Must List: What's Hot for the Week of Oct. 5, 2008
  36. ^ http://www.spike.com/video/pg-porn-pg-porn/3041858 Nailing Your Wife
  37. ^ http://www.the-numbers.com/dvd/charts/weekly/2009/20090308.php
  38. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20190207_15,00.html Nathan Fillion one of EW's "50 Actors We'd Watch in Anything"
  39. ^ IGN Advertisement

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