Nathan Fillion
Nathan Fillion (born March 27, 1971[1][2]) is a Canadian and American actor. He played the leading roles of Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds on Firefly and its film continuation Serenity, and Richard Castle on Castle. As of 2018, he stars as John Nolan on The Rookie and was an executive producer on the show as well as its spin-off series, The Rookie: Feds.
Nathan Fillion
Fillion has acted in traditionally distributed films like Slither and Trucker, Internet-distributed films like Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, television soap operas, sitcoms, and theatre. His voice is featured in animation and video games, such as the Bungie games Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, Destiny, and Destiny 2, along with the 343 Industries game Halo 5: Guardians, and the television series M.O.D.O.K. (2021).
Fillion first gained recognition for his work on One Life to Live in the contract role of Joey Buchanan, for which he was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series, as well as for his supporting role as Johnny Donnelly in the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl.
Early life[edit]
Fillion was born on March 27, 1971, in Edmonton, Alberta, the younger of two sons of Robert "Bob" Fillion and June "Cookie" Early,[3] both retired English teachers.[4] Both sides of his father's family were part of the Quebec diaspora in Fall River, Massachusetts,[5] and his mother had a Norwegian maternal grandfather and a Finnish maternal grandmother.[3][6]
Fillion was raised in Edmonton's Mill Woods neighbourhood[7] and completed his secondary and post-secondary education in Edmonton, attending Holy Trinity Catholic High School, Concordia University College of Alberta, and the University of Alberta, where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society.[8] He has been a U.S. citizen since 1997.[9]
Career[edit]
1994–2009[edit]
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 for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series. In 1997, he left the series to pursue other projects (returning for a brief guest appearance in 2007).[10]
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 Frederick "The Minnesota" Ryan in Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan.[11]
In 2002, Fillion starred as Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the Joss Whedon science fiction television series Firefly,[12] 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.[13] Fillion called his time on Firefly the best acting job he ever had,[14] and compares every job he has had to it.[15] Although the show was cancelled, it was adapted to the big screen; he reprised his role as Mal in Whedon's film Serenity (2005).
In 2003, Fillion had a recurring role as Caleb in the final five episodes of Joss Whedon's series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.[16]
Philanthropy[edit]
In 2007, Fillion and author PJ Haarsma co-founded the non-profit organisation Kids Need to Read, to help inspire children's imaginations by getting more books into underfunded libraries.[61]
Fillion's association with Charity: Water garnered over $60,000 worth of donations in 2019.[62]