Here are just a few of the movies which showcase why Paul Rudd is so popular.

Clueless (1995)

The breakthrough role for Rudd is a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma, about popular high-school student Cher (Alicia Silverstone). Cher is clever but more interested in leading her social circle, so doesn’t try hard in school, getting by on her father’s name, wealth, and power to get better grades, whereas her ex-stepbrother Josh (Rudd) is serious, studying law with her father. 

The Cider House Rules (1999)

Homer (Tobey Maguire) is a quiet, intelligent orphan taught medicine by the director of the orphanage (Michael Caine). When they disagree over the issue of abortion, Homer leaves and finds work on a cider farm alongside Wally Worthington (Rudd), where Homer is faced with rethinking his morals.   

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Local news anchor, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) with his all-male news team are living the dream in San Diego, but this is spoilt when the station hires a female co-anchor, Veronica. Ron is at first outraged, before falling for her. Rudd plays reporter and hopeless ladies’ man with the big moustache, Brian Fantana.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Andy (Steve Carell) is a sweet 40-year-old who lives alone playing video games and looking after his action-figure collection. When his friends, including David (Rudd), find out that he’s never had sex, they pressure him to lose his virginity and give him terrible advice, but Andy ends up meeting someone himself.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Peter’s superstar girlfriend Sarah dumps him because she feels like he is wasting his life. Finding her difficult to forget, Peter (Jason Segal) takes a holiday – only to find Sarah and her new rockstar boyfriend (Russell Brand), at the same resort.  While Peter tries to avoid them, he falls in love with the hotel manager and makes friends with locals including surfing instructor Chuck (Rudd). 

I Love You Man (2009)

Peter (Rudd), is engaged to his best friend, fiancée Zooey. When they both realise he doesn’t have any close friends and no one to be his best man, Peter tries to find a friend and meets Sydney (Jason Segel).  The two are opposites but form a genuine bromance.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Ron Burgundy is offered the chance to be on the world’s first 24-hour global cable news network and needs to bring back his old team including Fantana (Rudd). Challenged by a tough female boss, a network owner and a popular anchor, the team must find a way to the top of the ratings.

Ant-Man (2015)

Scientist Dr. Hank Pym developed a technology that could shrink someone to a microscopic ant size. When he’s forced out of his own company by his daughter, Pym recruits thief Scott Lang (Rudd) to help him steal back the technology. Lang steals a suit that can shrink or grow him in size and gets caught up in a conspiracy.

The Fundamentals of Caring (2016)

Ben (Rudd) is a grieving father in the middle of a divorce who decides to go into caring. His patient Trevor is a young adult with a rare form of muscular dystrophy and short life expectancy.  The two go on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip.

Ant-Man & The Wasp (2018)

Scott Lang (Rudd) is nearing the end of his house arrest when he’s given another mission by Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). Despite their history, Scott agrees and teams with Pym’s daughter, Hope, aka The Wasp (Evangeline Lily), as they travel back into the Quantum Realm and fight a new enemy.

Avengers Endgame (2019)

After the devastation of Avengers: Infinity War, the world is changed, and the Avengers are scattered. Tony Stark is adrift in space; the remaining Avengers must bring back their allies for a showdown with evil Thanos. After first being introduced to us by Captain America in the 2016 movie Civil War, we now see Ant-Man / Scott Lang (Rudd), just returned from an extended stay in the Quantum Realm and with no clue as to what has happened in the last five years – yet may still be able to help. 

Ghostbusters Afterlife (2021)

After her mother inherits an old farmhouse, Phoebe and her brother move to a small town in Oklahoma where Phoebe discovers a family connection to the original Ghostbusters. Rudd plays Phoebe’s teacher, keen Ghostbusters fan Mr. Gooberson. A sequel is said to be in the works this year.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Scott (Rudd) and Hope return as Ant-Man and The Wasp and find themselves in the Quantum Realm along with Hope’s parents Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), Hank (Michael Douglas), and Scott’s daughter Cassie, where they meet strange creatures and have an adventure that tests their limits.

Coming Soon:

Seth Rogen’s CG animated movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has a stellar voice cast including John Cena, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Rose Byrne and many more including Rudd voicing the classic character of Mondo.

Paul Rudd is a popular American actor, with a superhero role as Ant-Man in the Marvel Universe, comedies such as Anchorman and cult TV show Friends. This year Rudd will be in another iconic franchise with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem movie, and later the follow-up to Ghostbusters Afterlife. Rudd’s appeal is relatable, he’s sweet and funny, and he could be your best friend – with charm, charisma, boyish good looks which never seem to age, and a fan favourite worldwide.

Background

Paul Stephen Rudd was born on April 6^th, 1969, in New Jersey USA. His parents were English-Jewish, both from London – Michael Rudd, now deceased, was a history tour guide and former vice president of airline TWA and his mother Gloria a sales manager at a TV station. Rudd has a younger sister. Rudd’s parents were second cousins, both descended from Jewish immigrants who moved to England, with the original surname Rudnitsky. Rudd loved reading British Beano and Dandy comics as a youngster which he was sent by his uncle from the UK.

Rudd has said that he used humour to fit in, joking about himself, as he wasn’t very cool at school. When he was 10 the family moved to Kansas where he went to high school before going on to the University of Kansas to study theatre. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and also spent three months studying drama in Oxford, England. To earn money, he worked as a DJ and had a few odd jobs.

Acting career

Rudd’s acting work has been in movies, TV and theatre. In the early days, Rudd started out in an advert for Super Nintendo and had TV work in the drama Sisters and Wild Oats.

In the nineties, Rudd had his first major role in the movie Clueless with Alicia Silverstone which made him a teen idol, and then followed movies such as Halloween: The Cure of Michael Myers, The Object of My Affection and The Cider House Rules. A classically trained actor, he was in theatre, appearing in Broadway plays such as The Twelfth Night.

In 2000 he had a role in the film Gen-Y Cops, and it was in 2002 that he became Phoebe’s love interest and future husband Mike Hannigan in the huge hit TV show Friends. Other TV shows included Reno 911! and Veronica Mars, later on, a recurring role in Parks and Recreations.

In 2004 a special long-term working relationship began for Rudd with director/producer Judd Apatow, bringing Rudd many hit movies such as Anchorman, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, This is 40, and Wanderlust.

Rudd had lead roles in romantic comedies including Admission alongside Tina Fey and They Came Together with Amy Poehler.

It was 2015 that saw Rudd join the big-budget superhero universe, taking on the lead role as Marvel Comics Scott Lang aka Ant-Man. Rudd’s character Lang is a one-time cat burglar thief who tries on a suit that makes him shrink to the size of an ant – but with superhero abilities. Sequels followed with Ant-Man and the Wasp, Marvel films Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame; and most recently in Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania.

Rudd showed his softer side in the Netflix movie The Fundamentals of Caring, as a carer to a boy with muscular dystrophy, and in Ideal Home, as part of a gay couple adapting to the surprise introduction of a child into their lives. The following year in Netflix’s Living with Yourself, playing both a depressed man and a clone who emerges following an experimental therapy treatment.

In 2021 Rudd starred in Apple TV Plus’s limited series The Shrink Next Door alongside old friend Will Ferrell.

2023 sees Rudd take roles in the anticipated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot and the sequel to Ghostbusters Afterlife.

Personal life

Rudd is married to Julie Yaeger, a screenwriter and producer and they live in New York with their two children. Cherishing his private life Rudd is not on social media.

Rudd is a sports fan and supporter of the Kansas City Royals and the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

Rudd cites Paul Newman as a role model, for the way that Newman conducted himself and his charitable work. Rudd’s charity work includes marine life conservation support, the Stuttering Association for the Young (SAY) and the celebrity sports event The Big Slick for Kansas City Children’s Hospital.

Rudd may have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but he is also, along with fellow actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, a co-owner of Samuel’s Sweet Shop, a candy store in New York that they saved from closing when their friend and the previous owner died unexpectedly in 2014. Over time Rudd has worked with actors, many times. To name but a few long-term friends – Jon Hamm, Jennifer Aniston, Seth Rogen, and he recently supported old friend Ryan Reynolds by visiting his Wrexham football team.