Greg Kinnear

Greg Kinnear stars as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway from January 2022.

Gregory Buck Kinnear was born June 17, 1963 in Logansport, Indiana. He initially pursued a career as a talk show host — his first venture was the radio show School Daze With Greg Kinnear, which he developed while a student at the American Community Schools in Athens, Greece. He went on to earn a degree in broadcast journalism, graduating from the University of Arizona in 1985.

After graduation, he hosted the game show College Mad House for the show's short run, and from 1991 to 1992 worked on Best of the Worst as creator, co-executive producerm and host. Also in 1991, Kinnear became the first host of the Talk Soup, a comedic show that aired and poked fun at the previous day's talk show segments. The show was nominated for five Emmy Awards between 1991 and 2002, winning once in 1995 and making Kinnear an Emmy Award winner. That year, he left the show to host Later with Greg Kinnear, a late-night talk show on NBC.

Having had TV experience, which included small roles on a few TV series amid his hosting duties, making the career change to film acting wasn't difficult for Kinnear. He made his film debut in Blankman in 1994 and followed it up by playing the role of David Larrabee in Sabrina the next year. It remains one of his best-known roles. Better known still is his 1997 role as Simon Bishop in James L. Brooks' comedy-drama As Good as It Gets, which earned Kinnear an Academy Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. His other film credits include Little Miss Sunshine, You've Got Mail, The Last Song, Heaven Is for Real, Nurse Betty, Loser, Someone Like You, Misbehaviour, and many more. He has appeared in at least one film each year, excepting two, since making his film debut, and has gained a reputation for playing a diverse array of characters, both protagonists and antagonists.

Kinnear has had an equally prolific career on television since his early hosting days. Some of his best-known television roles are as John F. Kennedy in The Kennedys, Joe Biden in Confirmation, Bill Shepherd in House of Cards, and Glen Bateman in The Stand. He has also appeared in episodes of shows including Friends, Modern Family, Drunk History, BoJack Horseman, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, L.A. Law, the 2019 version of The Twilight Zone, and more.

Kinnear makes his stage debut in the role of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, which first opened in 2018 at the Shubert Theatre with Jeff Daniels in the role.