If Owen Wilson is the new king of buddy comedies, his brother Luke is the reigning champ of the romantic ones. With his dashing good looks and interminably lovable screen presence, Luke has helped power a string of romantic comedies and goofy ‘Frat Pack’ films to huge success.
The youngest of the three Wilson brothers, Luke was born in Dallas, Texas on September 21, 1971. Less of a troublemaker than the free-spirited Owen, he excelled at the St. Mark’s School of Texas before attending Occidental College in Los Angeles. There he was mostly involved in athletics, particularly track and field, but quit sports for acting after greatly enjoying a drama course. Like Owen, Luke got his start in Wes Anderson’s 1994 short film “Bottle Rocket”, which was made into a feature starring the brothers in 1996. Though the film was not a success, Wilson’s plethora of charm earned him the lead role in the low-budget 1997 comedy “Bongwater”. He also appeared in the Dean Cain comedy “Best Men” with Drew Barrymore, his future girlfriend and “Home Fries” co-star. “Home Fries” was a minor hit in 1998, and along with a memorable turn in Anderson’s “Rushmore” helped Wilson establish himself as an in-demand actor. Over the next few years Wilson gave supporting turns in films like “My Dog Skip”, “Charlie’s Angels”, “Legally Blonde”, and the sequels to the latter two crowd-pleasers.
Wilson’s performance as Richie in Anderson’s “The Royal Tenenbaums” catapulted him to fame, and with 2003’s “Old School” he became a bona fide movie star in addition to a working member of the ‘Frat Pack’ along with famous goofsters Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, and others. That same year he starred with Kate Hudson in Rob Reiner’s adorable “Alex & Emma” and has recently appeared in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”, “The Family Stone”, and “Hoot”.
The talented comic actor will soon be seen alongside Uma Thurman in “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”, and later this year in Mike Judge’s promising futuristic comedy “Idiocracy”. Wilson has a busy year ahead of him in front of the camera, with a whopping five films on the slate all projected for release in 2007. In addition to the high-profile “Dallas” remake, Wilson is set to star in “Old School 2”, the thriller “Vacancy” with Sarah Jessica Parker, as a reforming hit-man in “You Kill Me”, and in the ensemble cast of “Barry Munday”.