Paul Rudd was awarded the Sexiest Man Alive in 2021 by People publication. Rudd, better remembered for his appearances in Marvel’s Ant-Man movie, This Is 40, and Clueless was announced the winner this year on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night. The actor told the publication in an edition out Friday that getting the award may astonish several people.
His Childhood
Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Rudd is the son of Jewish parents of English origin. Michael Rudd, his dad, was a heritage travel leader and retired TWA vice president. Gloria Irene Granville, his mom, worked as a marketing supervisor at KCMO-TV in Kansas City, Missouri. Rudd’s father’s name, Rudnitsky, was altered to Rudd by his grandfather, and his mother’s maiden name was initially Goldstein; his parents were blood relatives. Rudd attended a Bar Mitzvah ceremony in Ontario. He grew up devouring British comics such as The Beano and The Dandy that his uncle in the UK often gifted him.
Rudd’s family relocated to Lenexa, Kansas when he was ten years old. Due to his father’s job, his family also spent three years in Anaheim, California. Rudd was born in Kansas City and went to Broadmoor Junior High before graduating from Shawnee Mission West High School in 1987. He specialized in drama at the University of Kansas. In that city, he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity’s Nu Chapter. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he met Matthew Lillard, another actor. He also spent three months at the British American Drama Academy in Oxford studying Jacobean theatre. While attending theatrical school, he worked as a DJ for Bar Mitzvahs.
His Career
Rudd made his professional debut in the television drama Sisters in 1992 as Kirby Quimby Philby. In 1994, he appeared in six episodes of Wild Oats. Rudd left Sisters in 1995 to co-star in the comedic film Clueless with Alicia Silverstone. He then played Michael Myers in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Romeo + Juliet, The Locusts, Overnight Delivery, The Object of My Affection, and 200 Cigarettes as Tommy Doyle. He worked on the set of The Cider House Rules, which received a SAG nomination in 1999 for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
On December 19, 2013, Rudd was publicly revealed as a cast member in the 2015 Marvel film Ant-Man. He portrayed the title role, Scott Lang/Ant-Man. Rudd reprised his character in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Ant-Man and the Wasp, the 2018 successor to Ant-Man; he also co-wrote the latter. Rudd reprised his role in Avengers: Endgame (2019) with Evangeline Lilly, which won critical praise and went on to become the highest-grossing movie of all time. He is scheduled to resume his character in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in 2023.
Rudd played Andy in the Netflix prequel Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, amid an international cast that included Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler as well as Elizabeth Banks, all of whom repeated their roles from the 2001 film. In 2016, he co-starred with Selena Gomez in the comedy-drama film The Fundamentals of Caring, and he provided voiceover work for the cartoon features The Little Prince and Sausage Party. Rudd was also chosen as the protagonist in The Catcher Was a Spy (2018), portraying Moe Berg, a Boston Red Sox catcher who joined the OSS during WWII. Rudd along with Aisling Bea was featured in Netflix’s comedy series Living with Yourself in August 2018.
Rudd has also featured in Broadway productions, the first of which is The Last Night of Ballyhoo in 1997 as Joe Farkas. The following year, he co-starred in Twelfth Night at the Lincoln Center Theatre alongside Kyra Sedgwick and Max Wright. In 2006, he co-starred alongside Bradley Cooper and Julia Roberts in the Broadway play of Richard Greenberg’s Three Days of Rain at the Bernard Jacobs Theater. Rudd made her Broadway debut in Craig Wright’s Grace at the Cort Theatre in 2012. Along with Rudd, Academy Award contender Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington, and seven-time Emmy Award victor Ed Asner co-starred in the film.
His Personal Life
Rudd wedded Julie Yaeger in 2003, whom he encountered at his publicist’s desk (when working on Clueless), soon after meeting her. They have two children, Jack Sullivan, born in 2006, and Darby, born in 2010. They reside in Rhinebeck, New York. Rudd is a contributor to the Stuttering Association for the Young (SAY), a non-profit organization committed to assisting younger stutterers. On January 22, 2018, he held the organization’s 6th Annual All-Star Bowling Benefit. Rudd told Vanity Fair that after playing a stuttering role in a play, he became a champion for stammer understanding.
Rudd is also the founder of the fundraiser The Big Slick, a celebrity-studded sports-themed gala held in June in Kansas City to assist the activities of Children’s Mercy Hospital. Rudd and another actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan have been co-owners of Samuel’s Sweet Shop in Rhinebeck, New York, since 2014. They rescued the candy business from closure after the former owner, a buddy of theirs, passed unexpectedly. People awarded him the Sexiest Man Alive of the Year in November 2021.
The Sexiest Man Alive
Paul Rudd has played it all from pretty boy to champion in films ranging from “Clueless” and “Friends” to the “Ant-Man” franchise, and now he’s the Sexiest Man Alive. Rudd received the distinction from People Magazine, which was revealed on Tuesday night in an extended comedic spoof on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” To see if Rudd could make anything attractive, Colbert put him through a series of “sexiness” tests, along with a physical exam, a Westminster Dog Show-style judging round, and picture sessions as a construction laborer and a monk.
According to People Magazine, the “Clueless” actor wishes to be invited to “some of those steamy meals with Clooney as well as Pitt and B Jordan.” Rudd will be appearing in Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which will be released in theatres later this month. He also appeared in “Role Models,” which he co-wrote, and as Mike Hannigan on the famous comedy “Friends.”