Early life and education
Rudd was born in Passaic, New Jersey. Both of his parents were born in London to Jewish families, and he was raised in Reform Judaism. His father worked for Trans World Airlines, and the family relocated several times before settling in Overland Park, Kansas, when Rudd was around ten years old; his mother worked as a sales manager for a local television station.2
He served as student body president in high school, graduating in 1987, and went on to study theater at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. After graduating he moved to Los Angeles to pursue classical training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, then attended a workshop of the British American Drama Academy at the University of Oxford, performing in several plays in England.2
Career
Rudd made his on-screen debut in 1992 on the NBC drama series Sisters, in which he appeared through the mid-1990s. His film breakthrough came as Cher's good-natured former stepbrother Josh in Amy Heckerling's Clueless (1995), which made him a teen idol. He followed it with a role in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996) and built a parallel stage career in New York and London during the late 1990s.2
The cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer (2001) began a long association with an ensemble of comic collaborators, and 2004 marked the start of his frequent partnership with writer-producer-director Judd Apatow. Rudd played Brian Fantana in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) alongside Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, and David Koechner, then appeared in Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and Knocked Up (2007). A run of comedies cemented him as a leading man, including Role Models (2008), I Love You, Man (2009), and This Is 40 (2012). He also took dramatic and independent roles such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).
In 2015 Rudd took on the role of Scott Lang / Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, co-writing as well as starring in Ant-Man (2015). He reprised the character in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), and made a cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024).
On television, Rudd is widely remembered as Phoebe Buffay's love interest and eventual husband Mike Hannigan on Friends (2002-2004) and appeared in several episodes of Parks and Recreation (2012-2015). He played dual roles in the Netflix comedy Living with Yourself (2019), which he also executive produced and which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy. He starred in the Apple TV+ limited series The Shrink Next Door (2021) and joined the cast of Only Murders in the Building (2023-2025), work that contributed to two Primetime Emmy nominations in 2024.2
Rudd has also maintained an active stage career, with credits including The Last Night of Ballyhoo (1997), Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center (1998), Long Day's Journey Into Night in London (2000-2001), The Shape of Things, Three Days of Rain (2006), and Grace (2012).
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
In Ghostbusters: Afterlife, directed by Jason Reitman, Rudd plays Gary Grooberson, a summer-school science teacher and seismologist who arrives in Summerville, Oklahoma to investigate the town's unexplained seismic activity. A lifelong Ghostbusters fan, Grooberson becomes romantically involved with Callie Spengler, played by Carrie Coon, and an ally to her children Phoebe and Trevor and the revived Ghostbusters effort.
Rudd has described improvising material during the production. He ad-libbed lines beyond the script during a school interior scene, and he and Coon improvised the developing flirtation between Grooberson and Callie during the farmhouse sequences.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
Rudd returned as Gary Grooberson in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. By this film the character has relocated with the Spengler family to New York City and operates as a fully integrated member of the Ghostbusters, working out of the restored firehouse. Rudd has recounted taking a book prop from the set as a personal souvenir during production.
Personal life
Rudd married former publicist Julie Yaeger in 2003, after the couple had dated for several years following his breakout in Clueless. They have two children, a son and a daughter.2 Both Rudd and Yaeger keep a low public profile. In November 2021 People magazine named Rudd its Sexiest Man Alive.1
Gary Grooberson has become a recognizable part of the modern Ghostbusters lineup, and Rudd's enthusiasm for the franchise on the press circuit endeared him to longtime fans. GBFans.com members who collect autographs and convention memorabilia from the Afterlife and Frozen Empire era will encounter Rudd among the recurring cast; we make no claim of a direct relationship with him.
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
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People, "Paul Rudd Is PEOPLE's 2021 Sexiest Man Alive" (November 9, 2021), via Washington Post, "Paul Rudd named Sexiest Man Alive 2021 by People magazine" (November 10, 2021), https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/11/10/paul-rudd-sexiest-man-alive-people/.
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"Paul Rudd," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Rudd. Born April 6, 1969 in Passaic, New Jersey, to a Jewish family with both parents from London; father Michael Rudd worked for Trans World Airlines; family settled in Johnson County, Kansas; graduated high school in 1987; studied theater at the University of Kansas, then the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the British American Drama Academy at Oxford; recurring role on Sisters from 1992; married Julie Yaeger in 2003, two children.
