Despite finding success on both TV and on the big screen, not to mention an Oscar nomination, funnyman Greg Kinnear is still one of Hollywood's most underrated actors.
This week sees him return to the big screen in Flash of Genius, which follows the life of Robert Kearns and his long battle with the U.S automobile industry that he accuses of stealing his invention of the intermittent windshield wiper.
However it seems that an acting career wasn't always on the cards as he graduated from University of Arizona with a degree in broadcast journalism before moving to LA to work as a marketing assistant.
But he switched careers and moved in front of the television cameras as a reporter on Movietime as well as appearing in L.A Law and Life Goes On.
He moved onto game shows and talk shows before movies came knocking and he made his big screen debut back in 1994, as a talk show host, in Blankman.
And it wasn't long before he grabbed the attention of the movie going public, critics and studios when his performance in As Good As It Gets, alongside Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt, earnt him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Golden Globe nomination.
Over the next couple of years he went on to star in Mystery Men, Nurse Betty, Loser and The Gift but he failed to repeat his early success. Only You've Got Mail, in which he played Meg Ryan's significant other, was a hit.
He was next seen on the small screen in HBO's Dinner With Friends, an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play written by Donald Marguiles before joining the ensemble cast for war drama We Were Soldiers.
Despite being a little seen movie Auto Focus brought Kinnear widespread praise as he took on the role of Bob Crane, who found fame on Hogan's Heroes and who's secret sexual escapades were only uncovered when he was discovered in his apartment.
In 2006 Little Miss Sunshine brought the actor, and the rest of the ensemble cast, major success after being discovered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kinnear took on the role of a motivational speaker who goes on a road trip with the rest of his dysfunctional family; his wife, father, brother in law and two children so his daughter can take part in a beauty pageant.
The film won over the critics and the film was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. The cast also picked up a Gotham Award, Phoenix Film Critics Society Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for their performance.
Last year he continued his run of comedy movies with Baby Mama with Tina Fey and Flash of Genius alongside Ricky Gervais.
Later this year he joins Matt Damon in Green Zone, based on the book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
Flash of Genius is released 20th March
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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