At the age of thirty nine Owen Wilson has become one of the most recognisible faces in cinema, most famous for his comedic roles starring in Wedding Crashers and Night at the Museum.Wilson had some success in the mid nineties when he co-wrote an starred in Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket with brother Luke and James Caan.While the film was a commercial failure it caught the attention of the critics launching Wes Anderson's career.Over the next couple of years Wilson appeared in a string of films including The Cable Guy, Anaconda and Armageddon.But his big break came in 2000 when, alongside Hong Kong martial arts star Jackie Chan, he starred in Shanghai Noon.When the lovely Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Liu) is kidnapped from China, the Emperor dispatches three of his most fierce and noble Imperial Guards to deliver the ransom in gold to her kidnappers in America's Wild West.

Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) isn't among the chosen. However, he manages to tag along anyway by offering to carry the luggage for his uncle, the Interpreter.

Heading through the Nevada desert by train, the Imperial entourage is hijacked by a motley crew of would-be train robbers calling themselves the Roy O'Bannon gang.

Its eponymous leader spends more time self-promoting than pulling the heist. Some quick martial arts moves by Chon mean the thieves lose the loot, but they also leave Chon alone in the desert.

In the meantime, because of the bungled train robbery, Roy (Owen Wilson) has been abandoned by his former partners in crime and buried up to his neck in the desert sand. He's to be a feast for a flock of ravenous vultures, a gathering of which is already sampling the banquet.

Trekking through the wilderness, Chon serendipitously comes across the helpless Roy who begs to be extricated from his dire situation.

Chon obliges by providing a set of chopsticks and suggests Roy dig himself out - no hands! Chong continues his journey and takes on a party of Crow warriors to save a small Native American boy and finds himself a hero with the boy's Sioux tribe.

Fringe benefits include a peace pipe smoke-up, a horse with some bizarre habits and a beautiful wife named Falling Leaves.

When Chon sets off again to rescue the princess, all but the peace pipe come with him.

The film was a commercial and critical success grossing almost $100 million at the global box office - Wilson's star began to rise.

He followed this up with performances in Meet the Parents and Zoolander, with Ben Stiller, and Behind Enemy Lines.

Wilson also further demonstrated his writing talent teaming up with Wes Anderson for the second time to write The Royal Tenenbaums.

In their youth, the Tenenbaums--an eccentric New York family--were extraordinary. They were all geniuses. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) was a successful litigator.

His wife Etheline (Angelica Huston) raised their children to be ambitious, entrepreneurial, and creative--then published an acclaimed book about her child-rearing techniques.

Adopted daughter Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a gifted playwright. Son Chas (Ben Stiller) was a masterful businessman with a taste for real estate. And the other son, Richie (Luke Wilson), was a natural tennis champ.

However, when Royal packed up his life and left his wife and his family in a cloud of betrayal, everything fell apart.

Twenty years later, the Tenenbaums are a dejected and alienated bunch, each having found that their early successes did not carry over into adulthood.

When washed-up Royal learns that his distant wife Etheline, who has become an archaeologist, may remarry, he feigns illness as an excuse to reunite with his estranged family.

Gene Hackman won a Golden Globe for his performance as Royal tenenbaum in the black comedy and Wilson and Anderson received an Acadamy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.

The Texan returned to the buddy comedy working with Eddie Murphy in I Spy and reuniting with Jackie Chan for Shanghai Knights.

A sixth partnership with Ben Stiller followed when the pair starred in a spoof remake of 1970s hit television show Starsky and Hutch.

Wedding Crashers was the hit comedy of 2005 as together Wilson and Vince Vaughn grossed over $200 million in the U.S alone - not bad on a $40 million budget.

And yet more success followed with Night at the Museum and Cars both topping th box office.

His next project see him work with director Judd Apatow, who brought up Knocked Up, on Drillbit Taylor.

He is cirrently filming Marley & Me with Jennifer Aniston.

Drillbit Taylor is released 28th March

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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