Nathan Fillion

Early Life and Career

Nathan Fillion was raised in the Mill Woods area of Edmonton, Alberta, the youngest of two boys. His French Canadian father (by way of Massachusetts) and his mother were both English teachers. After graduating from Holy Trinity Catholic High School, Fillion attended Concordia University College of Alberta and then the University of Alberta, where he majored in art and minored in drama. He was also a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Fillion became heavily involved with improv theatre in Edmonton. He performed with Rapid Fire Theatre and the improvised soap opera Die-Nasty. After landing a small role in the Edmonton-shot TV movie Ordeal in the Arctic (1993), he moved to New York City in 1994 to pursue an acting career. He landed a role on the soap opera One Life to Live and spent three years on the show. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy and a Soap Opera Digest Award in 1996.

Career Highlights

Encouraged by fellow cast member Robert S. Woods to escape the “golden handcuffs” of soap opera work, Fillion left One Life to Live in 1997. That year, he also became a US citizen. He quickly landed the role of the wrong Private Ryan in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) and a main role in the sitcom Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place (1998–2001), starring Ryan Reynolds.

Fillion’s breakthrough role came in Joss Whedon’s sci-fi Western series Firefly (2002–03). He starred as the salty, charismatic and quick-witted Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the acclaimed but short-lived series, as well as in the movie version, Serenity (2005). He also had a memorable arc as villain Caleb in the final season of Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003).

Fillion continued to work steadily, appearing in such movies as Slither (2006) and Waitress (2007) and such TV series as Lost and Desperate Housewives. He also contributed voice work to numerous video games, animated series and movies.

In 2009, Fillion landed the lead role in the lighthearted mystery-comedy series Castle (2009–16). He played a suave mystery novelist who teams up with a reluctant New York City detective to solve crimes. The show was a modest but consistent hit for ABC, averaging around 11 million viewers per episode during its eight-season run. Fillion won four People’s Choice Awards and four TV Guide Awards for his work on the show.

Fillion appeared in such TV series as Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Santa Clarita Diet, Modern Family and Big Mouth (as himself), and such movies as Cars 3 (2017). He returned to ABC to star in the police drama The Rookie (2018–present), about a 40-year-old who joins the Los Angeles Police Department. He also narrated an award-winning 2015 documentary about British Columbia’s Highway of Tears.

In August 2021, Edmonton’s City Hall was temporarily renamed the Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion to promote Fillion’s movie The Suicide Squad after a petition to do so received more than 27,000 signatures.

Awards

• Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award (Firefly), Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (2003)
• Best Actor (Serenity), SFX Awards (2005)
• Feature Film Award, Acting (Waitress), Newport Beach Film Festival (2007)
• Favorite Couple Who Should (Castle, shared with Stana Katic), TV Guide Awards (2011)
• Favorite TV Couple (Castle, shared with Stana Katic), TV Guide Awards (2012, 2013)
• Favorite TV Drama Actor (Castle), People’s Choice Awards (2012)
• Favorite Dramatic TV Actor (Castle), People’s Choice Awards (2013)
• Favorite Actor (Castle), TV Guide Awards (2014)
• Favorite Crime Drama TV Actor (Castle), People’s Choice Awards (2015, 2016)