Stage and screen actor Patrick Wilson, born in Norfolk, VA on this day in 1973, was that oh-so-familiar friendly face swinging around this season’s Gap ads with Claire Danes. Before that Wilson was largely known as a two-time Tony Award nominee for his lead roles in “The Full Monty†and the Broadway revival of “Oklahoma!†But in 2003 he ventured a turn on-screen as the bisexual Mormon in HBO’s “Angels in America†and took a chance that paid off with nominations at both the Golden Globe and Emmy Awards. The Carnegie Mellon grad then transitioned from small screen to big with roles in Joel Schumacher’s The Phantom of the Opera and 2005’s Hard Candy. The following year Wilson’s recognition grew after playing the adulterous Brad Adamson in Little Children—alongside Oscar nominees Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley. Most recently he re-teamed with his Gap partner, Toni Collette, Meryl Streep and a host of other acclaimed actresses in the June release Evening and can be seen in the Edward Burns feature, Purple Violets.
Quotable: “Does it make any difference that I might be one thing deep within? No matter how wrong or ugly that thing is so long as I have fought with everything I have to kill it?â€â€”Patrick Wilson as Joe Pitt in “Angels in America”.