Wyatt Russell

Wyatt Russell (birthname: Wyatt Hawn Russell) is the rare pro hockey player-turned-actor in Hollywood, displaying a flair for indie and high-profile genre material. After a stellar collegiate hockey career, Russell’s pro hockey career was shortened due to injuries.

Although he had performed intermittently as a child actor since 1987, Russell began to pursue acting work more actively in 2010, landing small roles in such movies as High School (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), and This is 40 (2012). Wyatt Russell had a significant supporting role in co-writer/editor/director Jim Mickle’s horror movie, We Are What We Are (2013), with Bill Sage, Julia Garner, Ambyr Childers, and Kelly McGillis, which premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section.

Russell appeared in a supporting role in the Vietnam War-era drama, Love and Honor (2013), with Liam Hemsworth, Austin Stowell, Teresa Palmer, and Aimee Teegarden, and released by IFC Films. Russell earned his first supporting role in a blockbuster release in the smash sequel directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 22 Jump Street (2014), starring Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Peter Stormare, and Ice Cube, produced and released by Columbia/Sony and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to a $331 million global gross.

Russell reunited with filmmaker Mickle and joined the ensemble of Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, Don Johnson, Vinessa Shaw, and Nick Damici for Mickle’s and Damici’s adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s book, Cold in July (2014), which premiered in the Sundance film festival before an IFC Films release. After appearing in writer-director Nicholas McCarthy’s horror movie, At the Devil’s Door (2014), with Catalina Sandino Moreno, Russell joined filmmaker Richard Linklater as part of the ensemble of the semi-autobiographical comedy-drama, Everybody Wants Some! (2016), with Will Brittain, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Blake Jenner, and Glen Powell, and which premiered at the South by Southwest film festival before a weak release by Paramount Pictures.

Wyatt Russell’s first lead role was in director/writer/producer Jeff Grace’s indie comedy, Folk Hero & Funny Guy (2016), co-starring Alex Karpovsky, with David Cross, Melanie Lynskey, Meredith Hagner, and Michael Ian Black, which premiered at the Tribeca film festival. Russell joined the cast of Ingrid Goes West (2017), co-written by David Branson Smith and Matt Spicer and directed by Spicer, and starring Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, Billy Magnussen, Pom Klementieff, and O’Shea Jackson Jr., and which won Sundance’s Waldo Salt best screenplay award before returning over $3 million for distributor Neon.

Russell then was recruited into the ensemble of writer-director Jeffrey Blitz’s indie comedy for Fox Searchlight, Table 19 (2017), alongside Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, June Squibb, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Merchant, Tony Revolori, and Amanda Crew. Wyatt Russell returned to his hockey roots with his casting in the sequel to the Canadian hit comedy, Goon (2011), Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017), co-written and directed by Jay Baruchel (who also appeared in front of his camera), with Seann William Scott, Alison Pill, Marc-André Grondin, Liev Schreiber, Elisha Cuthbert, and Kim Coates.

After co-starring in the Netflix-streaming movie, Shimmer Lake (2017), Russell appeared in a supporting role in Ethan Hawke’s superb biopic, Blaze (2018), about musician Blaze Foley, portrayed by Ben Dickey, based on Sybil Rosen’s memoir, with Alia Shawkat playing Rosen, alongside Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, Kris Kristofferson, and Richard Linklater, and released by IFC Films after a Sundance premiere.

Russell had his first lead role in a studio release (Paramount) in the J.J. Abrams-produced WWII horror movie, Overlord (2018), written by Billy Ray and Mark L. Smith, and with Jovan Adepo, Mathilde Ollivier, John Magaro, and Bokeem Woodbine, resulting in a poor box-office return ($41.7 million). After a small turn in the tepidly received Joe Wright-directed Netflix thriller, The Woman in the Window (2021), Russell next appeared in the starring role in writer-director Bryce McGuire’s Blumhouse-backed horror movie, Night Swim (2024), with Kerry Condon and Gavin Warren, and released by Universal Pictures.

Wyatt Russell expanded his Marvel Cinematic Universe role as John Walker in the Marvel mini-series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)—which was one of several critically acclaimed mini-series in which Russell co-starred, including Ethan Hawke’s The Good Lord Bird (2020), Under the Banner of Heaven (2022), and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023)—to the MCU feature, Thunderbolts (2025), directed by Jake Schreier and co-starring Florence Pugh, Harrison Ford, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Olga Kurylenko, Ayo Edebiri, Sebastian Stan, and Steven Yeun.