Fan favorite Nathan Fillion, sometimes nicknamed Canada’s gift to women, is about to celebrate his 52nd birthday. Monday, March 27, 2023. The tall, dark, and handsome actor turns fifty-two. He’ll be catching up with his friend and co-star, Alan Tudyk, who turned 52 on March 16. Please join us in wishing Nathan Fillion a very happy birthday!

Fillion is best known to SciFi.Radio fans as Captain Mal Reynolds on the TV show Firefly and its cinematic sequel, Serenity (2005). Fans of police shows know him better as Rick Castle on Castle and Officer John Nolan on The Rookie. To soap opera fans, he was Joey Buchanan on One Life to Live.., and Adam Mayfair in Desperate Housewives.

Other Sci-Fi/Horror roles include the Greek god Hermes in Percy Jackson, Sea of Monsters (2013) and Bill Pardy in Slither (2006). In The Suicide Squad Fillion plays T.D. K. He starred as Abe Dale in White Noise 2: The Light (2007), as well as her numerous superhero voice roles and video games.

Nathan Fillion was born March 27, 1971 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was educated at Concordia University College of Alberta and the University of Alberta. Unlike his compatriot William Shatner, who maintains his Canadian citizenship, Fillion has been a citizen of the United States of America since 1997. Both of his parents and his older brother are teachers. Nathan Fillion once considered becoming a teacher before becoming a Hollywood star. He remains a proud literacy advocate and is co-founder of the non-profit organization of Kids Need to Read, which works to get books into underfunded libraries, especially school libraries.

Fillion & Whedon

Fillion first joined the controversial Joss Whedon’s stable of preferred actors when he played the evil Caleb in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 2003. He starred in Whedon’s masterpiece, Firefly, as Malcolm Reynolds, a veteran of the Unification War who tried to find a new life in the back of beyond of the universe. A knight in tarnished armor, Reynolds tried to save the universe whether the universe appreciated it or not. In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing (2012), Whedon cast Fillion as Dogberry, the malapropism-spouting constable originally played by the great Will Kempe. In 2008, Fillion starred in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, as Captain Hammer, the nemesis of Dr. Horrible.

Nathan Fillion has played a charming romantic hero, a tough-fisted action hero, a clown, a loving father, a vain, reckless, neglectful father, and a sociopathic villain. With the right script, he can play any role. If there’s a role he can’t play, either Fillion hasn’t found it yet, or he burned the film to hide the evidence.

Voicework

Alan Tudyk is the voicework expert of the Firefly family, but Nathan Fillion is catching up.

• He voiced the octopus in Tudyk’s show Resident Alien.
• In Destiny-2: The Witch Queen, he voiced Cayde-6.
• In the podcast Bridgewater, he was Professor Jeremy Bradshaw.
• He voiced Garvn Kindler in the vide game Starfinder .
• He has voiced Green Lantern several times:
  • in The Death and Return of Superman (2019) and Reign of the Supermen (2019) and again in Robot Chicken DC Comics Special 3: Magical Friendship (2015), Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, and Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013).
  • He was nominated for awards for playing Green Lantern in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, and Justice League: Doom.
  • In Robot Chicken DC Comics Special II: Villains in Paradise (2014) he voiced both Green Lantern and Black Adam.
• In the video game Halo 5: Guardians he was Edward Buck.
• In Halo 3 he voiced The Sergeant.
• Fillion voiced Preston Northwest in Disney’s Gravity Falls.
• In Guardians of the Galaxy, he voiced one of the inmates in the prison where Starlord was imprisoned when he first met the other guardians.
• In Pixar’s Monsters University (2013) he voiced Johnny, the Big Monster on Campus.

Awards and Nominations

Fillion has so far been nominated for twenty professional awards and won thirteen. It doesn’t take a crystal ball to predict more are in his future. Awards he won are indicated in bold .

• 1996 Soap Opera Digest Award (nominee) Outstanding Younger Leading Actor for One Life to Live
• 2003. Cinescape Genre Face of the Future Award for Firefly.
• 2005 SFX Award (UK) Best Actor for Serenity
• 2005 Golden Schmoes Award (nominee) Breakthrough Performance of the Year for Serenity
• 2006 Online Film Critics Society Awards (nominee) Best Breakthrough Performance for Serenity.
• 2006 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards (nominee) Dude You Don’t Want to Mess With (Best Hero) for Slither
• 2006 Empire Award (UK) (nominee) Best Newcomer for Serenity
• 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival Feature Film Award for Actress (2007)
• 2007 Alliance of Women Journalists EDA Special Mention Award (nominee) Best Seduction for Waitress (shared with Kerri Russell)
• 2008 Fright Meter Awards (nominee) Best Actor for White Noise 2: The Light
• 2008 Screen Actors Guild (nominee) Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for Desperate Housewives (shared with 22 other actors)
• 2009 The Streamy Awards (nominee) Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
• 2009 Satellite Award (nominee) Best Actor in a Series, Drama for Castle.
• 2010 The Streamy Awards (nominee Best Guest Star in a Web Series for PG Porn.
• 2010 NAVGTR Award (nominee) Outstanding Performance in a Drama, Lead for Halo 3: ODST
• 2011 TV Guide Award Favorite Couple Who Should for Castle (shared with Stana Katic)
• 2012 TV Guide Award Favorite TV Couple for Castle (shared with Stana Katic)
• 2012 People’ Choice Award Favorite TV Drama Actor for Castle
• 2012 Behind the Voice Actors Award BTVA Special/DVD Voice Acting Award (nominee) Voice Acting Award Best Male Vocal Performance in a TV Special/Direct-to-DVD Title or Short for Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
• 2013 BTVA Special/DVD Voice Acting Award Best Vocal Ensemble in a TV Special/Direct-to-DVD Title or Short for Justice League: Doom (shared with 14 other actors)
• 2013 People’s Choice Award Davorite Dramatic TV Actor for Castle
• 2013 TV Guide Award Favorite TV Couple for Castle (shared with Stana Katic)
• 2014 BTVA Feature Film Voice Acting Award (nominee) Best Vocal Ensemble in a Feature Film for Monsters University (shared with 14 other actors)
• 2014 People’s Choice Award (nominee) favorite On-Screen Chemistry for Castle (shared with Stana Katic)
• 2015 People’s Choice Award (nominee) Favorite TV Duo for Castle (shared with Stana Katic)
• 2015 Teen Choice Award (Nominee) TV Actor Drama for Castle
• 2016 People’s Choice Award Favorite Crime Drama TV Actor for Castle
• 2018 NAVGTR Awards (Nominee) Outstanding Performance in a Drama, Lead for Destiny-2

Happy Birthday, Nathan Fillion! Thank you for the many great performance you’ve shared with us. We wish you many more great roles in a long and successful career.

-30-