“He’s just a regular person”- When Paul Rudd made his feelings clear about the kind of superhero role he wanted

Paul Rudd is one of the most beloved actors of our generation, with a career spanning over two decades. This 56-year-old actor hails from New Jersey and began his acting career in 1991, at the age of 22. He has several nominations under his belt and was named the Sexiest Man Alive in 2021 by People magazine.

Paul Rudd has appeared in a multitude of television shows throughout his career, including Sisters (1992 - 1995), Clueless (1996), Friends (2002 - 2004), Parks and Recreation (2012, 2015), and more recently, Living with Yourself (2019), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor, and Only Murders in the Building (2022 - 2024), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

His career in films is even more impressive. He made a name for himself through movies such as The Object of My Affection (1998), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), and Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).

Paul Rudd entered his superhero phase in 2015, when he was cast as Scott Lang/ Ant-Man in Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) movie, Ant-Man. He went on to play the character in a total of 5 MCU movies so far, with 3 of them, including Ant-Man, being stand-alone films.

The actor, however, showed an extremely humble and down-to-earth side of himself. In an interview with The Washington Post in February 2023, Paul Rudd opened up about playing a superhero. He said:

"I thought if I were ever going to be cast as a superhero, something like 'Ant-Man' would make sense."

He further elaborated:

"This is not someone who's really born with any kind of superhuman ability. He's just a regular person."

In the interview, Paul Rudd also explained that for him, acting in an MCU movie was similar to acting in any other movie, because at the end of the day, he still had to face a camera and say his lines, irrespective of whether his character saved the day or not.

---

Paul Rudd on how theater helps keep him grounded

Paul Rudd at SNL 50: The Anniversary Special for People Magazine in February 2025 (image via Getty)

Besides his career in films and television, Rudd has also been a part of several stage productions, including The Last Night of Ballyhoo in 1997, Twelfth Night in 1998, and Three Days of Rain in 2006.

He attributes his humility to being on Broadway since being a part of something so grand is humbling at times. He said in the same interview with The Washington Post that being on Broadway reminded him of his Midwestern youth. According to the actor:

"Broadway is bigger than any one show or any one actor. … You feel a part of it, but you don't feel like the king of it."

The actor claimed that his time on the NBC sitcom Friends, as well as in the MCU, were similar to being on stage, where he became a part of a world that was already larger than life.

He fondly remembered his time on the sets of Captain America: Civil War (2016), when Chris Evans, who played Captain America, handed over the iconic shield to a props person, and Paul Rudd went up to him, feeling awestruck, and asked whether he could hold it.

The actor marveled at being with the superheroes of this generation, despite being one himself. He reminisced about the incident, saying:

"I still am, to this day, caught up in the coolness of that."