Wyle was educated at The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and graduated with the class of 1989. Wyle participated in a Theatre Arts program at Northwestern University after his junior year of high school and appeared in high school plays, even winning an award for a play he wrote. Although he attended Northwestern University for a program in high school, he did not attend nor graduate from college. He studied with acting teacher Larry Moss while living in a small apartment on Hollywood Boulevard.
Wyle's big break came when he was given the pilot script for ER and was cast as medical student John Carter. He was the youngest member when he joined the cast.[9] Wyle was the only major cast member of ER to have been with the show since its inception (1994) when he left after its eleventh season (2005). His performances on the show earned him Emmy Award nominations in each of its first five seasons. As part of an ensemble he was nominated several times for the Screen Actors Guild Award, he was recognized with three Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television and won the 2001 TV Guide Award for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Wyle left the series at the end of season 11, although he returned in guest appearances for a four-episode arc during season 12. He stated that he left because he wanted to spend more time with his family and friends and to make room for the upcoming generation. However, in 2009, Wyle returned to ER during its fifteenth and final season for five episodes, including the series finale.
According to the Guinness World Records 2005 Special 50th Anniversary Edition, Wyle became the holder of a "Highest paid TV drama actor per episode" record during the 2003–2004 tenth season, earning approximately $400,000 per episode. While on ER, Wyle's estimated salary was $9 million a year.[10] Wyle has also appeared in the most episodes of ER, 254, five more than Laura Innes.[11]
His later roles were a mini-series and featuring in the movie Crooked Hearts (1991) in 1990. In 1993 he appeared in another feature film, There Goes My Baby. After appearing in several local plays in Los Angeles, he was cast in the box-office hit A Few Good Men, in which he played a Marine jeep driver who testified in court. He also appeared in the feature Swing Kids as Emil Lutz, a leader in the Hitler Youth, and in the independent movie The Myth of Fingerprints with Roy Scheider, Blythe Danner, and Julianne Moore. Additionally, he starred as Lancelot opposite Sheryl Lee in the Television movie Guinevere. In 2019, he played Daniel Calder in the eight-part limited series The Red Line.[12]
His other work has included a critically acclaimed turn as Steve Jobs in the Emmy-nominated Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999). Steve Jobs was so impressed with the performance that he invited Wyle to step on stage as him at the opening of his annual speech at the Apple convention.[13] He has also appeared in several feature films, including White Oleander opposite Renée Zellweger, Enough opposite Jennifer Lopez, the independent feature Donnie Darko, as the President's interpreter in the 2000 live-television production of Fail Safe, and in the independent film The Californians.
Wyle starred as the lead in TNT's sci-fi series Falling Skies (2011-2015), Wyle played Tom Mason, a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment, a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston while fighting aliens who have wiped out 90% of humanity.[14] The character was also the father of three boys, one of whom was captured by the aliens. Wyle's performance earned him BuddyTV's #91 position on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".[15]
Stage
Wyle in 2009
Along with his film and television career, Wyle is also Artistic Producer of The Blank Theatre Company located in Hollywood, California. With the company, he has appeared on stage in the 1995 production of The 24th Day with Peter Berg, The Why (as part of the company's Young Playwrights Festival), and Lobster Alice, opposite Nicholas Brendon, where he played the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.
Noah met his first wife, make-up artist Tracy Warbin, on the set of The Myth of Fingerprints. They married in 2000 and have a son, Owen Strausser Speer Wyle (born November 9, 2002), and a daughter, Auden Wyle (born October 15, 2005). Wyle and Warbin separated in 2009 and divorced in 2010.[17]
Wyle married Sara Wells in June 2014 in California.[18] The couple met in 2011 during a production at The Blank Theatre Company. Their daughter Frances Harper Wyle was born on June 22, 2015.[19]
Wyle was the spokesperson for the Cover the Uninsured campaign in 2004, which had as Honorary Co-Chairs former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. The Cover the Uninsured Week is annually held in the United States of America and focuses attention on the nearly 44 million Americans who go without health care coverage. The campaign includes several events among different communities, health and enrollment fairs, press conferences, and business seminars all over the U.S. Additionally, Wyle is a supporter of animal rights and a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund, dedicated to protecting and conserving wildlife for future generations.
In 2012, Wyle supported the disability rights group ADAPT.[22] On April 23, he was arrested during a protest on Capitol Hill to fight against Medicaid cuts for the elderly and people with disabilities.[23][24]
Just after Donald Trump won the 2016 general election, Wyle along with other actors participated in a video released by Unite for America, making a heartfelt appeal to the Republican presidential electors of the Electoral College to swing their votes away from President-elect Donald Trump so the House of Representatives can select what Wyle and others referred to as a qualified candidate for the presidency. This was all to prevent Trump from officially becoming President of the United States. The video was presented on national television and YouTube.
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