“We're all living in a concrete world, but the challenge is making a flower grow out of concrete; the challenge is finding the beauty of human beings and what's true about human beings,” Academy Award nominee John C. Reilly said while visiting his former training grounds at The Theatre School.

On Oct. 13, The Theatre School’s Chicago Live was hosted by Dean Martine Kei Green-Rogers and featured guest John C. Reilly (BFA Acting).

While in Chicago, Reilly hosted a John Prine tribute concert, was a guest with Los Angeles bluegrass/punk-rock band “Water Tower” at the Old Town School of Folk Music and led the International Competition Jury at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival.

Reilly was born in Chicago to a working-class family on the South Side and studied acting at The Theatre School. Before beginning his career on Chicago stages, including Steppenwolf, he participated in plays as early as age 8 and continued throughout high school. He originally went to DePaul to study business, as his father had asked him to, but began attending theatre classes during his first year and never stopped.

“The dream [was] to go and learn and sing and dance and move,” he expressed.

While at DePaul, Reilly was not always on top of his work or on time to class, but he eventually realized the value of his time and his professors and mentors.

“You have to take this seriously. All these teachers are here dedicating their lives, not just this year or the next 4 years,” he said. “Do you really want to be a professional actor? You better take art seriously.”

While studying acting and meeting new people, Reilly worked as an intern at Steppenwolf, teaching Shakespeare to high schoolers. He then earned his first professional theatre job at the acclaimed theatre in The Grapes of Wrath.

Reilly revealed that without his four years at The Theatre School, he might not have had the same opportunities to immerse himself in Chicago theatre.

“I learned that you can be an actor in Chicago,” he explained. “You can be in a play. You can do the thing that you said you want to do. Chicago has this ease to it.”

As he made strides at Steppenwolf, Reilly realized he had skills difficult to overlook in an audition room.

“Being able to make people laugh or make them cry or sing to them, these are all things that [are] skills in your toolbox so don't ignore [them],” he said.

Reilly also touched on the gap between his experience entering the industry compared to young actors trying to make it today, addressing social media and its place in society. He said he struggles to understand how quickly it is changing and has chosen not to engage with it himself. However, he recognized how this generation of students could benefit from it.

“I can tell you it's an illusion, social media. It separates you from other people. It makes other people jealous of you, but it's still a very good tool,” he said. “But you can't fall in love with the tool. It's like a carpenter just staring at his hammer all day long. Yeah, the hammer's good for putting nails in. Yeah, recognize what it's good for, but don't fall in love with the hammer and stare at the hammer all day, right?”

When a student asked about how Reilly manages fame, the modern world and remains down to earth, Reilly talked about his connection to humanity.

“You defend it, you know, you treat people with kindness and that is how you keep your humanity,” he said. “You don't have to be famous to do that, you know, you can recognize the humanity of the people around you and treat people with kindness and see people.”

For fourth-year BFA Acting student Brindley Vail, who grew up watching Step Brothers and Talladega Nights, the conversations brought gratitude and newfound realizations about her love of the craft.

“We get to do this thing, we get to tell stories and make art,” she said. “And how accessible it is in Chicago because it's focused on the right things. [Reilly] made the comparisons between New York and LA. But Chicago Theatre is so special because it's everywhere [and] everybody has something they want to say and do it together, they want to be in an ensemble and make a story come alive.”

As Vail continues her journey through senior year, she remembers the importance of embracing the opportunities available to students.

“When all we do is eat, breathe, and sleep theatre, it’s very easy to forget that we are in an institution that is fueling our dreams, and how many resources we have and how many connections we are making,” she said.

John C. Reilly will return as Mister Romantic at Steppenwolf Theatre Dec. 10–13. The Theatre School thanks him for sharing his time and wisdom with our community.