--- name: "John Paul Reynolds" canonical: "https://film.one/person/john-reynolds-1674830" roles: ["Actor"] born: "5 August 1991" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 80 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-17T11:54:45.253122+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # John Paul Reynolds Actor. Born 5 August 1991 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 5 August 1991, Madison, Wisconsin, USA - **Active:** 2015–present - **Also known as:** John Reynolds - **Average Fi1m score:** 80, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 83 (1), 2020s 76 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Reynolds_(actor), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q43101124, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6324745/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1674830 ## Streaming the US now - **Hulu:** [*Search Party*](https://film.one/tv/search-party-2016.md) (83) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on John Paul Reynolds > John Paul Reynolds is the boyfriend who agrees because agreeing is easier, and he plays that man well enough that being asked to play him again has become the problem. He is at his best when decency is a choice the character keeps having to make. Watch Drew Gardner in *Search Party* (2016) when the group decides to do something stupid. He does not object. He looks at Alia Shawkat's Dory, works out what she wants, and gives it to her, and the small delay before he does is the performance. Drew is the boyfriend who is kind and therefore dull, and Reynolds makes kindness look like a decision, taken freshly each time and at some cost. It is the hardest job in the ensemble, because John Early and Meredith Hagner get the lines and he gets the reaction, and he makes the reaction worth watching. He came up through Chicago improv, at IO and Second City from the age of 18, and it shows in how little he pushes. Guest parts on television from 2015 led to Drew, whom he played across five seasons until 2022, as the passive partner drawn step by step into things a passive partner should have walked away from. Around it he has been Officer Callahan in *Stranger Things* (2016), Caleb Duffy in *Four Weddings and a Funeral* (2019), the lead in a 2020 science fiction comedy, and turned up in *Horse Girl* (2020). Most of these are variations on the same hapless, conflict-avoidant man, and he knows it. What works is the long game. Given five seasons, Reynolds can let a character's morals bend a degree at a time, so that the man at the end is recognisably the man at the start and also someone else. We found, somewhere in the first season, that we were watching Drew's face rather than Dory's whenever the four of them agreed on something, because his was the only one registering what it would cost. The dark joke of *Search Party* is that doing the decent thing never helps, and Reynolds plays the decency straight so the joke can land. What does not work, yet, is the range of the offer. Critics have found little to fault, which is partly because he has rarely been asked for anything the boyfriend could not supply. He has said as much himself: "I was dying to play a villain. It's fun to be bad, and it's fun to be gross." Detective Matt Saracusa in *Yellowjackets* (2023) is the first serious attempt at that, an assertive man where before there were only accommodating ones, and there are writing credits beginning to appear alongside the acting. We have not reviewed the villain, so we will not judge him. Start with *Search Party*, where the early seasons are sharp and the later ones broader, and pay attention to what Reynolds does when the script stops letting him be the reasonable one. That is where the next ten years will be decided. ## Biography John Paul Reynolds (also credited as John Reynolds) is an American actor and writer. He was born on 5 August 1991 in Madison, Wisconsin. Reynolds began his career in Chicago, training at the IO Training Center and the Second City Conservatory and performing at venues including IO Chicago and The Annoyance. His early television roles include a guest appearance as Excited Dude in the 2015 series *Master of None*. He is known for his lead role as Drew Gardner in the series *Search Party* (2016–2022) and recurring roles as Officer Callahan in *Stranger Things* (2016–) and Detective Matt Saracusa in *Yellowjackets* (2023). Other credits include *Four Weddings and a Funeral* (2019), *Horse Girl* (2020) and *The Sex Lives of College Girls* (2021). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Yellowjackets* (2021), Fi1m 76, as Matt — [page](https://film.one/tv/yellowjackets.md) - *Search Party* (2016), Fi1m 83, as Drew Gardner — [page](https://film.one/tv/search-party-2016.md) ## Complete filmography (40) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Purgatory* (2026), as Joe Gravel - *Never Change!* (2026), Sunny Football, Writer - *Seekers of Infinite Love* (2026), Acting - *Oh, Hi!* (2025), as Kenny - *Adults* (2025), series, as Brian - *Melody of Love* (2024), as Cowboy - *Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1* (2024), Acting — Fi1m 55, [page](https://film.one/film/horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1.md) - *Genie* (2023), as Marvin - *Millennial Hunter* (2023), as Kyle / Gary / DJ (voice), DJ / Kyle (voice) - *Up Here* (2023), series, as Derek - *Modern Man* (2023), Greg Trail, Writer - *Above Average Presents* (2022), series, as Johnny - *Killing It* (2022), series, as Nate - *The Sex Lives of College Girls* (2021), series, as Dan O'Connell - *Yellowjackets* (2021), series, as Matt — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/yellowjackets.md) - *Ghosts* (2021), series, as Nico - *Teenage Euthanasia* (2021), series, Acting - *Cinema Toast* (2021), series, as John (voice) - *The Mayo Bubble* (2020), Writer, Producer - *Save Yourselves!* (2020), as Jack - *Cowboys* (2020), as Grover - *Horse Girl* (2020), as Darren - *To the Moon* (2019), Barth Pencil, Writer - *Four Weddings and a Funeral* (2019), series, as Duffy - *Chris Gethard Presents* (2019), series, as Greg Trowel - *Miracle Workers* (2019), series, as Mason - *The Shivering Truth* (2018), series, as (voice) - *Formaldehyde* (2018), as Drew - *Women Are Mean* (2018), as Man #1 (Greg) - *A Maine Movie* (2018), as Robby - *Most Likely to Murder* (2018), as Perkins - *Little Banks on Wall Street* (2016), series, as Business Man - *Search Party* (2016), series, as Drew Gardner — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/search-party-2016.md) - *Red Billabong* (2016), as Sam - *Stranger Things* (2016), series, as Officer Callahan — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/tv/stranger-things.md) - *Master of None* (2015), series, as Excited Dude - *Red Oaks* (2014), series, as Bartender - *Vikingdom* (2013), as Alfred - *Party Time Party Time* (2013), as Lewk - *Sex Criminals*, series, as Jon --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/john-reynolds-1674830