Acting

Patrick Reynolds

Since 1975, Patrick Reynolds has acted in TV and films, including the lead role in the feature Eliminators in 1986. He performed parts in films like Nashville and Buffalo Bill and the Indians, both for director Robert Altman; Airplane; Hair for Milos Forman; and Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John. Although Reynolds is a grandson of the tobacco company founder RJ Reynolds, makers of Camel and Winston cigarettes, in 1986 Mr. Reynolds spoke out publicly against Big Tobacco in Congress after his father died from smoking. His testimony was reported by news media around the world, and Patrick campaigned for a smoke-free society in the three decades that followed. In 2015 President Obama presented him with the Lifetime Achievement Award. He's a frequent speaker at universities, middle schools, high schools, and health conferences. "The live talks I give these days, especially to kids, amount to giving a 45-minute actor's monologue," Reynolds points out. "Every word has to sound spontaneous and be emotionally on point, in front of large audiences at schools. So I am fully tuned up and ready to act. I'd be pleased to play character roles and am a chameleon, capable of flawless European and US accents."