Wilson was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Laura Wilson, a photographer, and Robert Andrew Wilson, an advertising executive and operator of a public television station. His family is Irish American and Roman Catholic. Luke has two older brothers, fellow actors Owen and Andrew.

Wilson attended St. Mark's School of Texas and Occidental College, where he was initially more interested in the school's athletics department than in drama or theater. He excelled at track and field at Occidental, and later at Texas Christian University, once he transferred.

Wilson's film acting career began with the lead role in the film Bottle Rocket in 1994, which was co-written by Wilson's older brother Owen and director Wes Anderson. Bottle Rocket was later made into a feature-length film in 1996. After moving to Hollywood with his two brothers, he was cast opposite Calista Flockhart with romantic designs in Telling Lies in America and made a cameo appearance in the film-within-the-film of Scream 2.

A starring role opposite Reese Witherspoon in the 2001 comedy Legally Blonde elevated him to a major name in Hollywood and was followed up by hits like Old School and The Royal Tenenbaums. Wilson also made a notable role in the television show That '70s Show, as Michael Kelso's charming and athletic brother Casey Kelso. He appeared sporadically on the show from 2002 through 2005. In 2006, Wilson starred in Idiocracy, Mike Judge's first film since 1999's Office Space. Wilson portrayed an especially ordinary serviceman who is chosen for a cryogenics project. He awakes hundreds of years in the future where America is significantly less intelligent. The film was initially dropped by Fox Studios, but re-distributed in 2006. Wilson expressed his sentiments towards Fox's move as "total bullshit".

In early 2007 Luke took on a more serious role opposite Kate Beckinsale in the horror thriller Vacancy. In July 2007, he worked on Henry Poole is Here in La Mirada, California.

Luke Wilson's Photos