Michael Chiklis

"A brick layer, lays bricks... I'm an Actor, that's what I do."
-Michael Chiklis
Michael Charles Chiklis (born August 30, 1963) is an American actor and television producer. He is perhaps best known for his role as LAPD Detective Vic Mackey on the FXpolice drama The Shield, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He is also known for playing Commissioner Tony Scali on the ABCpolice drama The Commish, The Thing in the Fantastic Four film series, and Jim Powell on the ABC science-fiction comedy-drama No Ordinary Family. Additionally, he co-starred as Vincent Savino in the CBS crime drama Vegas. In 2014 Chiklis joined the cast of American Horror Story for its fourth season, American Horror Story: Freak Show. The following year he was cast as Nathaniel Barnes, in the second season of Gotham, as a series regular. He is also the father to George Chiklis. He is also the prophet to Nick Crompton
== Contents ==
 [hide] 
* 1Early life
* 2Career
* 3Personal life
** 3.1Philanthropy
* 4Filmography
** 4.1Film
** 4.2Television
** 4.3Video games
* 5Awards and nominations
* 6References
* 7External links
== Early life ==
Chiklis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. His mother, Katherine (née Vousboukis), is a hospital administrative aide, and his father, Charlie Chiklis, runs a hair/beauty salon.[1][2]Chiklis has been described as inheriting his acting ability from his mother.[3] His father is a second-generation Greek American (his parental ancestors came from Lesbos)[4] and his mother is of Greek and Irish descent.[5] Chiklis grew up in Andover, Massachusetts[6] and began entertaining his family with celebrity imitations when he was five years old. As a child, Chiklis appeared in regional theater productions and became a member of the Actors' Equity Association at age thirteen. In the ninth grade, he portrayed Hawkeye Pierce in Andover High School's production of M*A*S*H.[6] He later attended Boston University College of Fine Arts,[7] where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts.[8]
== Career ==
After graduation, Chiklis moved to Brooklyn, New York City and was cast in the role of John Belushi in the controversial biopic Wired in 1989.[9] The film was panned in general and flopped at the box office.[10] He also guest starred in several popular television series such as Miami Vice, B.L. Stryker, Wiseguy, L.A. Law, Murphy Brown, and Seinfeld alongside bit parts in films like Nixon.
Chiklis's first successful role was in The Commish, a police comedy/drama that ran from 1991–1996 on ABC. Chiklis played Anthony "Tony" J. Scali, a police commissioner in a small city in upstate New York. After The Commish, Chiklis starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom Daddio.
After playing Curly Howard in the 2000 TV movie The Three Stooges, Chiklis decided to reinvent his image. With his wife's help, he spent six months on an extensive workout regimen and shaved his head. He turned up to audition for The Shield looking nothing like the pudgy, friendly character of The Commish. Winning over creator Shawn Ryan, Chiklis nabbed the leading role of the show's anti-hero, LAPD Detective Vic Mackey. He won the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series for the role. Chiklis received a Golden Globe Award that same year for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series-Drama as well. Between 2004 and 2005, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Series but did not win. Chiklis later parodied his role as Vic Mackey in "Monstourage," an episode of Robot Chicken. The skit involved Mackey accidentally switching places with Ben Grimm.
Chiklis in 2007 promoting Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Since 2000, Chiklis has taken up a number of voice roles, voicing Chihiro's father, Akio, in the Englishdub of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away and Roman/King Webster in the direct-to-video feature The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. He has also performed in several episodes of Family Guy and had a voice role in Heavy Gear: The Animated Series.
In 2005, he starred in Fantastic Four as Thing and reprised the role in its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Being a fan of the comic book series, he had dreamed of playing the character if ever there was a Fantastic Four movie being produced. Chiklis was often praised for his performance in a film that otherwise earned mixed reviews. His wife visited him on set during the filming but was not aware that he would be in his full bodysuit and makeup as The Thing; she was totally unprepared for seeing him like that and found it very distressing, having to be guided from the set in order to collect herself.[citation needed]
Chiklis had a role in the 2008 film Eagle Eye as the United States Secretary of Defense.
In the wake of Bernard Madoff scandal, Chiklis is developing a series at FX about a similar investment scheme. The project, called House of Cards, concerns a group committing an elaborate scam similar to the Madoff fraud. Chiklis had been developing the project since February 2008 after he and his wife became victims of a Ponzi scheme themselves. Cardswill likely center on the leader of the scheme, with Chiklis planning to executive produce but not star.[11]
Chiklis later starred in the ABC television series No Ordinary Family, which premiered on September 28, 2010,[12] as part of the 2010–11 television season[13] and ended in April, 2011.[14] He also co-starred in the CBS Crime drama Vegas.
In March 2014, it was announced that Chiklis had been cast in American Horror Story: Freak Show, the fourth season of the FX anthology series.[15]
In 2014 Chiklis also played a small part towards the end of the FX series Sons of Anarchy, where he appears first on the episode 'Rose Red', he played a trucker who first encounters Gemma on her way to her father at a truck stop. Then in the series finale, his character races head-first (unintentionally), in his truck, into Jax Teller.
In 2015 he appeared in Gotham as Captain Nathaniel Barnes.[16] In a nod to Chiklis' time on the Strike Team on The Shield, his character established a similarly named "Strike Force". Michael Chiklis will be releasing his first solo album “INFLUENCE" in September 2016. Chiklis wrote and produced the album at his own Extravaganza Music Studio.
== Personal life ==
Chiklis married Michelle Moran on June 21, 1992, and they have two daughters: Autumn, born on October 9, 1993, and Odessa, born in 1999.[17] Autumn played Vic Mackey's daughter Cassidy on The Shield.[18]
A lifelong comic book fan, he rarely turns down an autograph request from children.[19] In fact, according to the DVD commentary for the Fantastic Four film, his voice has been going hoarse from doing The Thing's voice so many times; in Chiklis' own words:
Chiklis is a fan of both the Boston Red Sox[20] and the Boston Bruins,[21] was interviewed for the HBO documentary The Curse of the Bambino about the Red Sox's long struggle to win the World Series,[22] and narrated the video introduction of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX.[23]
Chiklis is also an accomplished musician, specializing in drums and vocals but also playing guitar and bass.[3] He is a member of several performing bands in the Boston area such as The Surgeon General, Best Kept Secret and Double Talk.[3] He has starred and produced films through his own production company called Extravaganza.[3][24]
In 2011, Michael Chiklis and his band MCB released their first single "Til I Come Home", a tribute song to the soldiers overseas.[25] The song has been critically acclaimed worldwide and was used in the TV series Modern Family in 2011.[26] MCB's prior music was another single, Make Me High written for the independent film High School, starring Chiklis, Adrien Brody, Colin Hanks and Matt Bush, single released spring 2011.[27]
=== Philanthropy ===
Chiklis has participated in celebrity Texas Hold 'Em tournaments to benefit comedian Brad Garrett's charity foundation, Maximum Hope.[28] Michael has worked closely with many different charities over the years including The Children's Lifesaving Foundation,[29]Alzheimer's Association,[30] Autism Speaks[31] and the Revlon Run Walk.[32]
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes 	1989	Wired	John Belushi	
1990	The Rain Killer 	Reese 	 	 	 	 	
1995	Nixon 	TV Director 	 	 	 	 	
1998	Body and Soul 	Tiny O'Toole 	 	 	 	 	
1998	Taxman 	Andre Rubakov 	 	 	 	 	
1998	Soldier 	Jimmy Pig 	 	 	 	 	
1999	Carlo's Wake 	Marco 	 	 	 	 	
1999	St. Michael's Crossing 	Benjamin Arensen 	 	 	 	 	
1999	Last Request 	Victim 	Short film 	 	 	 	
1999	Do Not Disturb 	Hartman 	 	 	 	 	
2001	Spirited Away 	Chihiro's father 	Voice; English Dub	 	 	 	
2002	The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina	King Webster 	Voice 	 	 	 	
2005	Fantastic Four 	Ben Grimm / The Thing 	 	 	 	 	
2007	Rise: Blood Hunter 	Clyde Rawlins 	 	 	 	 	
2007	Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 	Ben Grimm / The Thing 	 	 	 	 	
2008	Eagle Eye 	Secretary of Defense George Callister	 	 	 	 	
2008	The Legend of Secret Pass 	Calabar 	Voice 	 	 	 	
2010	High School 	Dr. Leslie Gordon 	 	 	 	 	
2013	Parker 	Melander 	 	 	 	 	
2013	Pawn 	Derrick 	 	 	 	 	
2014	When the Game Stands Tall 	Terry Eidson 	 	 	 	 	
2016	The Do-Over 	Carmine 	 	 	 	 	
2016	Rupture 	Bald Man 	 	 	 	 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes 	1989	Miami Vice	Jeffrey Whitehead	Episode: "The Lost Madonna"
1989 	B.L. Stryker 	Unknown 	Episode: "Blues for Buder" 	 	 	 	
1989 	Wiseguy 	Carlo Spoletta 	5 episodes 	 	 	 	
1990 	Murphy Brown 	Tony Rocket 	Episode: "Brown and Blue" 	 	 	 	
1990–91	L.A. Law 	Jimmy Hoffs 	2 episodes 	 	 	 	
1991 	Seinfeld 	Steve 	Episode: "The Stranded" 	 	 	 	
1991–96	The Commish 	Tony Scali 	92 episodes 	 	 	 	
1998 	Touched by an Angel 	Matt Colletti 	Episode: "Breaking Bread" 	 	 	 	
2000 	Godzilla: The Series 	Colonel Charles Tarrington (voice) 	Episode: "Where is thy Sting?" 	 	 	 	
2000 	Daddio 	Chris Woods 	9 episodes 	 	 	 	
2000 	The Three Stooges 	Curly 	Television movie 	 	 	 	
2000–01	Family Guy 	Various (voice) 	5 episodes 	 	 	 	
2001 	Heavy Gear: The Animated Series 	Lt. Jan Agusta (voice) 	40 episodes 	 	 	 	
2002–08	The Shield 	Vic Mackey 	88 episodes 	 	 	 	
2006 	Stuart Little: The Animated Series	Tiger (voice) 	Episode: "No Job is Too Little"	 	 	 	
2008 	Robot Chicken 	Various (voice) 	Episode: "Monstourage" 	 	 	 	
2010–11	No Ordinary Family 	Jim Powell 	20 episodes 	 	 	 	
2012–13	Vegas 	Vincent Savino 	21 episodes 	 	 	 	
2014–15	American Horror Story: Freak Show 	Dell Toledo 	9 episodes 	 	 	 	
2014 	Sons of Anarchy 	Milo 	2 episodes 	 	 	 	
2015–17	Gotham 	Captain Nathaniel Barnes / The Executioner	25 episodes 	 	 	 	
2015 	Axe Cop 	N/A 	Episode: "Heads Will Roll" 	 	 	 	
2016 	The Simpsons 	Boston American's Quarterback (voice) 	Episode: "The Town" 	 	 	 	
=== Video games ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes 	2005	Fantastic Four	Ben Grimm / The Thing	Based on the film of the same name
2007	The Shield	Vic Mackey	Based on the TV series of the same name	 	 	 	
== Awards and nominations ==
Year 	Association 	Category 	Nominated work	Result 	2002	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	The Shield	Won
Television Critics Association Awards	Individual Achievement in Drama	Won 	 	 	2002	 	 	The Shield	
2003 	Golden Globe Awards 	Best Actor – Television Series Drama 	Won 	 	 	 	 	The Shield	
2003 	Primetime Emmy Awards 	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	The Shield	
2003 	Satellite Awards 	Best Actor – Television Series Drama 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	The Shield	
2003 	Screen Actors Guild Awards 	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	The Shield	
2004 	Golden Globe Awards 	Best Actor – Television Series Drama 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	The Shield	
2004 	Satellite Awards 	Best Actor – Television Series Drama 	Won 	 	 	 	 	The Shield	
2005 	Golden Globe Awards 	Best Actor – Television Series Drama 	Nominated 	 	 	 	 	The Shield	
2006 	MTV Movie Awards 	Best On-Screen Team (shared with Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffud and Chris Evans)	Fantastic Four	Nominated	 	 	 	 	
== Quotes ==
"Some people have questioned whether or not I can play a nice guy. Sometimes you can’t win for losing."
"The most challenging part of being a dad is self-restraint. So often your instinct is to teach and tell. I am constantly reminding myself to listen to them."
"The best part of being married is, everything we face in life, we face as a team. I don't do a thing - professionally or personally - without discussing it with my wife."
"I've been a musician my whole life. I'm really enjoying making music again."