Chance Kelly is an American film and television actor who portrayed NFL Coach Mike Martz in the film American Underdog (2021). He also played Detective Ed Cutler on the NBC series ''
Aquarius''.
[ ] He is also known for starring as Lt. Col. "Godfather" Ferrando in the 2008
HBO miniseries ''
Generation Kill'', Mitchell Loeb in the
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
television series ''
Fringe'', and Randall Watts in the
Cinemax
Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent ...
television series ''
Banshee
A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is ...
.''
Early life
After playing football at
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and ...
, Kelly transferred to
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
where he earned a BA in English and Writing, with the intention of pursuing a career as a writer. But, after losing a bet and in spite of a profound fear of public speaking, he entered an acting class. He was so terrified that he gave his first monologue (Brick from ''
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'') to a brick wall.
Career
While pursuing his acting career, Chance also entered the amateur boxing circuit in NYC, winning the
super heavyweight
Super heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and competitive bodybuilding.
Boxing
In amateur boxing, the super heavyweight division is a weight class division for fighters weighing in excess of 91 kilograms (200 pounds). Introduced for ...
division of the NYC Metros tournament. The following year, he entered the NYC
Golden Gloves
The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nationa ...
, winning his first fight by knockout, only to have to subsequently drop out of the competition for work on the film ''
The Devil's Own''. A few years later, he also earned an MS from Columbia University. He played Lt. Col. Stephen "Godfather" Ferrando in HBO's ''
Generation Kill''. After reading the
book upon which the adaptation was based, Kelly embarked on a five-month shoot in Africa, from May to December 2007. He also developed a unique, raspy voice for the role. ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' praised the "fierce edge" Kelly's performance brought to the series, opining, "Godfather leads with the competitive fury of a high school football coach. His eyes are cold fire, and Kelly, like a few other members of this cast, deserves notice at
Emmy time next year." On Memorial Day 2009, he was appointed Honorary Marine by the Marine Corps League (Cpl. Philip A. Reynolds Detachment - 203, Freehold, New Jersey) for his work in ''Generation Kill''.
Kelly appeared in the
first season of the science fiction series ''
Fringe'' as Agent
Mitchell Loeb
This article lists the major and recurring fictional characters on the science fiction television series, '' Fringe'', created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci.
In the overarching storyline for the five seasons of the show, sev ...
, beginning with the episode "
In Which We Meet Mr. Jones".
He portrayed
Bart McDade, President and COO of
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...
, in the
HBO film ''
Too Big to Fail
"Too big to fail" (TBTF) and "too big to jail" is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the grea ...
''.
Kelly appears as a mysterious interrogator in the American television series ''
Homeland
A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...
''. He has also played recurring characters on For Life (ABC), ''
Power'' (Starz), ''
Banshee
A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is ...
'' (Cinemax), ''
House of Cards'' (Netflix), ''
Legends'' (TNT), ''
Hostages'' (CBS), ''
Army Wives'', ''
The Whole Truth'', ''
Delocated
''Delocated'' (or known in the title card as ''Delocated New York'') is an American television series that premiered February 12, 2009 on Adult Swim. The original pilot for the show was aired on April 1, 2008. Jon Glaser plays a man in the Witnes ...
'', ''
Rescue Me'', and ''
The Black Donnellys
''The Black Donnellys'' is an American drama television series that debuted on NBC on February 26, 2007, and last aired on May 14, 2007. Thereafter, NBC began releasing new episodes weekly on NBC.com until the series was canceled. ''The Black ...
''. Additionally, he has also guest starred on ''
The Blacklist'' (NBC), ''
Alpha House'' (Amazon), ''
Motive'', ''
Nikita
Nikita may refer to:
* Nikita (given name)
* Nikita, Crimea, a town in Crimea
* Nikita the Tanner, a character in East Slavic folklore
Film and television
*''Little Nikita'', a 1988 film
* ''La Femme Nikita'' (film), also known as ''Nikita'', a 19 ...
'', ''
Burn Notice'' & ''
The Jury'', ''
NYC 22'', ''
Blue Bloods'', ''
Unforgettable'', ''
Body of Proof'', ''
Ray Donovan'', ''
Golden Boy'', and ''
Blindspot''.
He played the disturbing "Orange Suit Man" in M. Night Shyamalan's film ''
Unbreakable''. He has also appeared in the feature films ''
American Sniper'', ''
Little Children'', ''
The Taking of Pelham 123'',
''
Stake Land'', and ''
Broken City''.
Kelly has the singular honor of portraying seven ''different'' characters on seven different ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering o ...
'' episodes between 2002 and 2011: Court Officer #1 (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' episode #115 "Semi Professional" 2002); Det. Finch (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' episode #318 "Ill Bred" 2004); Kyle Marsden (''Law & Order'': episode #1503 "The Brotherhood" 2004); Fireman Charlie Hugo (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' episode #604 "Maltese Cross" 2006); State Trooper Lawley (''Law & Order: SVU'' episode #819 "Florida" 2007); Elvis Howell (''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' episode #910 "Disciple" 2010); and Sergeant Forde (''Law & Order: Los Angeles'' episode #113 "Reseda" 2011). (He was actually cast as an ''eighth'' character in 2014 when he had to leave New York to shoot the series ''
Aquarius'' in Los Angeles.) In 2022 he again played a different Law & Order character, portraying Duke Baker (''Law & Order: SVU'' episode #2312 "Tommy Bakers Hardest Fight" 2022)
Chance portrayed Coach
Mike Martz in the feature film ''
American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story'' Martz was the Offensive Coordinator responsible for "
The Greatest Show on Turf" via which un-drafted free agent quarterback
Kurt Warner
Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend ...
led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory in
Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Ra ...
his first year with the team. Warner is the only un-drafted player to win either the league MVP or the Super Bowl MVP. Warner won both that same year.
Chance's podcast ISLAN
illustrates the incredible first 300 years of colonization in and around Manhattan island. The program covers 1609-1909 "Hudson to Hearst" and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Pandora and Stitcher, among others: https://www.thepodcastisland.com
Personal life
Chance Kelly's maternal grandfather was screenwriter
William Fay (Kid Galahad, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Schlitz Playhouse).
Chance Kelly's great, great, great Uncle was
Honest John Kelly. John Kelly was one of the first Irish-Catholics to be elected in U.S. Congress in 1856. He would go on to become Sheriff of New York, and later take over and re-organize Tammany Hall in the wake of the Boss Tweed era. John Kelly was a fierce defender of the rights of New York immigrants from all parts of the world. He is entombed beneath the Basilica of
Old St. Patrick's Cathedral
The Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, sometimes shortened to St. Patrick's Old Cathedral or simply Old St. Patrick's, is a Catholic Church, Catholic parish church, Basilicas in the Catholic Church, basilica, and the former cathedral of ...
on Mulberry Street in NYC, where he and the venerable
Pierre Toussaint were fellow parishioners.
Chance Kelly holds a BA from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, ...
and an MS from Columbia University.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Chance
1967 births
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
New York University alumni
Columbia University alumni
Male actors from New Rochelle, New York
Living people
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors