Christopher Thornton (born March 29, 1967) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Kenny "Shammy" Shamberg in '' Magnum P.I.'', and has had numerous other film and television roles from 1990 to the present.

Early life and education

Thornton was born in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana. His father was an amateur opera singer who appeared in local theater. Christopher appeared in several plays while majoring in theater at the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...

, but quit college after two years to relocate to Los Angeles and train at the

Stella Adler Conservatory The Stella Adler Studio of Acting (formerly Stella Adler Conservatory) is a prestigious acting school that was founded by actress and teacher Stella Adler.

Career

Thornton made his first feature film appearance in the 1990 horror sequel ''

Watchers II ''Watchers II'' is the 1990 sequel to the 1988 horror film ''Watchers (film), Watchers''. Starring Marc Singer and Tracy Scoggins, the film is loosely based on the 1987 novel ''Watchers (novel), Watchers'' by Dean Koontz. It was released on Aug ...

'', playing a young man who gets his eyes gouged out by the mutant antagonist. Only two years later, at age 25, Thornton suffered a tragic accident while rock climbing which fractured two vertebrae and left him paralyzed from the waist down. He returned to mostly theater roles for the remainder of the 1990s. In 2000, he was cast to play Hamlet at the Lillian Theater in Los Angeles. Believed to be the first actor to ever play the iconic Shakespeare character in a wheelchair, Thornton's performance won rave reviews. Thornton has gone on to appear in numerous film and television roles. He has recurred in TV series such as '' Any Day Now'', '' Rules of Engagement'' and ''

Vice Principals ''Vice Principals'' is an American dark comedy television series starring Danny McBride, Walton Goggins, Kimberly Hébert Gregory, Dale Dickey, Georgia King, Sheaun McKinney, Busy Philipps and Shea Whigham. The co-creators were Danny McBride ...

'', and had guest roles in ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'', '' Alias'', '' Brothers & Sisters'', ''

My Name Is Earl ''My Name Is Earl'' is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia (producer), Greg Garcia for NBC. It aired for four seasons from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, with a total of List of My Name Is Earl episodes, 96 episodes. It wa ...

'', ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

'' and ''

Will & Grace ''Will & Grace'' is an American television sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a Gay men, gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra ...

''. From 2018 to 2024, he played recurring character Kenny "Shammy" Shamberg, a marine veteran paralyzed during a tour of duty in Iraq, on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

reboot of '' Magnum P.I.'' Thornton was both writer and lead actor for the 2010 film '' Sympathy for Delicious'', playing disc jockey "Delicious" Dean O'Dwyer.

Filmography

Film

Television

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Christopher 1967 births American male film actors American male television actors Living people University of New Orleans alumni 21st-century American male actors