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Michael Charles Chiklis (; born August 30, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as
Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
(LAPD) Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama ''
The Shield ''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series created by Shawn Ryan and starring Michael Chiklis that aired on FX from March 12, 2002 to November 25, 2008 for seven seasons. The show is known for its portrayal of corrupt police ...
'' (2002–2008), for which he won the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series is an award presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). Beginning with the 18th Primetime Emmy Awards, leading actors in drama have competed alone. However, ...
in 2002, and as Ben Grimm / The Thing in ''
Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...
'' (2005) and '' Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer'' (2007). Other notable television roles of his include Commissioner Tony Scali on '' The Commish'' (1991–1996), Dell Toledo in '' American Horror Story: Freak Show'' (2014–2015), and Nathaniel Barnes in ''Gotham'' (2015–2017). He has appeared in films such as ''
Eagle Eye ''Eagle Eye'' is a 2008 American action thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso from a screenplay by John Glenn, Travis Adam Wright, Hillary Seitz and Dan McDermott. The film stars Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Michael Ch ...
'' (2008), '' Hubie Halloween'' (2020), and ''
Don't Look Up ''Don't Look Up'' is a 2021 American political satire black comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Adam McKay from a story he co-wrote with David Sirota. It stars an ensemble cast featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, R ...
'' (2021).


Early life

Chiklis was born on August 30, 1963, in
Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, it is one of two traditional county seat, seats of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in ...
. His mother, Katherine (née Vousboukis), is a hospital administrative aide, and his father, Charlie Chiklis, runs a hair and beauty salon. Chiklis has been described as having inherited his acting ability from his mother. His father is a second-generation Greek American (his paternal ancestors came from
Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...
), and his mother is of
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
and Irish descent. Chiklis grew up in
Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was Settler, settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed. ...
and began entertaining his family with celebrity imitations when he was 5 years old. As a child, Chiklis appeared in regional theater productions and became a member of the
Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly called Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American trade union, labor union representing those who work in Theatre, live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions w ...
at age 13. In the ninth grade, he portrayed Hawkeye Pierce in Andover High School's production of ''
M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (an acronym for Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richa ...
''. He graduated from Boston University College of Fine Arts with a
Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...
.


Career

After graduating from college, Chiklis moved to
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York, and was cast in the role of
John Belushi John Adam Belushi ( ; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, singer and musician. He was one of seven ''Saturday Night Live'' cast members of the first season. He was arguably the most popular member of the ''Satur ...
in the controversial biopic ''
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
'' (1989). The film was panned in general and flopped at the box office, though Chiklis's performance as Belushi (one of his idols) was highly praised. He also guest starred in several popular television series such as ''
Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo Tubbs, Ricardo "Rico" Tub ...
'', '' B.L. Stryker'', '' Wiseguy'', ''
L.A. Law ''L.A. Law'' is an American legal drama television series created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher for NBC. It ran for eight seasons and List of L.A. Law episodes, 172 episodes from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. The series cente ...
'', ''
Murphy Brown ''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news presenter, news anch ...
'', and ''
Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...
'', as well as in bit parts in such films as ''
Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...
''. Chiklis' first successful role was in '' The Commish'', a police comedy/drama that ran from 1991 to 1996 on ABC. Chiklis played Anthony "Tony" J. Scali, a
police commissioner A police commissioner is the head of a police department, responsible for overseeing its operations and ensuring the effective enforcement of laws and maintenance of public order. They develop and implement policies, manage budgets, and coordinate ...
in a small city in
upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...
. After ''The Commish'', Chiklis starred in the short-lived
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
sitcom '' Daddio''. In 1997, Chiklis replaced Rob Becker in the Broadway one-man show '' Defending the Caveman'', taking on the role from January 1997 to the show's closing in June 1997. After playing
Curly Howard Jerome Lester Horwitz (October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and actor. He was a member of The Three Stooges comedy team, which also featured his elder brothers Moe and ...
in the TV film ''
The Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...
'' (2000), 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 ''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series created by Shawn Ryan and starring Michael Chiklis that aired on FX from March 12, 2002 to November 25, 2008 for seven seasons. The show is known for its portrayal of corrupt police ...
'' looking nothing like the pudgy, friendly character of ''The Commish''. Chiklis won over creator
Shawn Ryan Shawn Ryan (born October 11, 1966) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He has created and/or produced a number of television series including '' The Shield'' (2002–2008), '' The Unit'' (2006–2009), '' Lie to Me'' (2009– ...
and nabbed the leading role of the show's
anti-hero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero or two words anti hero) or anti-heroine is a character in a narrative (in literature, film, TV, etc.) who may lack some conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism and morality. Al ...
,
LAPD The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...
Detective Vic Mackey. He won the 2002
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series for the role. Chiklis received a
Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...
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 the ''
Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animation, adult stop motion, stop-motion animated sketch comedy television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The twelve-minute ...
'' episode, "Monstourage"; the skit involved Mackey accidentally switching places with Ben Grimm. Since 2000, Chiklis has taken up a number of voice roles, voicing Chihiro's father, Akio, in the English dub of
Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...
's ''
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese Anime film, animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli, and distributed by Toho.direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...
feature '' The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina''. He has also performed in several episodes of ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...
'' and had a voice role in '' Heavy Gear: The Animated Series''. In 2005, he starred in ''
Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...
'' (2005) as Thing and reprised the role in its sequel, '' Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer'' (2007). A fan of the comic book series, he had dreamed of playing the character if ever a Fantastic Four film were produced. Chiklis was often praised for his performance in a film that otherwise earned mixed reviews. In the film ''
Eagle Eye ''Eagle Eye'' is a 2008 American action thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso from a screenplay by John Glenn, Travis Adam Wright, Hillary Seitz and Dan McDermott. The film stars Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Michael Ch ...
'' (2008), Chiklis portrays the
United States Secretary of Defense The United States secretary of defense (acronym: SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States federal executive departments, executive department of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, a ...
. In the wake of the
Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time ...
scandal, Chiklis was 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 A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...
themselves. Chiklis planned to executive produce but not star. Chiklis later starred in the ABC television series '' No Ordinary Family'', which premiered on September 28, 2010, as part of the 2010–11 television season and ended in April 2011. He also co-starred in 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 ...
crime drama '' Vegas''. In March 2014, it was announced that Chiklis had been cast in '' American Horror Story: Freak Show'', season 4 of the FX anthology series. In 2014, Chiklis played a small part towards the end of the FX series ''
Sons of Anarchy ''Sons of Anarchy'' is an American Action film, action crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter for FX (TV channel), FX. Originally aired from September 3, 2008, to December 9, 2014, ''Sons of Anarchy'' follows the lives of a close-k ...
''. He appears first in the episode "Rose Red", as a trucker who first encounters Gemma, who is on her way to her father, at a truck stop. He also plays a truck driver in the series finale. In 2015, he appeared in '' Gotham'' as Captain Nathaniel Barnes. In a nod to Chiklis' time on the Strike Team on ''
The Shield ''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series created by Shawn Ryan and starring Michael Chiklis that aired on FX from March 12, 2002 to November 25, 2008 for seven seasons. The show is known for its portrayal of corrupt police ...
'', his character established a similarly named "Strike Force". In September 2016, Chiklis released his first solo album, ''INFLUENCE''. He 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 Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemisphe ...
, born on October 9, 1993, and Odessa, born on March 26, 1999. Autumn played Vic Mackey's daughter Cassidy on ''The Shield''. A lifelong comic book fan who especially enjoyed the
Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...
prior to his role as Ben Grimm, it was reported in 2010 that Chiklis rarely turns down an autograph request from children. Chiklis is a fan of both the
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
, and the
Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...
, was interviewed for the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
documentary '' The Curse of the Bambino'' about the Red Sox's long struggle to win the
World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...
, and narrated the video introduction of the
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...
in
Super Bowl XXXIX Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League (NF ...
. Chiklis is also an accomplished musician, specializing in drums and vocals, but also playing guitar and bass. He is a member of several performing bands in the Boston area such as The Surgeon General, Best Kept Secret, and Double Talk. He has starred in and produced films through his own production company, Extravaganza. In 2011, Chiklis and his band MCB released their first single "Til I Come Home", a tribute song to the soldiers overseas. The song was used in his TV series '' No Ordinary Family'' in 2011. MCB's prior music includes another single, "Make Me High", written for the independent film ''
High School A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
'' (2010), starring Chiklis,
Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's war drama '' The Pianist'' (2002) becoming the youngest acto ...
,
Colin Hanks Colin Lewes Hanks (born November 24, 1977) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his role as Gus Grimly on the FX crime series '' Fargo'' (2014–2015), which earned him nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy ...
, and Matt Bush; the single was released in spring 2011. Following his stint on ''American Horror Story: Freak Show'', Chiklis told
Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...
that he did not enjoy working on the show: "That was one of the darkest years of my career. It was, I think, it's one thing to do a horror film in the context of like two months or something like that, but to live in that for six months it just became, I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm an empathetic person, and I just sometimes start to take things on. But it was so dark, and it was so nasty."


Philanthropy

Chiklis has participated in celebrity
Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is the most popular variant of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, community cards ...
tournaments to benefit comedian
Brad Garrett Brad H. Gerstenfeld (born April 14, 1960), known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Garrett was initially successful as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s. Taking advantage of that success in the la ...
's charity foundation, Maximum Hope. Chiklis has worked closely with many different charities over the years including The Children's Lifesaving Foundation,
Alzheimer's Association The Alzheimer's Association is a nonprofit voluntary health organization that focuses on Alzheimer's disease care, support and research. History Jerome H. Stone founded the Alzheimer's Association with the help of several family support groups ...
,
Autism Speaks Autism Speaks Inc. is an American non-profit autism awareness organization and the largest autism research organization in the United States. It sponsors autism research and conducts awareness and outreach activities aimed at families, governm ...
and the Revlon Run Walk.


Filmography


Film


Television


Video games


Theater


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiklis, Michael 1963 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American people of Greek descent American people of Irish descent American male stage actors American male television actors American male video game actors American male voice actors Television producers from Massachusetts Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (television) winners Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni Living people Male actors from Lowell, Massachusetts Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners People from Andover, Massachusetts