Michael Chiklis

Actor

• Born: August 30, 1963
• Birthplace: Lowell, Massachusetts

Contribution: Michael Chiklis is an award-winning actor and producer, best known for his work in The Commish (1991–96), The Shield (2002–8), and Fantastic Four (2005).

Background

Michael Charles Chiklis was born on August 30, 1963, in the blue-collar city of Lowell, Massachusetts, to parents of Greek descent. His father, Charlie Chiklis, ran a beauty salon and his mother, Katherine, worked as an administrative aide at a hospital. Growing up in Andover, Massachusetts, a northern suburb of Boston, Chiklis was very active in sports, participating in baseball, football, and karate, among others.

Chiklis demonstrated an interest in acting at a young age and appeared in small theater productions throughout his childhood. When he was thirteen, he joined the Actors’ Equity Association, a labor union for theater actors. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from the Boston University College of Fine Arts. After graduation, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, to pursue an acting career.

When he was twenty years old, Chiklis was cast as an elderly man in the comedic play You Can’t Take It with You. The role called for Chiklis to appear bald, so the actor used greasepaint on his head. He did not wash it off properly, however, and the substance killed his hair follicles, resulting in a permanent bald spot. Although this was traumatic for him at such a young age, it led to what Chiklis would later embrace as his signature bald look.

Career

In his first film role, Chiklis played the comedic acting legend John Belushi in the 1989 movie Wired. Some actors who were close to Belushi, like James Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, boycotted the film because they believed it portrayed the deceased actor in a negative light. The film was a critical and financial failure, and Chiklis had difficulty finding acting work after its release. He has stated that filmmakers were afraid to cast him because of the film’s poor performance and that the film’s failure was a humbling experience.

Early in his career, Chiklis appeared in small roles on several television series including Miami Vice, Wiseguy, and Seinfeld. His first lead role on television came in 1991 with the comedy-drama series The Commish. Chiklis played Tony Scali, a police commissioner in upstate New York who forgoes brute force and uses his creative problem solving abilities instead. The show ran for five seasons and received mainly positive reviews from critics. During the course of filming, Chiklis lost a considerable amount of weight. Fearing the effect his weight loss would have on ratings, the network allegedly had Chiklis stuff his clothing to appear heavier.

After The Commish, Chiklis starred in the short-lived sitcom Daddio and a television movie about the Three Stooges. When Daddio was cancelled in 2000, Chiklis’s wife Michelle suggested that he reinvent his image. He worked out tenaciously and lost more than forty pounds. The couple decided to create a role for Chiklis, so they began writing a movie about a rogue cop. It was around this time that the script for the pilot episode of The Shield came to Chiklis’s attention—it was just the role he was looking for.

During auditions, Chiklis impressed the show’s creator Shawn Ryan, earning him the lead role of Detective Vic Mackey, an antihero cop known for his ruthless tactics. The show was a critical success but stirred controversy in the media for its violent and sexual content. After the first season of the show in 2002, Chiklis won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series as well as a Golden Globe Award. The Shield lasted seven seasons (2002 to 2008) and garnered high critical praise throughout. Chiklis also acted as producer for much of the series and directed some episodes.

In 2005, Chiklis portrayed the superhero The Thing from the Fantastic Four comic book series. After being cast in the role, Chiklis, a lifelong comic book fan, stated that he had always wanted to play The Thing. He reprised this role in the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007).

Chiklis’s next major role was in the comedy-drama No Ordinary Family, a television show about a family with superpowers. The show was received poorly and lasted only one season. He then starred in another short-lived television series, the period drama Vegas, which ran one season and ended in 2013. Chiklis also appeared in the crime-thriller Parker in 2013.

Chiklis worked steadily in the mid-to-late 2010s, appearing in several films and television series. One of his most notable roles during this period was that of Dell Toledo on the horror anthology series American Horror Story (2014–15), for which he was nominated for a Gold Derby Award and an Online Film and Television Award, both for best supporting actor. He also played Captain Nathaniel Barnes, on Gotham (2015–17), which tells the backstory of Gotham City Detective James Gordon and his rise in the years before the appearance of Batman. In 2019, Chiklis costarred opposite Bruce Willis in the crime thriller 10 Minutes Gone. In the film, Chiklis plays Frank, a criminal who loses ten minutes of his memory during a bank heist gone wrong and must try to remember who betrayed him.

Impact

Chiklis worked consistently after graduating from college, but it was not until he was cast in The Shield in 2002 that he began receiving accolades for his work. The Shield was one of the most critically acclaimed television series of the 2000s and the show became synonymous with Chiklis. He has used his fame to participate and raise awareness for several charities, including Autism Speaks and the Alzheimer’s Association. Chiklis has also participated in celebrity poker tournaments for charity.

Personal Life

Chiklis married actor Michelle Epstein (also known as Michelle Morán) in 1992. The couple has two daughters, Autumn and Odessa. Autumn played Cassidy Mackey, the daughter of Chiklis’s character on The Shield. When not acting he plays in rock bands around Boston. Chiklis plays drums, guitar, and bass.

Principal Works

Film

Wired, 1989

Spirited Away, 2001

Fantastic Four, 2005

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, 2007

High School, 2010

Parker, 2013

Rupture, 2016

1985, 2018

10 Minutes Gone, 2019

Television

Wiseguy, 1989

Seinfeld, 1991

The Commish, 1991–96

The Shield, 2002–8

No Ordinary Family, 2010–11

Vegas, 2012–13

Sons of Anarchy, 2014

American Horror Story, 2014–15

Gotham, 2015–17

Bibliography

Karlin, Susan. “Michael Chiklis: Hollywood Survivor.” Cigar Aficionado. M. Shanken Communications, Nov. 1999. Web. 20 June 2013.

Kaufman, Joanne. “Heavy Opportunities.” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 June 2013.

Koltnow, Barry. “Michael Chiklis: Nice Guy Playing Bad.” Orange County Register. Freedom Communications, 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 20 June 2013.

Smith, Emily. The Michael Chiklis Handbook: Everything You Need to Know about Michael Chiklis. Newstead: Emereo, 2013. Print.

Wilson, Benji. “Interview: Michael Chiklis on The Shield.” The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 12 Feb. 2009. Web. 20 June 2013.