Michael Shannon Biography

Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor and musician. Shannon first received attention for his performance in 2002's 8 Mile, where he portrayed the boyfriend of Eminem's character's mother, played by Kim Basinger. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Revolutionary Road in 2008. He played Nelson Van Alden in the HBO period drama series Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014). His performance in the 2011 film Take Shelter led to further critical acclaim, gaining him the Saturn Award for Best Actor. He also played Richard Kuklinski in The Iceman (2012), and General Zod in the superhero film Man of Steel (2013), and its follow up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Early life

Shannon was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and is a grandson of entomologist Raymond Corbett Shannon. His mother, Geraldine Hine, is a lawyer, and his father, Donald Sutherlin Shannon, was an accounting professor at DePaul University. He was raised by his divorced parents in both Lexington, Kentucky and Chicago, Illinois. He attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois.

Acting career

Shannon's first film role was as the main character in the music video for the Every Mother's Nightmare song "House of Pain", in which he played a troubled teenager who was running away from his abusive lifestyle. He later became a stage actor in Chicago. He helped found A Red Orchid Theatre, where he still regularly performs. He has since worked with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre, and other acting companies. Shannon originated the role of Peter Evans in Bug in 1996 and also starred in the 2006 film adaptation with Ashley Judd and Harry Connick, Jr., directed by William Friedkin. His roles in Bug and Killer Joe were written by Steppenwolf ensemble member Tracy Letts.

Shannon made his film debut with a small role in Groundhog Day in 1993 as a wedding groom. Later, he had roles in Jesus' Son, Pearl Harbor, 8 Mile and Vanilla Sky. He played the villain in Kangaroo Jack. After a role in Bad Boys II, he had a major role in Grand Theft Parsons as the hippie, Larry Oster-Berg. In 2006, he played the leader of a prison white supremacist group, Lynard, in Let's Go to Prison. Shannon has appeared in several shows in the West End in London, including a production of Woyzeck directed by Sarah Kane. In 2008, Shannon was featured in the off-Broadway production of Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Little Flower of East Orange, presented by LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and also featuring Ellen Burstyn.

Shannon's role in Revolutionary Road, also starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He portrayed Doc Cross Williams in the film adaptation of Jonah Hex. Shannon appeared in the 2011 film Take Shelter and received rave reviews for his performance, as well as a Saturn Award for Best Actor. In the 2010 HBO television show Boardwalk Empire, Shannon plays the role of Federal Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden. In November 2010, he began starring in the one man play, Mistakes Were Made at the Barrow Street Theatre in New York City, with performances having run through February 27, 2012. Shannon had previously performed the show in 2009 at A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago.

Shannon played a corrupt cop in the film Premium Rush (2012), written and directed by David Koepp. In 2012, Shannon appeared on the Broadway in Grace along with actors Paul Rudd and Ed Asner. In 2013, he starred as legendary mob hitman Richard Kuklinski in The Iceman, which was distributed in May 2013. His performance received much acclaim from critics. Also that year, Shannon portrayed General Zod, the main antagonist in Zack Snyder's film Man of Steel. Shannon will portray music icon Elvis Presley alongside Kevin Spacey as 37th President Richard Nixon in the upcoming film Elvis & Nixon.

In 2015, he was seen in the biographical drama film Freeheld, as well as the independent drama film 99 Homes as housing agent Rick Carver, a role that earned him widespread critical acclaim, and nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role.

Music career

In 2002, Shannon formed the indie rock band Corporal, along with Ray Rizzo and Rob Beitzel. Shannon sings and writes lyrics for the band. In 2010, Corporal released their self-titled debut album. Following the album's release two MP3 tracks have been released for download. The first track Glory was released in 2011 and the second song titled Obama was released in June 2012 as the band's way of endorsing the President's run for reelection.

Personal life

Shannon is in a relationship with actress Kate Arrington; they have two daughters, Sylvia and Marion. They live in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

He has a younger brother, Dave, and a younger sister, Rebecca.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Groundhog Day	Fred
1996	Chain Reaction	Flower delivery man
1997	Chicago Cab	Crackhead
1999	Jesus' Son	Dundun
1999	The Ride	Jimmy
2000	The Photographer	Maurice
2000	Tigerland	Randy Charles
2000	Cecil B. DeMented	Petie
2000	Mullitt		Short film
2001	Pearl Harbor	Lt. Gooz Wood
2001	New Port South	Stanton
2001	Vanilla Sky	Aaron
2002	High Crimes	Troy Abbott
2002	8 Mile	Greg Buehl
2003	Kangaroo Jack	Frankie Lombardo
2003	Bad Boys II	Floyd Poteet
2003	Grand Theft Parsons	Larry Oster-Berg
2004	Water	Bobby Matherson
2004	Criminal	Gene
2004	Dead Birds	Clyde
2004	Zamboni Man	Walt	Short film
2004	The Woodsman	Rosen
2006	Bug	Peter Evans
2006	World Trade Center	Dave Karnes
2006	Let's Go to Prison	Lynard
2006	Marvelous	John
2007	Shotgun Stories	Son Hayes
2007	Blackbird	Murl
2007	Lucky You	Ray Zumbro
2007	Before the Devil Knows You're Dead	Dex
2008	Revolutionary Road	John Givings
2009	The Missing Person	John Rosow
2009	Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans	Mundt
2009	My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?	Brad McCullum
2010	The Runaways	Kim Fowley
2010	Herbert White	Herbert	Short film
2010	13	Henry
2010	Jonah Hex	Dr. Cross Williams
2011	Take Shelter	Curtis LaForche
2011	Return	Mike
2011	The Broken Tower	Emile
2011	Machine Gun Preacher	Donnie
2012	Mud	Uncle Galen
2012	Premium Rush	Bobby Monday
2012	The Iceman	Richard Kuklinski
2012	Happy Hour	Just Mike	Short film
2013	Man of Steel	General Zod
2013	The Harvest	Richard
2014	Young Ones	Ernest Holm
2014	They Came Together	Spike	Cameo
2014	She's Funny That Way	Policeman Macy's	Cameo
2014	99 Homes	Rick Carver
2015	Freeheld	Dane Wells
2015	The Night Before	Mr. Green
2016	Complete Unknown	Tom
2016	Frank & Lola	Frank
2016	Midnight Special	Roy
2016	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	General Zod	CameoTemplate:Note label
2016	Elvis & Nixon	Elvis Presley
2016	Salt and Fire		Post-production
2016	Nocturnal Animals		Post-production
2016	Loving	Grey Villet	Post-production
2016	The Price		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Overexposed	Young man	Television film
1992	Angel Street	Patrick Mulligan	Television film
1998-1999	Early Edition	Merle / Mr. Andrews	2 episodes
1999	Turks	Man	Episode: "Pilot"
2005	Law and Order: Special Victims Unit	Avery Shaw	Episode: "Quarry"
2009	Delocated	Mark	Episode: "Sick of It"
2010-2014	Boardwalk Empire	Nelson Van Alden	35 episodes

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Loving Little Egypt	Humberhill	Griffin Theatre Company
1992	Fun/Nobody	Denny	Next Lab (Next Theatre Company)
1993	Killer Joe	Chris Smith	Next Lab (Next Theatre Company)
1994	Killer Joe	Chris Smith	Edinburgh Festival Fringe
1996	Bug	Peter Evans	Gate Theatre
1998	Killer Joe	Chris Smith	Soho Playhouse
1999	The Killer	Berenger	A Red Orchid Theatre
1999	The Idiot	Rogozhin	Lookingglass Theatre
2001	Bug	Peter Evans	A Red Orchid Theatre
2002	Finer Noble Gases	Lynch	Actors Theatre of Louisville
2004-2005	Bug	Peter Evans	Barrow Street Theatre
2005	Gagarin Way	Eddie	A Red Orchid Theatre
2006	The Pillowman	Michal	Steppenwolf Theatre Company
2006	Hunger and Thirst	Director	A Red Orchid Theatre
2006	Grace	Sam	Northlight Theatre
2007	Lady	Kenny	Northlight Theatre
2008	The Little Flower of East Orange	Danny	The Public Theater
2008	The Metal Children	Tobin Falmouth	Vineyard Theatre
2008	Lady	Kenny	Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
2010	Our Town	Stage Manager	Barrow Street Theatre
2010-2011	Mistakes Were Made	Felix Artifex	Barrow Street Theatre
2012	Uncle Vanya	Astrov	Soho Repertory Theatre
2012-2013	Grace	Sam	Cort Theatre
2013	Simpatico	Carter	A Red Orchid Theatre
2014	The Killer	Berenger	Theatre for a New Audience
2015	Pilgrim's Progress	Jim	A Red Orchid Theatre
2016	Long Day's Journey into Night	James Tyrone Jr.	American Airlines Theater

Awards and nominations

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
1992	Fun/Nobody	Joseph Jefferson Award	Actor in a Principal Role
2002	Bug	Joseph Jefferson Award	Actor in a Supporting Role
2004		Lucille Lortel Award	Outstanding Lead Actor
2006	The Pillowman	Joseph Jefferson Award	Actor in a Supporting Role
2007	Before the Devil Knows You're Dead	Gotham Award	Best Ensemble Cast
2008	Revolutionary Road	Satellite Award	Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
		Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor
		St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actor
2009		Palm Springs International Film Festival	Best Ensemble Cast
		Online Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actor
		Santa Barbara International Film Festival	Virtuoso Award
		Academy Award	Best Supporting Actor
2010	Mistakes Were Made	Lucille Lortel Award	Outstanding Lead Actor
		Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Solo Performance
		Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance
		Joseph Jefferson Award	Actor in a Principal Role
		Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Actor in a Play
2011	Boardwalk Empire	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
	Take Shelter	Gotham Award	Best Ensemble Cast
		Austin Film Critics Association	Best Actor
		Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Actor
		New York Film Critics Online	Best Actor
		San Diego Film Critics Society	Best Actor
		Toronto Film Critics Association	Best Actor
		Los Angeles Film Critics Association	Best Actor
		Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association	Best Actor
		Detroit Film Critics Society	Best Actor
		Houston Film Critics Society	Best Actor
		Online Film Critics Society	Best Actor
		Satellite Award	Best Actor - Motion Picture
		Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	Best Actor
2012		Vancouver Film Critics Circle	Best Actor
		Independent Spirit Award	Best Male Lead
		Saturn Award	Best Actor
	Boardwalk Empire	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2013
2014
2015	99 Homes
		Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award	Best Supporting Actor
		Gotham Award	Best Actor
		San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award	Best Supporting Actor
		Toronto Film Critics Association Award	Best Supporting Actor
2016		Chicago Film Critics Association Award	Best Supporting Actor
		Golden Globe Award	Best Supporting Actor
		Critics' Choice Award	Best Supporting Actor
		Houston Film Critics Society Award	Best Supporting Actor
		Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
		Independent Spirit Award	Best Supporting Male