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Actor Michael Chiklis
Michael Chiklis (born August 30, 1963 in Lowell, Massachusetts), also known as Chick or Chicky, is an American actor. Chiklis' family hailed from the Greek island of Lesbos and he is fluent in Greek, Italian and Spanish. A natural performer, Chiklis began entertaining his family with celebrity imitations when he was just five years old. As a child, Chiklis appeared in regional theater productions and earned his Actor's Equity card at age 13. He later attended Boston University College of Fine Arts, where he received his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). After graduation, Chicklis moved to New York City with high ambitions, but he struggled for several years before being cast the role of John Belushi in the controversial biopic Wired in 1989. The film was panned in general and flopped at the box office, but Chiklis received good reviews for his performance. He also guest starred in several popular television series such as Miami Vice, L.A. Law, Murphy Brown, and Seinfeld alongside bit parts in films like Nixon.
Michael Chiklis as The Thing in Fantastic Four Stardom The Commish was Chiklis's first acclaimed and successful role. In the family-friendly police comedy/drama, Chiklis played Anthony "Tony" J. Scali, a police commissioner in a small city in upstate New York. A stern but lovable father figure, Chiklis's character had an easygoing style, smart wit, and an unorthodox approach to parenthood and police work. After The Commish, Chiklis starred in the short-lived and critically-panned NBC sitcom called Daddio. After playing Curly Howard in a television movie about the Three Stooges, 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 looking nothing like the pudgy, friendly character of The Commish.[citation needed] Winning over the creator Shawn Ryan, Chiklis nabbed the leading role of the show's tough, edgy, detective Vic Mackey. Although The Shield has been controversial because of its violent content, Chiklis's acting has been highly praised, and he has won several awards for his role. Playing the role of the bulked up and brutal cop has also helped Chiklis break out from typecasting, shedding the overweight and friendly image that had defined his career in the past. Since 2000, he is also taken up a number of voice roles, voicing Chihiro's father, Akio, in the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away and Roman/King Webster in the direct-to-video feature The Adventures of Tom Thumb & Thumbelina. He has also performed in several episodes of Family Guy and had a voice role in Heavy Gear: The Animated Series. In 2005 he starred in Fantastic Four as The Thing and is slated to return in 2007 for the sequel. A fan of the comic series, Chiklis's performance was often praised in a film that otherwise earned mixed reviews.
Awards Chiklis's first major recognition came in 2003, as he won the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series for his role as Detective Vic Mackey on The Shield. He received a Golden Globe that same year for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series-Drama as well. In 2004 and 2005, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Drama Series, but did not win. A lifelong comic book fan, he rarely (if ever) turns down an autograph request from children, In fact, according to the DVD commentary for The Fantastic Four film, his voice has been going hoarse from doing so many requests as Thing; in Chicklis's own words "How do you say no to an 8 year old?" Links
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