Michael Rooker
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Michael Rooker | |
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Rooker in February 2015
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Born | Jasper, Alabama, United States |
April 6, 1955
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1986–present |
Spouse(s) | Margot Rooker |
Children | 2 |
Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955)[1] is an American actor, best known for his roles as Chick Gandil in Eight Men Out, Henry in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Merle Dixon in The Walking Dead, Yondu Udonta in Guardians of the Galaxy, Frank Bailey in Mississippi Burning, Bill Broussard in JFK, Hal Tucker in Cliffhanger and Jared Svenning in Mallrats.
Contents
Early life
Michael Rooker was born in Jasper, Alabama. He has eight brothers and sisters. His parents divorced when he was 13 years old, and he moved with his mother and siblings to Chicago, Illinois, where he studied at the Goodman School of Drama.[2][3][4]
Career
Rooker made his film debut in 1986, playing the title role in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a film based on the confessions of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas.[5] He was acting in a play when the director of the play, who was going to do the prosthetics for Henry, told him about the film. Rooker did not care if the script was good or bad, he just wanted to act in a film as it would "challenge" himself.[6] Henry was a critical success and got Rooker noticed in the filmmaking industry, which led to his receiving more film roles.
Rooker was given more dramatic roles in films such as Eight Men Out, Mississippi Burning, and JFK, but he became widely known for his roles in action and thriller films such as Sea of Love, Days of Thunder, Cliffhanger,[7] and Tombstone.[8] He also starred in Mallrats, Rosewood, The 6th Day, Slither, Jumper, Super[9] and Hypothermia.[10][11]
In June 2010, he revealed via Twitter that he was to appear in the AMC television series The Walking Dead as Merle Dixon, one of the survivors of a zombie apocalypse. He guest starred in two episodes of the first season and one of the second season before finally becoming a series regular for the third season.[12][13]
Rooker is also known for his roles in video games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops (where he played himself), Mike Harper in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 in November 2012, and voiced Merle in The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, the video game based on the television series.
Rooker played Yondu in the Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy, which was directed by James Gunn.[14] Rooker announced at the Wizard World Tulsa Comic Con that he will reprise his role as Yondu in the announced Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in 2017.[15]
Personal life
Rooker is married to Margot Rooker. They have two daughters.[1]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1986 | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer | Henry | Fantasporto Award for Best Actor Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead |
1987 | Light of Day | Oogie | |
1987 | Rent-A-Cop | Joe | |
1988 | Above the Law | Man in bar | |
1988 | Eight Men Out | Arnold "Chick" Gandil | |
1988 | Mississippi Burning | Frank Bailey | |
1989 | Sea of Love | Terry Cruger | |
1989 | The Edge | Deputy Sheriff | Television film |
1989 | L.A. Takedown | Bosko | Television film |
1989 | Music Box | Karchy Laszlo | |
1990 | Days of Thunder | Rowdy Burns | |
1991 | JFK | Bill Broussard | |
1992 | Afterburn | Casey "Z" Zankowski | Television film |
1993 | The Dark Half | Sheriff Alan Pangborn | |
1993 | Cliffhanger | Hal Tucker | |
1993 | Tombstone | Sherman McMasters | |
1994 | Suspicious | Attendant | Short film |
1994 | The Hard Truth | Jonah Mantz | |
1995 | Mallrats | Jared Svenning | |
1995 | Johnny & Clyde | Frank Tennant | Television film |
1996 | Bastard Out of Carolina | Uncle Earle | |
1996 | The Trigger Effect | Gary | |
1996 | Back to Back | Bob Malone | |
1997 | Song of Hiawatha | Bertrand | |
1997 | Rosewood | Sheriff Walker | |
1997 | Keys to Tulsa | Keith Michaels | |
1997 | Deceiver | Kennesaw | |
1998 | The Replacement Killers | Stan "Zeedo" Zedkov | |
1997 | Shadow Builder | Father Vassey | |
1998 | Brown's Requiem | Fritz Brown | Associate producer |
1998 | Renegade Force | Matt Cooper | |
1999 | A Table for One | Matt Draper/Dr. Matthew Swan | Co-executive producer |
1999 | The Bone Collector | Captain Howard Cheney | |
2000 | Table One | Rowdy | |
2000 | Here on Earth | Malcolm Arnold | |
2000 | NewsBreak | John McNamara | |
2000 | The 6th Day | Robert Marshall | |
2001 | Replicant | Det. Jake Riley | |
2002 | Undisputed | AJ Mercker | |
2003 | The Box | Det. Stafford | |
2003 | On Thin Ice | Hopkins | Television film |
2003 | Saving Jessica Lynch | Col. Curry | Television film |
2004 | Skeleton Man | Capt. Leary | Television film |
2004 | The Eliminator | Miles Dawson | |
2005 | Chasing Ghosts | Mark Spencer | |
2006 | Repo! The Genetic Opera | Repo Man | Short film |
2006 | Lenexa, 1 Mile | Russ | |
2006 | Slither | Grant Grant | |
2007 | Whisper | Sidney | |
2008 | The Lena Baker Story | Randolph County Sheriff | |
2008 | Jumper | William Rice | |
2008 | This Man's Life | Richard Crummly | Short film |
2009 | Super Capers | Judge/Dark Winged Vesper | |
2009 | Penance | Mann | |
2009 | The Marine 2 | Church | Direct-to-DVD |
2010 | Scott's Dead | Mitch | Short film |
2010 | Freeway Killer | Detective St. John | |
2010 | Blood Done Sign My Name | Defense Attorney Billy Watkins | |
2010 | Cell 213 | Ray Clement | |
2010 | DC Showcase: Jonah Hex | Red Doc (voice) | Short film |
2010 | Louis | Pat McMurphy | |
2010 | Super | Abe | |
2011 | Atlantis Down | Father/Alien | |
2011 | Mysteria | Captain McCarthy | |
2011 | Elwood | Condello | Short film |
2012 | The Lost Episode | Director | |
2012 | Hypothermia | Ray Pelletier | |
2012 | Outlaw country | Larkin's henchman | Television film |
2013 | Brother's Keeper | Chief Carver | |
2014 | Guardians of the Galaxy | Yondu | Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated – Detroit Film Critics Society for Best Ensemble |
2015 | Bolden! | Pat McMurphy | Post-production |
2016 | The Belko Experiment | Bud Melks | Post-production |
2016 | Mallrats 2 | Jared Svenning | Pre-production |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1986 | Crime Story | Lieutenant | Episode: "Pilot" |
1988 | The Equalizer | Bill Whitaker | Episode: "No Place Like Home" |
1989 | Gideon Oliver | Det. John Quinn | Episode: "Sleep Well, Professor Oliver" |
1990 | Equal Justice | Wallace 'Wally' Dalton | Episode: "Sugar Blues" |
1995 | Fallen Angels | Babe McCloor | Episode: "Fly Paper" |
2001 | The Outer Limits | Col. Beckett | Episode: "Patient Zero" |
2001 | Hostage Rescue Team | Special Agent Nicholas Roberts | Pilot |
2002 | Jeremiah | Major Quantrell | Episode: "Firewall" |
2003 | Tremors | Kinney | Episode: "Hit and Run" |
2003 | Lucky | Gibby | Episode: "Savant" |
2003 | Stargate SG-1 | Col. Edwards | Episode: "Enemy Mine" |
2003 | CSI: Miami | Marty Jones | Episode: "Dead Zone" |
2004 | Las Vegas | Marcus Wexler | Episode: "Degas Away with It" |
2005 | Numb3rs | Don's partner | Unaired pilot |
2005 | JAG | Capt. Jack Ramsey | Episode: "Heart of Darkness" |
2006 | Thief | Det. John Hayes | 5 episodes |
2007 | Crossing Jordan | Shawn Curaco | Episode: "D.O.A." |
2008 | Law & Order | Jamie Yost | Episode: "Executioner" |
2008 | Shark | Oscar Riddick | Episode: "Bar Fight" |
2008 | Chuck | Mauser | Episode: "Chuck Versus Santa Claus" |
2008 | Humanzee! | Priest | Episode: "Pilot" |
2009 | Meteor | Calvin Stark | 2 episodes |
2009 | Criminal Minds | Chief Carlson | Episode: "House on Fire" |
2009 | Psych | Garth Longmore | Episode: "Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark" |
2010 | Burn Notice | Dale Lawson | Episode: "Guilty as Charged" |
2010 | Matadors | John Canterna | Pilot |
2010–2013 | The Walking Dead | Merle Dixon | Season 1 (recurring role; 2 episodes) Season 2 (guest star; 1 episode) Season 3 (main role; 11 episodes) Satellite Award for Best Cast – Television Series (2012) |
2012 | Archer | Sheriff EZ Ponder (voice) | Episode: "Bloody Ferlin" |
Video games
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay | Centurion / Jack (voices) | |
2006 | Scarface: The World is Yours | Various voices | |
2011 | Call of Duty: Black Ops | Himself (voice) | Call of The Dead DLC |
2011 | Days of Thunder | Rowdy Burns (voice) | |
2012 | Lollipop Chainsaw | Vikke (voice) | |
2012 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | Mike Harper (voice) | Also provides motion capture |
2013 | The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct | Merle Dixon (voice) |
References
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- ↑ Michael Rooker Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- ↑ [1]
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External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- Articles with hCards
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- 1955 births
- Living people
- People from Jasper, Alabama
- Male actors from Alabama
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- American karateka
- DePaul University alumni
- Marvel Cinematic Universe actors
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- Male actors from Chicago, Illinois