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Chris Ellis

Chris Ellis

Actor · b. 1956 · Dallas, Texas, USA

Chris Ellis (born April 14, 1956) is an American film and television actor. Ellis always wanted to be an actor because of television. He grew up in the 50's in the deep south in a "world of privation and violence", but saw on television people who seemed to have lives of ease and privilege. It took him seven years to finish college however, because "I have always been shiftless". During those years Chris became involved in community theatre in Memphis, where "I did and do still think the quality of the work has always been quite good". By the time he moved to New York, he had worked with many excellent actors in about two dozen plays, classical and contemporary. "I cannot imagine what might have supplanted that background for a newcomer in New York." His first part in either television or film came in 1979, where he played a truck driver in the TV movie The Suicide's Wife, which starred Angie Dickinson. The role resulted in very little TV or film work. After working in regional theatre for a year or so, Chris fell off the radar screen and did not work for about ten years. During that time he lived in "bone-grinding poverty" in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen. In one nine-month period of 1987, Chris accepted 102 dinner invitations. "I don't know why they kept arriving, nor why I counted them, though I do know why I accepted them." In 1990, a break came when he got a part in Days of Thunder, which starred Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Cary Elwes, Robert Duvall, and Randy Quaid. John C. Reilly and Fred Dalton Thompson also appear. This seemed to jump-start Ellis' career as parts in films like My Cousin Vinny with Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei, a small part in Addams Family Values, and a larger one in Apollo 13 as former NASA Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton, alongside Tom Hanks, followed. He also began picking up credits on well-known television shows like Melrose Place, NYPD Blue, and The X-Files. Since working with Hanks on Apollo 13, the two have worked together on That Thing You Do, the TV miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, and Catch Me If You Can. Ellis returned to a fictional NASA Mission Control when he played a Flight Director in 1998's Armageddon. Additional films in which Ellis has appeared include Home Fries, October Sky, Live Free or Die Hard, and Transformers. His television credits also include The West Wing, Ghost Whisperer, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, Alias, JAG, CSI: NY, Burn Notice, and Cold Case. He appeared in three season one episodes of Millennium as group member Jim Panseayres. He has established a reputation as being particularly talented at portraying Southern lawmakers or serious military or police-type characters. He also appeared in Criminal Minds as Sheriff Jimmy Rhodes who calls for the BAU's help in investigating a string of murders in New Mexico. In addition to that, he also had two guest appearances in NCIS as Gunnery Sergeant John Deluca. Ellis's appearance in the Season 1 episode, "The Curse" was uncredited while his second and final appearance in Season 2's "The Bone Yard" was credited. Description above from the Wikipedia article Chris Ellis (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies24

  • Movie7.8

    The Dark Knight Rises

    2012 · 24K votes

  • Movie8.0

    Catch Me If You Can

    2002 · 17K votes

  • Movie5.8

    Planet of the Apes

    2001 · 4.5K votes

  • Movie6.8

    Armageddon

    1998 · 8.8K votes

  • Movie6.6

    Live Free or Die Hard

    2007 · 6.5K votes

  • Movie6.8

    Con Air

    1997 · 4.9K votes

  • Movie6.7

    The Island

    2005 · 6.1K votes

  • Movie5.7

    Godzilla

    1998 · 4.4K votes

  • Movie6.4

    Days of Thunder

    1990 · 1.8K votes

  • Movie7.2

    Crimson Tide

    1995 · 2.1K votes

  • Movie7.5

    Apollo 13

    1995 · 6.1K votes

  • Movie7.0

    Addams Family Values

    1993 · 3.4K votes

  • Movie5.5

    G-Force

    2009 · 2.1K votes

  • Movie6.9

    That Thing You Do!

    1996 · 949 votes

  • Movie7.5

    My Cousin Vinny

    1992 · 2K votes

  • Movie6.5

    Bean

    1997 · 2.7K votes

  • Movie6.6

    The Guest

    2014 · 2.2K votes

  • Movie6.2

    Fun with Dick and Jane

    2005 · 2.8K votes

  • Movie7.7

    October Sky

    1999 · 1.5K votes

  • Movie6.8

    Transformers

    2007 · 12K votes

  • Movie6.7

    The Devil's Rejects

    2005 · 1.6K votes

  • Movie7.6

    A Little Princess

    1995 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie6.9

    Wag the Dog

    1997 · 1.1K votes

  • Movie7.5

    McFarland, USA

    2015 · 971 votes

Series24

  • TV8.4

    The Mentalist

    2008 · 4.7K votes

  • TV8.3

    Criminal Minds

    2005 · 4.2K votes

  • TV7.6

    NCIS

    2003 · 2.6K votes

  • TV7.6
  • TV8.6

    The Office

    2005 · 5.5K votes

  • TV7.7

    Cold Case

    2003 · 461 votes

  • TV8.0

    Young Sheldon

    2017 · 3.1K votes

  • TV8.4

    The X-Files

    1993 · 3.7K votes

  • TV7.1

    Diagnosis: Murder

    1993 · 128 votes

  • TV8.3

    The West Wing

    1999 · 609 votes

  • TV8.1

    Mad Men

    2007 · 1.6K votes

  • TV7.6

    The Practice

    1997 · 113 votes

  • TV7.2

    Chicago Hope

    1994 · 82 votes

  • TV7.8

    Veronica Mars

    2004 · 736 votes

  • TV8.1

    Ghost Whisperer

    2005 · 1.9K votes

  • TV7.3

    CSI: NY

    2004 · 781 votes

  • TV7.5

    Burn Notice

    2007 · 612 votes

  • TV5.8

    Melrose Place

    1992 · 191 votes

  • TV7.0

    NYPD Blue

    1993 · 180 votes

  • TV7.0

    Las Vegas

    2003 · 269 votes

  • TV7.7

    Warehouse 13

    2009 · 781 votes

  • TV8.1

    Six Feet Under

    2001 · 1.2K votes

  • TV7.4

    The Pretender

    1996 · 224 votes

  • TV8.0

    Justified

    2010 · 889 votes