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Michael Rapaport
Michael Rapaport in 2013
Rapaport in 2013
Born
Michael David Rapaport

(1970-03-20) March 20, 1970 (age 53)
Occupation
  • Actor
  • director
  • podcast host
  • comedian
Years active 1990–present
Spouse(s)
Nichole Beattie
(m. 2000; div. 2007)
Kebe Dunn
(m. 2016)
Children 2
Relatives Claudia Lonow (half-sister)

Michael David Rapaport (born March 20, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. Beginning his career in the early 1990s, he has made over 100 appearances in film and television. His film roles include True Romance (1993), Higher Learning (1995), Metro (1997), Cop Land (1997), Deep Blue Sea (1999), The 6th Day (2000), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Big Fan (2009), and The Heat (2013). On television, he headlined the Fox sitcom The War at Home (2005–2007) and was a series regular on the Fox drama Boston Public (2001–2004), the fourth season of the Fox serial drama Prison Break (2008–2009), and the Netflix comedy drama Atypical (2017–2021). Rapaport held recurring roles on the NBC sitcoms Friends (1999) and My Name Is Earl (2007–2008) and the FX Western Justified (2014). Outside of his acting career, Rapaport directed the 2011 documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest about the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Active on several podcasts, he is the host of the I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast.

Early life and education

Rapaport was born in New York City, the son of June Brody, a New York radio personality, and David Rapaport, a radio executive who was the general manager of the All-Disco format at New York radio station WKTU Disco 92. He has a brother named Eric Rapaport and an older half-sister named Claudia Lonow (née Rapaport) via his father's prior marriage. After his parents divorced, Rapaport's mother married comic Mark Lonow, who owned The Improv with Budd Friedman.

Rapaport grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, near 70th Street and York Avenue. He is Ashkenazi Jewish; his family is originally from Poland and Russia.

Rapaport had a hard time in school. He attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn in the 1980s, but was expelled. He graduated from Martin Luther King High School in Manhattan.

Career

In 1989, Rapaport moved to Los Angeles, California when he was 19 years old to try to become a stand-up comic. Rapaport's stepfather, comic Mark Lonow, who owned The Improv with Budd Friedman, helped him get into the stand-up world. He did that for three years.

His big break in acting was on the TV series China Beach.

Rapaport had a recurring role in My Name Is Earl as Frank, a convict Earl reunites with in prison. His character was the reason for many of the things in Earl's life, such as indirectly giving Earl his trailer and El Camino after a botched robbery with his partner, Paco. He played one of the main characters in the season four of Prison Break as Homeland Security Agent Don Self.

In October 2008, Rapaport announced that he was directing a documentary about hip hop act A Tribe Called Quest. The film, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, was released in 2011 and received mostly positive reviews.

Rapaport guest starred in the fifth season of the FX series Justified as villain Daryl Crowe Jr, kingpin of the Crowe family.

On February 12, 2010, Rapaport participated in the NBA All-Star Weekend's Celebrity Game and was named the MVP because of his defense on football player Terrell Owens, the MVP of the last two Celebrity Games, despite scoring just four points and having only a single rebound.

On April 17, 2014, an ESPN 30 for 30 film he directed premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film was about the 1970s championship-winning New York Knicks led by Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, and Willis Reed.

Rapaport is a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show on Sirius XM, and participates in the show staff's fantasy football league.

Rapaport hosts the I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast on the CBS Local radio network with childhood friend Gerald Moody.

Other podcasts that Rapaport has appeared on include The Monday Morning Podcast with Bill Burr, Mailtime and Pardon My Take by Barstool Sports, The Adam Carolla Show, The Fighter and The Kid, Unqualified, The Bill Simmons Podcast and its predecessor, The BS Report; The Chive Podcast, ... with Marc Maron, His & Hers Podcast, Cari Champion's Podcast, The Joey Boots Show, The Dirty Sports Podcast and more.

On June 19, 2017, Rapaport announced on Twitter that he would be joining the sports satire website Barstool Sports where he will be a correspondent for the podcast Pardon My Take. On February 18, 2018, Rapaport was fired from Barstool Sports after making a rude comment toward their fan base.

Rapaport is a reporter for Fox Sports, covering the BIG3 basketball league formed by Ice Cube. He is the narrator of the WWE 365 series on WWE Network.

In 2023, Rapaport competed in season ten of The Masked Singer as the wild card contestant "Pickle". A running gag is that he would bump into Nick Cannon. Rapaport was eliminated on "2000s Night".

Personal life

In 2000, Rapaport married writer and producer Nichole Beattie. They have two sons. They divorced in 2007.

In 2016, Rapaport married his long time girlfriend, actress Kebe Dunn.

In June 2018, Rapaport, while on an American Airlines flight from Houston to Los Angeles, stopped another passenger from opening an emergency door mid-flight.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1992 Zebrahead Zack
1993 Point of No Return Big Stan
Poetic Justice Dockworker
Money for Nothing Kenny Kozlowski
True Romance Dick Ritchie
1994 Hand Gun Lenny
The Scout Tommy Lacy
The Foot ... Party Lizard Short
1995 Higher Learning Remy
The Basketball Diaries Skinhead
Kiss of Death Ronnie Gannon
Mighty Aphrodite Kevin
1996 Beautiful Girls Paul Kirkwood
The Pallbearer Brad Schorr
1997 Metro Kevin McCall
A Brother's Kiss Stingy
Kicked in the Head Stretch
Cop Land Murray Babitch
1998 Illtown Dante
Palmetto Donnelly
Some Girl Neal
Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Families Szarany TV movie
The Naked Man Edward Bliss Jr.
1999 Deep Blue Sea Tom Scoggins
Kiss Toledo Goodbye Kevin Gower
2000 Next Friday Mailman with Tax Notice
Small Time Crooks Denny
Men of Honor GM1 Snowhill
Bamboozled Thomas Dunwitty
Chain of Fools Hitman
King of the Jungle Francis
Lucky Numbers Dale
The 6th Day Hank Morgan
2001 Dr. Dolittle 2 Joey the Raccoon (voice)
2002 Paper Soldiers Mike E.
Triggermen Tommy O'Brian
29 Palms The Cop
Comic Book Villains Norman Link Video
2003 A Good Night to Die August
This Girl's Life Terry the Car Salesman
2004 The N Word Himself
America Brown Daniel Brown
Scrambled Eggs Drama Teacher Short
2005 Hitch Ben
2006 Special Les Franken
Live Free or Die Lt. Putney
Push Tommy G
Grilled Bobby
Thugaboo: Sneaker Madness DJ (voice) TV movie
It Aint Easy - Video
2008 Assassination of a High School President Coach Z
2009 Big Fan Philadelphia Phil
A Day in the Life Detective Grant
Tom Cool -
2010 The Line Steve Waxman TV movie
2011 Inside Out Jack Small
2012 Should've Been Romeo Danny
The Baytown Outlaws Lucky
Kiss of the Damned Ben
2013 The Heat Jason Mullins
Once Upon a Time in Queens Bobby DiBianco
2014 My Man Is a Loser Marty
2015 Little Boy James Busbee
2016 A Stand Up Guy Colin
Chuck John Wepner
Sully Pete the Bartender
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life Animation Voice (voice)
2019 100%: Julian Edelman Narrator
2020 Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story Bill Fitch
2021 Conflicted Mike
2023 I'll Be Right There TBA
Glisten and the Merry Mission Grizz (voice)

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1990 China Beach Kravits Episode: "One Small Step"
1992 Murphy Brown Robbie 1 episode
Middle Ages Jimmy Episode: "The Pig in the Python" & "Night Moves"
1993 Fresh Prince of Bel Air Mike Episode: "Where There's a Will, There's a Way: Part 1"
NYPD Blue Jaime Dileo Episode: "Brown Appetit"
1997 Subway Stories Jake Episode: "The Listeners"
1998 E.R. Paul Canterna Episode: "Of Past Regret and Future Fear"
Rude Awakening Johnny 1 episode
1999 Friends Gary Recurring Cast: Season 5
2001 Weakest Link Himself Episode: "Disaster Benefit"
Celebrity Adventures Himself Episode: "Belize"
Night Visions Harlow Winton Episode: "Darkness"
2001-04 Boston Public Danny Hanson Main Cast: Season 2-4
2003 Chappelle's Show Popcopy Employee Episode: "Popcopy & Clayton Bigsby"
2005-07 The War at Home David "Dave" Gold Main Cast
2006-07 MadTV Clark Gable/Abraham Lincoln Episode: "Episode #11.10" & "Episode #12.20"
2007-08 My Name Is Earl Frank Stump Recurring Cast: Season 3
2008-09 Prison Break Agent Donald "Don" Self Main Cast: Season 4
2009-10 Accidentally on Purpose Sully Episode: "The Godfather" & "The Rock"
2010 30 for 30 Himself Episode: "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks"
Celebrity Ghost Stories Himself Episode: "Rebecca DeMornay/Michael Rapaport/Margaret Cho"
Royal Pains Stanley Episode: "Big Whoop"
2010-13 Pound Puppies Squirt (voice) Main Cast
2012-13 The Mob Doctor Paul Moretti Recurring Cast
2013 The Haunting of... Himself Episode: "Michael Rapaport"
2014 Raising Hope Michael Episode: "Man's Best Friend"
Justified Daryl Crowe Jr. Recurring Cast: Season 5
2015 Black-ish Jay Simmons Episode: "Switch Hitting"
Louie Lenny Episode: "Cop Story"
Public Morals Officer Charlie Bullman Main Cast
The Big Bang Theory Kenny Fitzgerald Episode: "The Helium Insufficiency"
2016 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Richie Caskey Episode: "Sheltered Outcasts"
Dice Bobby the Mooch Episode: "Six Grand"
Crisis in Six Scenes Trooper Mike Episode: "Episode #1.6"
2017 The $100,000 Pyramid Himself Episode: "Richard Kind vs. Rachel Dratch and Margaret Cho vs. Michael Rapaport"
The New Edition Story Gary Evans Episode: "Part 1-3"
Animals. Erik (voice) Episode: "Rats"
White Famous Teddy Snow Recurring Cast
2017-18 The Guest Book Adam Recurring Cast: Season 1, Guest: Season 2
2017-21 Atypical Doug Gardner Main Cast
2018 Hip Hop Squares Himself/Panelist Episode: "Blac Chyna vs. Jeremy Meeks" & "Yvonne Orji vs. Keith Powers"
Ridiculousness Himself Episode: "Michael Rapaport"
2019-23 The Simpsons Mike Wegman (voice) Guest Cast: Season 31 & 33-34
2020 Sneakerheads Himself Episode: "The Match"
Yo Mama Himself Episode: "I PAID Celebs $3,000 for YO MAMA JOKES"
Cooked with ... Himself 1 episode
Tournament of Laughs Himself Episode: "The Exceptional 8"
2021-22 The Wendy Williams Show Himself/Guest Host Recurring Guest Host: Season 14
2022 Celebrity Wheel of Fortune Himself/Contestant Episode: "Jaime Camil, Michael Rapaport and June Diane Raphael"
Life & Beth Leonard Recurring Cast
Only Murders in the Building Detective Kreps Recurring Cast: Season 2
2023 The Masked Singer Pickle Unmasked On 2000's Night

Documentary

Year Title Role
2011 Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest Interviewer

Video games

Year Title Role
1996 Don't Quit Your Day Job Special appearance #2
2001 Grand Theft Auto III Joey Leone
2006 Saints Row Troy Bradshaw
2008 Saints Row 2 Troy Bradshaw
2018 NBA 2K19 Coach Darren Stackhouse

Music videos

Year Artist Title
1994 Frank Zappa "Civilization, Phaze III"
1998 Jay-Z "The City is Mine"
2002 Talib Kweli "Waiting for the DJ"
2003 High & Mighty "I Wanna"
Jaylib "McNasty Filth"
2004 Masta Ace "A Long Hot Summer"
2006 Ludacris "Runaway Love"
2006 H2O "What Happened?"
2017 Snoop Dogg "Lavender (Nightfall Remix)"
Sean Price "Dead or Alive"

See also

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