Michael Shannon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Michael Shannon
Shannon in 2019
Born	Michael Corbett Shannon (1974-08-07) August 7, 1974 (age 50) Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer
Years active	1992–present
Spouse(s)	Kate Arrington ​ (m. 2017)​
Children	2
Relatives	Raymond Corbett Shannon (grandfather)
Awards	Full list

Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor. Shannon received two Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations, for Revolutionary Road (2008), and Nocturnal Animals (2016). He received Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for his role in 99 Homes (2014).

Shannon's film debut was in Groundhog Day (1993). He has also appeared in Jesus' Son (1999), Pearl Harbor (2001), Kangaroo Jack (2003), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), The Iceman (2012), The Night Before (2015), The Shape of Water (2017), Knives Out (2019), and Bullet Train (2022). He is a frequent collaborator with director Jeff Nichols, having appeared in all of Nichols' films to date: Shotgun Stories (2007), Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2012), Midnight Special and Loving (both 2016), and The Bikeriders (2023). He played General Zod in the DC Extended Universe films Man of Steel (2013) and The Flash (2023).

Shannon made his Broadway debut in the 2012 play Grace. He returned to Broadway playing James Tyrone Jr. in the revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (2016), earning a Tony Award nomination. His television roles include a role as Nelson Van Alden in the HBO period drama series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014) for which he won two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He also starred in Hulu's Nine Perfect Strangers (2021), and Showtime's George & Tammy (2022), the latter of which he received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.

Early life

Shannon was born on August 7, 1974, in Lexington, Kentucky, to Donald Sutherlin Shannon, an accounting professor at DePaul University, and Geraldine Hine, a lawyer. His paternal grandfather was entomologist Raymond Corbett Shannon.

After Shannon's parents divorced, he alternated time with them, living with his mother in Lexington and in Chicago, Illinois, with his father. He attended New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Illinois for two years before moving to Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Kentucky, for his junior year. While in Lexington, he participated in the Lexington Children's Theatre summer camp and played bass in his first band, The Jehovah Suspects. He returned to Chicago for his senior year at Evanston Township High School, where he dropped out after a semester.

Career

Shannon's first screen role was the main character in the music video for the Every Mother's Nightmare song "House of Pain", where he played a troubled teenager who had run away from his abusive home. Shannon performed on stage in Chicago, where he helped found A Red Orchid Theatre. He worked with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Northlight Theatre. Shannon originated the role of Peter Evans in Bug in 1996 and starred in the 2006 film adaptation. His roles in Bug and Killer Joe were written by Steppenwolf ensemble member Tracy Letts.

In 1993, Shannon made his film debut in Groundhog Day as a wedding groom. He had roles in Jesus' Son, Pearl Harbor, 8 Mile, Vanilla Sky, Kangaroo Jack, Bad Boys II, and a role in Grand Theft Parsons as hippie Larry Oster-Berg.

Shannon appeared in Let's Go to Prison in 2006, where he portrayed Lynard, the leader of a prison white supremacist group. He appeared in a production of Woyzeck in the West End in London, under the direction of 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.

In 2007, Shannon began the first of his many collaborations with director, Jeff Nichols, when cast in the movie Shotgun Stories. Shannon was singled out for praise for his performance as the elder brother of three in a morality tale on the dangers of unresolved family enmities.

In 2008, he starred in the romantic drama film Revolutionary Road, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. His performance as the clinically insane son earned him universal acclaim, and he won the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 2010, he portrayed Doc Cross Williams in the film adaptation of Jonah Hex. Shannon played Federal Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden in the HBO television show Boardwalk Empire, which began in 2010. In November of that year, 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 performed the show in 2009 at A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago.

Shannon (far right) with Robert Davi and Stephen Dorff at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2011, Shannon starred in the drama film Take Shelter. He received rave reviews for his performance, and a Saturn Award for Best Actor. In 2012, he played a corrupt cop in the film Premium Rush, written and directed by David Koepp, and appeared on Broadway along with Paul Rudd and Ed Asner in Grace written by Craig Wright. In 2013, he starred as legendary mob hitman Richard Kuklinski in The Iceman, which was distributed in May of that year. Later in 2013, Shannon portrayed General Zod, the main antagonist in Zack Snyder's film Man of Steel.

In 2015, he performed in the biographical drama Freeheld, and the independent drama 99 Homes, as housing agent Rick Carver, a role that earned him 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. Shannon played Mr. Green in The Night Before in 2015.

Shannon starred in the 2016 psychological thriller film Nocturnal Animals, with Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal. His performance as a detective investigating a double homicide garnered him critical acclaim and a second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Also in 2016, Shannon portrayed music icon Elvis Presley alongside Kevin Spacey as President Richard Nixon in Elvis & Nixon.

In 2017, Shannon played Col. Richard Strickland in Guillermo del Toro's romantic fantasy film The Shape of Water. The film premiered at the 74th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion.

Shannon played the lead role as Gary Noesner, head of the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit, in Waco on Paramount Network in 2018. He appeared in Long Way Back Home, an extended film clip for the song of the same name by Memphis country-punk rock band, Lucero, from its album Among The Ghosts. Lucero's frontman, Ben Nichols, is the older brother of frequent Shannon collaborator, Jeff Nichols. Shannon contributed spoken word vocals to Lucero's "Back To The Night", also from Among The Ghosts.

In 2019, Shannon joined an ensemble cast in Rian Johnson's mystery film Knives Out, portraying Walt Thrombey.

In 2021, Shannon played Napoleon Marconi in the Hulu miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty.

Shannon reprised his role as General Zod in The Flash, released by Warner Bros. in 2023.

In April 2022, a follow-up series to Waco, titled American Tragedies: Waco – The Trials was announced and was set to premiere on Paramount+ in 2023. The miniseries centered on the fallout from the Waco siege as well as the emerging patriot movement. In February 2023, the series was retitled Waco: The Aftermath and would instead premiere on Showtime on April 16, 2023. Shannon reprised his lead role as Gary Noesner and also served as an executive producer for the show.

Personal life

In 2002, Shannon formed the indie rock band Corporal, with Ray Rizzo and Rob Beitzel, in which he sings and writes lyrics. In 2010, Corporal released its self-titled debut album. The first track, "Glory", was released in 2011 and the second song, "Obama", was released in June 2012 as the band's endorsement of President Obama's run for reelection.

Shannon married actress Kate Arrington towards the end of 2017, after they had dated since 2002. They have two daughters; Sylvia, born in 2008 and Marion in 2011. They live in New York.

Acting credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Groundhog Day	Fred
1996	Chain Reaction	D.C. Flower Delivery Man	Credited as "Mike Shannon"
1997	Chicago Cab	Crack Head
1999	Jesus' Son	Dundun
	The Ride	Jimmy
2000	The Photographer	Maurice
	Tigerland	Sergeant Filmore
	Cecil B. Demented	Petie
	Mullitt	Phil Kunz	Short film
2001	Pearl Harbor	Lt. Gooz Wood
	New Port South	John Stanton
	Vanilla Sky	Aaron
2002	High Crimes	Troy Abbott
	8 Mile	Greg Buehl
2003	Kangaroo Jack	Frankie Lombardo
	Bad Boys II	Floyd Poteet
	Grand Theft Parsons	Larry Oster-Berg
2004	Water	Bobby Matherson
	Criminal	Gene
	Dead Birds	Clyde
	Zamboni Man	Walt, Zamboni Man	Short film
	The Woodsman	Rosen
2006	Bug	Peter Evans
	World Trade Center	Dave Karnes
	Let's Go to Prison	Lynard
	Marvelous	John
2007	Shotgun Stories	Son Hayes
	Blackbird	Murl
	Lucky You	Ray Zumbro
	Before the Devil Knows You're Dead	Dex
2008	Revolutionary Road	John Givings Jr.
2009	The Missing Person	John Rosow
	Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans	Mundt
	The Greatest	Jordan Walker
	My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?	Brad McCullum
2010	The Runaways	Kim Fowley
	Herbert White	Herbert White	Short film
	13	Henry
	Jonah Hex	Dr. Cross Williams
2011	Take Shelter	Curtis LaForche
	Return	Mike
	The Broken Tower	Emile Opffer
	Machine Gun Preacher	Donnie
2012	Mud	Uncle Galen
	Premium Rush	Bobby Monday
	The Iceman	Richard Kuklinski
2013	Man of Steel	General Zod
	The Harvest	Richard Young
2014	Young Ones	Ernest Holm
	They Came Together	Spike	Cameo
	She's Funny That Way	Policeman Macy's	Cameo
	99 Homes	Rick Carver
2015	Freeheld	Dane Wells
	The Night Before	Mr. Green
2016	Complete Unknown	Tom
	Frank & Lola	Frank Reilly
	Midnight Special	Roy Tomlin
	Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice	General Zod	Credit only
	Wolves	Lee Keller
	Poor Boy	Blayde Griggs
	Elvis & Nixon	Elvis Presley	Also executive producer
	Loving	Grey Villet
	Salt and Fire	Matt Riley
	Nocturnal Animals	Det. Bobby Andes
2017	The Shape of Water	Col. Richard Strickland
	The Current War	George Westinghouse
	Pottersville	Maynard Greiger
2018	12 Strong	CWO. Hal Spencer
	What They Had	Nicky Everhardt	Also executive producer
	State Like Sleep	Edward
2019	Knives Out	Walt Thrombey
2020	The Quarry	Chief Moore	Also executive producer
	Echo Boomers	Mel Donnelly
2021	Heart of Champions	Jack Murphy	Also producer
2022	Night's End	Isaac Dees
	Abandoned	Renner
	Bullet Train	White Death
	Amsterdam	Henry Norcross
	A Little White Lie	Shriver
2023	Eric Larue	N/A	Director
	The Flash	General Zod
	The Bikeriders	Zipco
2024	A Different Man	Himself	Cameo
	The End	Father
2025	Nuremberg	Robert H. Jackson	Post-production

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Overexposed	Young Man	Television film
	Angel Street	Patrick Mulligan	Television film
1998, 1999	Early Edition	Merle / Mr. Andrews	2 episodes
1999	Turks	Man #1	Episode: "Pilot"
2005	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Avery Shaw	Episode: "Quarry"
2009	Delocated	Mark	Episode: "Sick of It!"
2010–2014	Boardwalk Empire	Nelson Van Alden/George Mueller	35 episodes
2017–2020	At Home with Amy Sedaris	Various	3 episodes
2018	Waco	Gary Noesner	6 episodes; also executive producer
	Fahrenheit 451	Captain Beatty	Television film
	The Little Drummer Girl	Martin Kurtz	6 episodes
	Our Cartoon President	Narrator (voice)	Episode: "Election Special 2018"
	Room 104	Nathan	Episode: "Swipe Right"
2021	Nine Perfect Strangers	Napoleon Marconi	8 episodes
2022	Little Demon	Unshaven Man (voice)	6 episodes
2022–2023	George & Tammy	George Jones	6 episodes
2023	Waco: The Aftermath	Gary Noesner	5 episodes; also executive producer
0TBA	Death by Lightning	James A. Garfield	Upcoming miniseries

Theater

Awards and nominations

The Chicago City Council passed a resolution designating August 7, 2023, as "National Michael Shannon Day" in Chicago.

See also

In Spanish: Michael Shannon para niños

• List of actors with Academy Award nominations