Shea Whigham facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Shea Whigham
Whigham in 2018
Born	(1969-01-05) January 5, 1969 (age 56) Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.
Education	Tyler Junior College State University of New York, Purchase (BFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1997–present
Spouse(s)	Christine Whigham ​ (m. 1995)​
Children	4, including Giorgia Whigham

Shea Whigham (born January 5, 1969) is an American actor. He is well-known for his role as Elias "Eli" Thompson in the TV show Boardwalk Empire. He also appeared in the first season of True Detective and the third season of Fargo.

Whigham has acted in many movies. Some of these include Take Shelter, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, and The Wolf of Wall Street. He also appeared in Kong: Skull Island, First Man, Vice, and Joker. More recently, he was in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and the Mission: Impossible films. He played Agent Michael Stasiak in several Fast & Furious movies.

Early Life and Education

Shea Whigham was born in Tallahassee, Florida. His father, Frank, was an attorney, and his mother, Beth, was a school librarian. When Shea was five years old, his family moved to Lake Mary, Florida. He attended Lake Mary High School there.

After high school, Whigham went to Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas. Later, he transferred to the State University of New York in Purchase, New York. He was part of a small acting program with only 31 students. His graduating class had just eight seniors.

Acting Career Highlights

After college, Shea Whigham helped start a theater group. It was called the Rorschach Group. He co-founded it with his college roommate, Kirk Acevedo, in New York City. Whigham worked as an actor and artistic director for this group for three years.

Early Roles in TV and Film

Whigham's first TV appearance was in a 1997 episode of Ghost Stories. He then got a main role in the 2000 film Tigerland. He also acted in TV movies like Submerged and Paradise. In 2003, he was in the film All the Real Girls. From 2004 to 2006, he appeared in various projects. These included the Japanese film Out of This World and the TV series Medical Investigation. He also acted in films such as Man of the House and Lords of Dogtown.

Later, Whigham appeared in Pride and Glory. He also co-starred in the horror film Splinter. Other roles included the thriller Blood Creek and the science fiction film Radio Free Albemuth.

Major TV Series Roles

Shea Whigham had a regular main role on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. He played Elias "Eli" Thompson, who was the sheriff of Atlantic County, New Jersey. He was on the show for its entire run, from 2010 to 2014. In 2014, he appeared in the HBO series True Detective. He played Joel Theriot, a former minister. In 2015, he was in two episodes of FX's Justified.

From 2016 to 2017, he played Ray Liptrapp in both seasons of HBO's Vice Principals. In 2017, he was in Fargo and the miniseries Narcos. In 2018, he appeared in the miniseries Waco. He also starred in the TV series Homecoming with Julia Roberts. For this role, he was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

From 2020 to 2023, Whigham played Pete Strickland in HBO's Perry Mason. He received attention for his mustache in this role. In 2022, he played G. Gordon Liddy in the limited series Gaslit. He was nominated for awards for this performance. In 2023, he returned as Mitch Decker in Waco: The Aftermath. He also appeared in The Righteous Gemstones and Lawmen: Bass Reeves.

Film Appearances

Between 2012 and 2017, Shea Whigham had many movie roles. These included The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle, and Silver Linings Playbook. He also appeared in Term Life and Kong: Skull Island. In 2018, he was in films like Sicario: Day of the Soldado, First Man, and Bad Times at the El Royale. In 2019, he played Detective Burke in the movie Joker.

In 2020, he was in The Quarry and Vampires vs. the Bronx. In 2021, he appeared in F9, The Gateway, and Small Engine Repair. He also had a role in South of Heaven. In 2022, he was in The Gray Man. In 2023, he appeared in Fancy Dance, Eileen, and voiced George Stacy in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. He also played Jasper Briggs in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.

Whigham has often worked with actors Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks. Both of them also starred in Boardwalk Empire and Waco. Shannon and Whigham have appeared together in films like The Quarry, Take Shelter, and Tigerland.

Personal Life

Shea Whigham is married to Christine Whigham. They have four children together. One of their children is actress Giorgia Whigham.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film Roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Of Love & Fantasy	Craig
2000	Tigerland	Private Wilson
2002 Bad Company	CIA Agent Wells	Uncredited
2003	All the Real Girls	'Tip'
2004	Out of This World	Russell Reade
	Water	Daniel West
2005	Man of the House	Texas Ranger Holt
	Lords of Dogtown	Drake Landon
	Psychic Driving	Ryan Barrett	Short film
2006	Wristcutters: A Love Story	Eugene
	First Snow	Vincent McClure
2008	South of Heaven	'Mad Dog' Mantee
	Pride and Glory	Officer Kenny Dugan
	Splinter	Dennis Farell
2009	Blood Creek	Luke Benny
	Killing Room, TheThe Killing Room	Tony Mazzolla
	Spooner	Stan Manfretti
	Fast & Furious	FBI Agent Michael Stasiak
	Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans	Justin
2010	Radio Free Albemuth	Phil
	Barry Munday	Donald
	Machete	Sniper
	Conspirator, TheThe Conspirator	Captain Cottingham
2011	Take Shelter	Dewart	Nominated—Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Cast
	Lincoln Lawyer, TheThe Lincoln Lawyer	Dwayne Jeffrey 'D.J.' Corliss
	This Must Be the Place	Ernie Ray
	Catch .44	Billy
2012	Big Miracle	SAR Pilot Conrad
	Savages	Chad, Cartel Lawyer
	Silver Linings Playbook	Jake Solitano	Nominated—Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2013	Fast & Furious 6	FBI Agent Michael Stasiak
	American Hustle	Carl Elway	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
	Wolf of Wall Street, TheThe Wolf of Wall Street	Captain Ted Beecham
2014	Non-Stop	Agent Marenick
2015	Lila & Eve	Detective Holliston
	Cop Car	Man
	Knight of Cups	Jim
2016	Star Trek Beyond	Teenaxi Leader	Voice
	Term Life	Detective Matty Miller
2017	Kong: Skull Island	Captain Earl Cole
	Death Note	Detective James Turner
	Wheelman	Mohawk Man
2018	The Catcher Was a Spy	Joe Cronin
	Beirut	Gary Ruzak
	Sicario: Day of the Soldado	Andy Wheeldon
	First Man	Gus Grissom
	Bad Times at the El Royale	Dr. Woodbury Laurence
	City of Lies	Frank Lyga
	Vice	Wayne Vincent
2019	To the Stars	Hank Deerborne
	Low Tide	Sergeant Kent
	Joker	Detective Burke
2020	The Quarry	The Man	Also executive producer
	Vampires vs. the Bronx	Frank Polidori
2021	F9	FBI Agent Michael Stasiak
	The Gateway	Parker Jode
	Small Engine Repair	'Packie' Hanrahan
	South of Heaven	Officer Schmidt
2022	The Gray Man	Six's Father
2023	Fancy Dance	Frank
	Eileen	Jim Dunlop
	Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse	George Stacy	Voice
	Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning	Jasper Briggs
2024	Lake George	Don
2025	Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning	Jasper Briggs
	F1	Chip Hart
TBA	The Stalemate	TBA	Filming

Television Roles

Video Games

See also

In Spanish: Shea Whigham para niños