Chris Ellis
Acting
Born: April 14, 1956 (age 70) · Dallas, Texas, USA
Highest Rated
Biography
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.
Known for
The Dark Knight Rises
2012
Catch Me If You Can
2002
Transformers
2007
Armageddon
1998
Live Free or Die Hard
2007
Apollo 13
1995
The Island
2005
The Office
2005
Con Air
1997
Planet of the Apes
2001
The Mentalist
2008
Godzilla
1998
Photos (2)
Movies (60)
The Dark Knight Rises
Fr. Reilly
Catch Me If You Can
Special Agent Witkins
Live Free or Die Hard
Capt. Jack Scalvino
Crimson Tide
Additional Magician
The Island
Aces & Spades Barman
Planet of the Apes
Commander Karl Vasich
Armageddon
Flight Director Clark
Con Air
BOP Official Grant
Days of Thunder
Harlem Hoogerhyde
Addams Family Values
Moving Man
Apollo 13
Deke Slayton
That Thing You Do!
Phil Horace
G-Force
NSA Director
Bean
Detective Butler
My Cousin Vinny
J.T.
The Devil's Rejects
Coggs
The Watcher
Hollis
The Guest
Hendricks
Fun with Dick and Jane
Vice President - Grand Cayman Bank
Godzilla
General Anderson
In Enemy Hands
Samuel Littleton
Transformers
Admiral Brigham
October Sky
Principal Turner
McFarland, USA
Coach Jenks (as Chris Ellis Jr.)
Wag the Dog
Officer
Domestic Disturbance
Detective Warren
Wonderland
Captain Nimziki
Jessabelle
Sheriff Pruitt
A Little Princess
Policeman
The Show
Keller
Tiger Cruise
Captain Anderson
The Oath
Hank
Home Fries
Henry Lever
Undercover Blues
Burt
Love Liza
Patriot Model Aeronautics Clerk
Daddy and Them
Dewey
If These Walls Could Talk
Crowd Leader
Helter Skelter
Sgt. Whiteley
Faults
Dad
The Tie That Binds
Security Guard #1
Believe in Me
Jim Stovall
The Darkroom
Jackson
Amelia 2.0
Senator Thaddeus Williams
The Ghost Trap
Doug Kane
Crazy
Glen the Carousel Manager
Teenage Dirtbag
Pops
What Still Remains
Harvey
Gospel Hill
L Donn Murray
Her Costly Affair
Wes
Pitching Tents
Principal Don Bishop
In the Line of Duty: The Price of Vengeance
News Vendor
My Dinner with Jimi
Sergeant
Silo
Mr. Adler
Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
Clown
Beyond the City Limits
Det. Hanson
On the Line
Officer Roux
Death and Texas
Phillip Brodeur
Sparkler
Buddy #1
Sissy Frenchfry
Willinger McDodey
Kenny
Al
TV Shows (50)
The Office
Chris O'Keefe · 1 eps
NCIS
John Deluca · 1 eps
The Mentalist
Sherrif Mullery · 1 eps
Criminal Minds
Sheriff Rhodes · 1 eps
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Clinton Malton · 1 eps
Young Sheldon
Marty Steinbecker · 1 eps
The X-Files
Sheriff Lance Hindt · 1 eps
Diagnosis: Murder
Leonard Wilson · 1 eps
The West Wing
Congressman Fields · 1 eps
NYPD Blue
Marshal · 1 eps
CSI: NY
Vincent Williams · 1 eps
Mad Men
Del Hill · 1 eps
Melrose Place
Cop · 1 eps
Cold Case
Jim Horn (2008) · 1 eps
Ghost Whisperer
Captain Ken Nilsen · 2 eps
Chicago Hope
Bill Erskine · 1 eps
The Practice
Zoning Board Chairman Donald Blane · 1 eps
Burn Notice
Virgil Watkins · 2 eps
Las Vegas
Dr. Sassen · 1 eps
Veronica Mars
Reverend Ted Capistrano · 1 eps
9-1-1: Lone Star
Derek Poole · 1 eps
Justified
Douglas Cooper · 1 eps
Six Feet Under
Construction Worker #2 · 1 eps
Warehouse 13
Colonel Arnold Cassell · 1 eps
The Unit
Congressman Bruce Gelber · 3 eps
The Pretender
Daniel Crockett · 1 eps
Millennium
Jim Penseyres · 3 eps
Arli$$
Henneman · 1 eps
Arli$$
Maynard Dupree · 1 eps
Roswell
T. Greer · 1 eps
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Hayes · 2 eps
In Plain Sight
Reidell · 1 eps
K.C. Undercover
Christos Markos · 1 eps
Murder One
Mr. Switzer · 1 eps
Family Law
Mr. Reese · 1 eps
Law & Order: LA
Walter Exley · 1 eps
Harry's Law
1 eps
Fairly Legal
Maddox Resor · 1 eps
From the Earth to the Moon
Bob Parker · 1 eps
The Finder
Warden Nick Larsen · 1 eps
Homecoming
Richard Lehmann · 1 eps
The Good Guys
Beau Teague · 1 eps
Promised Land
Brian Pascal · 1 eps
Alias
Agent Chapman · 1 eps
Birds of Prey
Larry Ketterly · 1 eps
Space: Above and Beyond
Adm. Stenner · 1 eps
Vanished
Shelton · 1 eps
Political Animals
Jubal Jacobs · 1 eps
Atomic Train
Ed Brown · 2 eps
First Monday
1 eps