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