Chris Ellis
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.
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Full Filmography
All Credits (107)
The Ghost Trap
as Doug Kane
Silo
as Mr. Adler
9-1-1: Lone Star
as Derek Poole
Homecoming
as Richard Lehmann
Kenny
as Al
The Oath
as Hank
What Still Remains
as Harvey
Young Sheldon
as Marty Steinbecker
The Show
as Keller
Amelia 2.0
as Senator Thaddeus Williams
Pitching Tents
as Principal Don Bishop
McFarland, USA
as Coach Jenks (as Chris Ellis Jr.)
K.C. Undercover
as Christos Markos
Jessabelle
as Sheriff Pruitt
The Guest
as Hendricks
Faults
as Dad
The Dark Knight Rises
as Fr. Reilly
Political Animals
as Jubal Jacobs
The Finder
as Warden Nick Larsen
Fairly Legal
as Maddox Resor
Harry's Law
as Unknown
Law & Order: LA
as Walter Exley
The Good Guys
as Beau Teague
Justified
as Douglas Cooper
Teenage Dirtbag
as Pops
G-Force
as NSA Director
Warehouse 13
as Colonel Arnold Cassell
The Mentalist
as Sherrif Mullery
In Plain Sight
as Reidell
Crazy
as Glen the Carousel Manager
Gospel Hill
as L Donn Murray
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
as Hayes
Mad Men
as Del Hill
Burn Notice
as Virgil Watkins
Live Free or Die Hard
as Capt. Jack Scalvino
Believe in Me
as Jim Stovall
Vanished
as Shelton
Sissy Frenchfry
as Willinger McDodey
The Unit
as Congressman Bruce Gelber
The Darkroom
as Jackson
Fun with Dick and Jane
as Vice President - Grand Cayman Bank
Ghost Whisperer
as Captain Ken Nilsen
Criminal Minds
as Sheriff Rhodes
The Devil's Rejects
as Coggs
The Island
as Aces & Spades Barman
The Office
as Chris O'Keefe
Veronica Mars
as Reverend Ted Capistrano
CSI: NY
as Vincent Williams
Tiger Cruise
as Captain Anderson
Helter Skelter
as Sgt. Whiteley
Death and Texas
as Phillip Brodeur
In Enemy Hands
as Samuel Littleton
Wonderland
as Captain Nimziki
Cold Case
as Jim Horn (2008)
NCIS
as John Deluca
Las Vegas
as Dr. Sassen
My Dinner with Jimi
as Sergeant
Love Liza
as Patriot Model Aeronautics Clerk
Catch Me If You Can
as Special Agent Witkins
Birds of Prey
as Larry Ketterly
First Monday
as Unknown
Beyond the City Limits
as Det. Hanson
Domestic Disturbance
as Detective Warren
Daddy and Them
as Dewey
Alias
as Agent Chapman
Six Feet Under
as Construction Worker #2
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
as Clinton Malton
The Watcher
as Hollis
Roswell
as T. Greer
The West Wing
as Congressman Fields
Family Law
as Mr. Reese
Atomic Train
as Ed Brown
October Sky
as Principal Turner
Home Fries
as Henry Lever
Armageddon
as Flight Director Clark
From the Earth to the Moon
as Bob Parker
On the Line
as Officer Roux
Wag the Dog
as Officer
Sparkler
as Buddy #1
Bean
as Detective Butler
Con Air
as BOP Official Grant
The Practice
as Zoning Board Chairman Donald Blane
Her Costly Affair
as Wes
Millennium
as Jim Penseyres
That Thing You Do!
as Phil Horace
The Pretender
as Daniel Crockett
Promised Land
as Brian Pascal
If These Walls Could Talk
as Crowd Leader
Arli$$
as Henneman
Arli$$
as Maynard Dupree
Space: Above and Beyond
as Adm. Stenner
Murder One
as Mr. Switzer
The Tie That Binds
as Security Guard #1
Apollo 13
as Deke Slayton
Crimson Tide
as Additional Magician
A Little Princess
as Policeman
Chicago Hope
as Bill Erskine
In the Line of Duty: The Price of Vengeance
as News Vendor
Addams Family Values
as Moving Man
Diagnosis: Murder
as Leonard Wilson
NYPD Blue
as Marshal
Undercover Blues
as Burt
The X-Files
as Sheriff Lance Hindt
Melrose Place
as Cop
My Cousin Vinny
as J.T.
Days of Thunder
as Harlem Hoogerhyde
Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
as Clown