Chris Ellis
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Apr 14, 1956 (age 70)
- Place of birth
- Dallas, Texas, USA
- Credits
- 109
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
2012Movie
Fr. Reilly
Catch Me If You Can
2002Movie
Special Agent Witkins
Transformers
2007Movie
Admiral Brigham
Armageddon
1998Movie
Flight Director Clark
Live Free or Die Hard
2007Movie
Capt. Jack Scalvino
Apollo 13
1995Movie
Deke Slayton
Filmography
The Ghost Trap
2024Movie
Doug Kane
Silo
2021Movie
Mr. Adler
9-1-1: Lone Star
2020TV
Derek Poole
Homecoming
2018TV
Richard Lehmann
Kenny
2018Movie
Al
The Oath
2018Movie
Hank
What Still Remains
2018Movie
Harvey
Young Sheldon
2017TV
Marty Steinbecker
The Show
2017Movie
Keller
Amelia 2.0
2017Movie
Senator Thaddeus Williams
Pitching Tents
2017Movie
Principal Don Bishop
McFarland, USA
2015Movie
Coach Jenks (as Chris Ellis Jr.)
K.C. Undercover
2015TV
Christos Markos
Jessabelle
2014Movie
Sheriff Pruitt
The Guest
2014Movie
Hendricks
Faults
2014Movie
Dad
The Dark Knight Rises
2012Movie
Fr. Reilly
Political Animals
2012TV
Jubal Jacobs
The Finder
2012TV
Warden Nick Larsen
Fairly Legal
2011TV
Maddox Resor
Harry's Law
2011TV
Law & Order: LA
2010TV
Walter Exley
The Good Guys
2010TV
Beau Teague
Justified
2010TV
Douglas Cooper
Teenage Dirtbag
2009Movie
Pops
G-Force
2009Movie
NSA Director
Warehouse 13
2009TV
Colonel Arnold Cassell
The Mentalist
2008TV
Sherrif Mullery
In Plain Sight
2008TV
Reidell
Crazy
2008Movie
Glen the Carousel Manager
Gospel Hill
2008Movie
L Donn Murray
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
2008TV
Hayes
Mad Men
2007TV
Del Hill
Burn Notice
2007TV
Virgil Watkins
Transformers
2007Movie
Admiral Brigham
Live Free or Die Hard
2007Movie
Capt. Jack Scalvino
Believe in Me
2006Movie
Jim Stovall
Vanished
2006TV
Shelton
Sissy Frenchfry
2006Movie
Willinger McDodey
The Unit
2006TV
Congressman Bruce Gelber
The Darkroom
2006Movie
Jackson
Fun with Dick and Jane
2005Movie
Vice President - Grand Cayman Bank
Ghost Whisperer
2005TV
Captain Ken Nilsen
Criminal Minds
2005TV
Sheriff Rhodes
The Devil's Rejects
2005Movie
Coggs
The Island
2005Movie
Aces & Spades Barman
The Office
2005TV
Chris O'Keefe
Veronica Mars
2004TV
Reverend Ted Capistrano
CSI: NY
2004TV
Vincent Williams
Tiger Cruise
2004Movie
Captain Anderson
Helter Skelter
2004Movie
Sgt. Whiteley
Death and Texas
2004Movie
Phillip Brodeur
In Enemy Hands
2004Movie
Samuel Littleton
Wonderland
2003Movie
Captain Nimziki
Cold Case
2003TV
Jim Horn (2008)
NCIS
2003TV
John Deluca
Las Vegas
2003TV
Dr. Sassen
My Dinner with Jimi
2003Movie
Sergeant
Love Liza
2002Movie
Patriot Model Aeronautics Clerk
Catch Me If You Can
2002Movie
Special Agent Witkins
Birds of Prey
2002TV
Larry Ketterly
First Monday
2002TV
Beyond the City Limits
2001Movie
Det. Hanson
Domestic Disturbance
2001Movie
Detective Warren
Daddy and Them
2001Movie
Dewey
Alias
2001TV
Agent Chapman
Planet of the Apes
2001Movie
Commander Karl Vasich
Six Feet Under
2001TV
Construction Worker #2
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2000TV
Clinton Malton
The Watcher
2000Movie
Hollis
Roswell
1999TV
T. Greer
The West Wing
1999TV
Congressman Fields
Family Law
1999TV
Mr. Reese
Atomic Train
1999TV
Ed Brown
October Sky
1999Movie
Principal Turner
Home Fries
1998Movie
Henry Lever
Armageddon
1998Movie
Flight Director Clark
Godzilla
1998Movie
General Anderson
From the Earth to the Moon
1998TV
Bob Parker
On the Line
1998Movie
Officer Roux
Wag the Dog
1997Movie
Officer
Sparkler
1997Movie
Buddy #1
Bean
1997Movie
Detective Butler
Con Air
1997Movie
BOP Official Grant
The Practice
1997TV
Zoning Board Chairman Donald Blane
Her Costly Affair
1996Movie
Wes
Millennium
1996TV
Jim Penseyres
That Thing You Do!
1996Movie
Phil Horace
The Pretender
1996TV
Daniel Crockett
Promised Land
1996TV
Brian Pascal
If These Walls Could Talk
1996Movie
Crowd Leader
Arli$$
1996TV
Henneman, Maynard Dupree
Space: Above and Beyond
1995TV
Adm. Stenner
Murder One
1995TV
Mr. Switzer
The Tie That Binds
1995Movie
Security Guard #1
Apollo 13
1995Movie
Deke Slayton
Crimson Tide
1995Movie
Additional Magician
A Little Princess
1995Movie
Policeman
Chicago Hope
1994TV
Bill Erskine
In the Line of Duty: The Price of Vengeance
1994Movie
News Vendor
Addams Family Values
1993Movie
Moving Man
Diagnosis: Murder
1993TV
Leonard Wilson
NYPD Blue
1993TV
Marshal
Undercover Blues
1993Movie
Burt
The X-Files
1993TV
Sheriff Lance Hindt
Melrose Place
1992TV
Cop
My Cousin Vinny
1992Movie
J.T.
Days of Thunder
1990Movie
Harlem Hoogerhyde
Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
1982Movie
Clown