Chris Messina

Chris Messina is an American actor born on August 11, 1974, in Northport, New York, where he studied theater during high school. He attended Marymount Manhattan College before dropping out after one semester, subsequently training privately with acting teachers in Manhattan. He began his professional career as an off-Broadway performer before expanding into stage, film, and television work.

Messina made his Broadway debut in 2003, appearing in the play Salome. His stage work developed alongside early television appearances in series including Law & Order, Third Watch, and Medium. He also starred in an HBO pilot, Anatomy of Hope, directed by J. J. Abrams and co-starring Simon Callow, though the project was not picked up to series. In October 2007, Daily Variety included him on a list of ten actors to watch.

His television career includes a recurring role as Ted Fairwell in the fifth and final season of the HBO drama Six Feet Under, followed by appearances as Chris Sanchez in the Audience Network legal thriller Damages during its fourth and fifth seasons, and as Reese Lansing in the HBO political drama The Newsroom. Messina became widely recognized for portraying Dr. Danny Castellano as a series regular on the Fox and Hulu sitcom The Mindy Project from 2012 to 2017, a role that earned him two nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. His character was phased out in seasons four and five before returning in three episodes of the sixth and final season. Subsequent television credits include Richard Willis in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects opposite Amy Adams in 2018, Nick Haas in the USA Network crime drama The Sinner in 2020, Angelo Lano in the Starz political miniseries Gaslit in 2022, and Nathan Bartlett in the Peacock comedy thriller Based on a True Story in 2023.

Messina's film work spans several decades and genres. Early credits include Rounders, The Siege, and You've Got Mail. Later appearances include Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Julie & Julia, Devil, Argo, Ruby Sparks, Celeste and Jesse Forever, Cake, Towelhead, and Ben Affleck's crime drama Live by Night. In 2020 he played mob killer Victor Zsasz in Birds of Prey, and that same year appeared in I Care a Lot, in which he portrayed attorney Dean Ericson. Additional film credits include Call Jane, Air, and The Boogeyman. Messina also wrote, executive produced, and starred in the 2012 comedy film Fairhaven, and in 2014 directed and starred in the independent drama Alex of Venice, featuring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Don Johnson, and Matthew Del Negro. The film Monogamy, in which he starred alongside Rashida Jones, premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival and won the jury prize for Best New York Narrative. In 2014 he also appeared in the music video for Sam Smith's song I'm Not the Only One.

Messina was previously married to actress Rosemarie DeWitt for twelve years, with the marriage ending in 2006. He and his second wife, Jennifer Todd, have two sons.