Michael Shannon

Michael Corbett Shannon was born on August 7, 1974, in Lexington, Kentucky, to Donald Sutherlin Shannon, an accounting professor at DePaul University, and Geraldine Hine, a lawyer. His paternal grandfather was entomologist Raymond Corbett Shannon. Following his parents' divorce, Shannon divided his time between his mother's home in Lexington and his father's home in Chicago. He attended New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Illinois, then Henry Clay High School in Lexington, where he participated in the Lexington Children's Theatre summer camp and played bass in a band called The Jehovah Suspects. He completed his secondary education at Evanston Township High School in Chicago, leaving after one semester.

Shannon built his early theatrical foundation in Chicago, where he helped establish A Red Orchid Theatre and worked with both the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Northlight Theatre. He originated the role of Peter Evans in Bug in 1996, later reprising it in the 2006 film adaptation. His roles in Bug and Killer Joe were written by Steppenwolf ensemble member Tracy Letts. Shannon also appeared in a West End production of Woyzeck in London, directed by Sarah Kane, and in 2008 was featured in the off-Broadway production of Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Little Flower of East Orange, presented by LAByrinth Theater Company and The Public Theater under the direction of Philip Seymour Hoffman. In 2010, he starred in the one-man play Mistakes Were Made at the Barrow Street Theatre in New York City, a production he had previously performed at A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago in 2009.

Shannon made his Broadway debut in 2012 in Grace, written by Craig Wright, appearing alongside Paul Rudd and Ed Asner. He returned to Broadway in 2016 in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, playing James Tyrone Jr., a performance that earned him both a Tony Award nomination and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. His third Broadway credit was Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, with his Broadway appearances spanning from 2012 to 2019.

Shannon's screen career began with a film debut in Groundhog Day in 1993, in which he played a wedding groom. Subsequent film appearances included Jesus' Son, Pearl Harbor, Kangaroo Jack, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. His profile rose considerably with the 2008 romantic drama Revolutionary Road, in which he played the clinically unstable son of neighbors to characters portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The role earned him the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor and his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He continued his film work with The Iceman in 2012, in which he portrayed mob hitman Richard Kuklinski, and took on the role of General Zod in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel in 2013, a character he later reprised in The Flash in 2023.

Shannon has been a frequent collaborator with director Jeff Nichols, appearing in every film Nichols has directed, beginning with Shotgun Stories in 2007 and continuing through Take Shelter, Mud, Midnight Special, Loving, and The Bikeriders in 2023. His performance in Take Shelter earned him a Saturn Award for Best Actor. In 2015, his portrayal of housing agent Rick Carver in 99 Homes brought him nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. The following year, his role as a detective in the psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals earned him a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Also in 2016, he portrayed Elvis Presley in Elvis & Nixon, opposite Kevin Spacey as President Richard Nixon. In 2017, Shannon played Colonel Richard Strickland in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Picture. He joined the ensemble cast of Rian Johnson's Knives Out in 2019, portraying Walt Thrombey.

On television, Shannon played Federal Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden in the HBO period drama Boardwalk Empire from 2010 to 2014, a role for which he won two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He starred as Gary Noesner, head of the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit, in Waco on Paramount Network in 2018, later reprising the role and serving as executive producer on the follow-up series Waco: The Aftermath on Showtime in 2023. In 2021, he played Napoleon Marconi in the Hulu miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers, based on Liane Moriarty's novel. His portrayal of country musician George Jones in Showtime's George & Tammy in 2022 earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. In 2025, Shannon starred as President James A. Garfield in the Netflix miniseries Death by Lightning and appeared as judge Robert H. Jackson in the film Nuremberg.