Acting
Mar 19, 1970
New York City, New York, USA
Michael Rapaport
Acting
Biography
Michael Rapaport is an American actor, comedian, and podcast host who has built a prolific, decades-long career playing memorable characters across film, television, and comedy. Emerging in the early 1990s as a distinct character actor known for his gritty New York persona, fast-talking delivery, and comedic timing, he made his feature film debut in Zebrahead (1992) before landing his breakout dramatic role as a naive marine in Tony Scott's crime classic True Romance (1993). He quickly established himself as a versatile fixture of '90s cinema, delivering standout performances in critically acclaimed films such as Poetic Justice (1993), John Singleton's Higher Learning (1995), Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995), the crime drama Cop Land (1997), and the comedy Deep Blue Sea (1999). In television, Rapaport has maintained an equally robust presence, starring as Phoebe Buffay's police officer boyfriend Gary in NBC’s Friends, playing the lead role of a suburban father in the Fox sitcom The War at Home, and taking on major dramatic arcs in critically acclaimed series like Boston Public, Justified, Atypical, and Only Murders in the Building. Beyond scripted acting and voice work—including his prominent voice role as Ogre in the animated series The PJs—he has achieved widespread recognition as a sports and political commentator, documentary filmmaker (directing the acclaimed Beats, Rhymes & Travels: A Tribe Called Quest Documentary), and host of several popular podcasts, cementing his status as a ubiquitous and outspoken fixture in modern American entertainment.
Feature Films (89)
Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.
True Romance
Freddy Heflin is the sheriff of a place everyone calls “Cop Land” — a small and seemingly peaceful town populated by the big city police officers he’s long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town’s peaceful facade. And when Freddy uncovers a massive, deadly conspiracy among these local residents, he is forced to take action and make a dangerous choice between protecting his idols and upholding the law.
Cop Land
A loser of a crook and his wife strike it rich when a botched bank job's cover business becomes a spectacular success.
Small Time Crooks
Russ Richards is a TV weatherman and local celebrity on the verge of losing his shirt. Desperate to escape financial ruin, he schemes with Crystal the TV station's lotto ball girl to rig the state lottery drawing. The numbers come up right, but everything else goes wrong as the plan starts to unravel and the game turns rough.
Lucky Numbers
Hardened criminal Maggie Hayward's consistent violence, even in police custody, ends in the execution chamber. However, top-secret US government agent 'Bob' arranges a staged death, so Maggie can be elaborately trained as a phantom killer and subdued into obedience.
Point of No Return
Television & Series (56)
Talkshow with Spike Feresten was an American late-night talk show television program on Fox starring Spike Feresten that aired from September 16, 2006 to May 16, 2009. It was the longest-running late night talk show in Fox's history, with three seasons. Unlike most late-night talk shows in the United States, it only aired on Saturday nights.
Talkshow with Spike Feresten
Principal Steven Harper runs Winslow High School as best as he can while dealing with the demands of the faculty, the students and their parents.
Boston Public
Dinner for Five is a television program in which actor/filmmaker Jon Favreau and a revolving guest list of celebrities eat, drink and talk about life on and off the set and swap stories about projects past and present. The program seats screen legends next to a variety of personalities from film, television, music and comedy, resulting in an unpredictable free-for-all. The program aired on the Independent Film Channel with Favreau the co-Executive Producer with Peter Billingsley. The show format is a spontaneous, open forum for people in the entertainment community. The idea, originally conceived by Favreau, originated from a time when he went out to dinner with colleagues on a film location and exchanged filming anecdotes. Favreau said, "I thought it would be interesting to show people that side of the business". He did not want to present them in a "sensationalized way [that] they're presented in the press, but as normal people". The format featured Favreau and four guests from the entertainment industry in a restaurant with no other diners. They ordered actual food from real menus and were served by authentic waiters. There were no cue cards or previous research on the participants that would have allowed him to orchestrate the conversation and the guests were allowed to talk about whatever they wanted. The show used five cameras with the operators using long lenses so that they could be at least ten feet away from the table and not intrude on the conversation or make the guests self-conscious. The conversations lasted until the film ran out. A 25-minutes episode would be edited from the two-hour dinner.
