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