
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.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Chris Ellis (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 0.489 |
Birthday | 1956-04-14 |
Place of Birth | Dallas, Texas, USA |
Also Known As |

1998

Armageddon
6.838/8059
When an asteroid threatens to collide with Earth, NASA honcho Dan Truman determines the only way to stop it is to drill into its surface and detonate...
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Armageddon

1998

Godzilla
5.6/3944
French nuclear tests irradiate an iguana into a giant monster that viciously attacks freighter ships in the Pacific Ocean. A team of experts, includin...
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Godzilla

1995

Apollo 13
7.447/5488
The true story of technical troubles that scuttle the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, risking the lives of astronaut Jim Lovell and his crew, with th...
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Apollo 13

1997

Bean
6.5/2434
Childlike Englishman, Mr. Bean, is an incompetent watchman at the Royal National Gallery. After the museum's board of directors' attempt to have him f...
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Bean

2002

Catch Me If You Can
8/15922
A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor...
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Catch Me If You Can

2007

Live Free or Die Hard
6.627/5912
John McClane is back and badder than ever, and this time he calls on the services of a young hacker in his bid to stop a ring of Internet terrorists i...
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Live Free or Die Hard

1992

My Cousin Vinny
7.5/1631
Two carefree pals from Brooklyn traveling through rural Alabama on their way back to college are mistakenly arrested, and charged with murder. Fortuna...
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My Cousin Vinny

2000

The Watcher
5.112/501
FBI agent Joel Campbell, burnt-out and shell-shocked after years spent chasing serial killers, flees L.A. to begin a new life for himself in Chicago....
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The Watcher

1997

Sparkler
2.5/2
Melba is a Californian trailer-park girl who is told to look for three kings by a phone psychic, and when she meets three guys - Trent, Brad and Joel...
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Sparkler

2008

Gospel Hill
4.826/23
Gospel Hill tells the intersecting story of two men in the fictional South Carolina town of Julia. Danny Glover plays John Malcolm, the son of a slain...
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Gospel Hill

2004

In Enemy Hands
5.75/104
At the height of Hitler's infamous U-boat war, the crew of the U.S.S. Swordfish were heading home after months at sea. They never made it. Now prisone...
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In Enemy Hands

1998

Home Fries
5.1/99
Dorian and Angus chase down their womanizing stepfather with a helicopter, frightening him to death. In his effort to cover their tracks, Dorian begin...
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Home Fries

2009

Teenage Dirtbag
6.4/22
A popular high school girl is harassed by a delinquent boy until they are placed in creative writing class together. Through written words, they creat...
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Teenage Dirtbag

2003

My Dinner with Jimi
4.3/3
The story of the night The Turtles met The Beatles and Howard Kaylan had dinner with Jimi Hendrix.
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My Dinner with Jimi

1999

October Sky
7.7/1261
Based on the true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wish...
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October Sky

1997

Wag the Dog
6.955/958
During the final weeks of a presidential race, the President is accused of sexual misconduct. To distract the public until the election, the President...
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Wag the Dog

2009

G-Force
5.452/1889
A team of trained secret agent animals, guinea pigs Darwin, Hurley, Juarez, Blaster, mole Speckles, and fly Mooch takes on a mission for the US govern...
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G-Force

1994

In the Line of Duty: The Price of Vengeance
3.5/2
A criminal gang commits a string of violent robberies and murders, culminating in the assassination of the police detective on the case, which may lea...
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In the Line of Duty: The Price of Vengeance

2014

Jessabelle
5.4/797
A young woman recuperating at her father's run-down home after a tragic accident soon encounters a terrifying presence with a connection to her long-d...
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Jessabelle

2004

Tiger Cruise
6/33
On its last leg homeward, from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to San Diego, the USS Constellation hosts a jolly "tiger cruise" for US Navy, Marines and USNAF re...
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Tiger Cruise

2004

Helter Skelter
5.893/70
The rise of Charles Manson and his "family," who are responsible for a series of famous murders in the late 1960s. Manson, a magnetic and mysterious m...
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Helter Skelter

1993

Undercover Blues
6/156
When fun-loving American agents Jeff and Jane Blue are called back from maternity leave for a special assignment in New Orleans, the spy parents decid...
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Undercover Blues

2006

Sissy Frenchfry
5/3
The annual Student Body President election at wildly eclectic and diverse West Beach High pits the quirky, much-beloved incumbent Sissy Frenchfry agai...
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Sissy Frenchfry

1996

That Thing You Do!
6.9/848
A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager.
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That Thing You Do!

2014

Faults
6.7/229
Claire is under the grip of a mysterious new cult called Faults. Desperate to be reunited with their daughter, Claire's parents recruit one of the wor...
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Faults

1995

A Little Princess
7.6/982
When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended...
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A Little Princess

2002

Love Liza
6.3/107
Following the unexplained suicide of his wife Liza, website designer Wilson Joel turns to huffing gasoline fumes and remote control gaming while avoid...
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Love Liza

2024

The Ghost Trap
0/0
The story of Jamie Eugley, a young lobsterman struggling with the grinding responsibilities of a head-injured fiancée and a mounting trap war with a r...
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The Ghost Trap

2001

Beyond the City Limits
5.4/14
Three women outsmart unsavory men who try to cheat them out of their take in an almost-botched casino heist.
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Beyond the City Limits

2012

The Dark Knight Rises
7.784/23036
Following the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman assumes responsibility for Dent's crimes to protect the late attorney's reputation and is...
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The Dark Knight Rises

2018

What Still Remains
5.1/44
After the loss of her family, a young woman struggles to survive in a world long-since destroyed by disease; but when a lonely traveler offers her a p...
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What Still Remains

2008

Crazy
5.5/16
Crazy is the story of a legendary guitar player who emerged from Nashville in the 1950s. Blessed with incomparable, natural talent, Hank Garland quick...
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Crazy

2004

Death and Texas
6/3
Barefoot Bobby Briggs, the legendary running back for the Austin Steers was today sentenced to die for his role in the armed robbery/murder at a downt...
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Death and Texas

1995

The Tie That Binds
4.8/25
A young couple adopts a traumatized child, unaware that her parents are fugitives and murderers who will do anything to get her back.
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The Tie That Binds

2017

The Show
5.7/204
An unsettling look at reality television, where a disturbing game show has its contestants ending their lives for the public's enjoyment.
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The Show

2007

Transformers
6.812/11461
Young teenager Sam Witwicky becomes involved in the ancient struggle between two extraterrestrial factions of transforming robots – the heroic Autobot...
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Transformers

2017

Pitching Tents
5.6/27
In a working-class town in 1984, a high school senior's future creates a tug-of-war between his no-nonsense father and his crackpot guidance counselor...
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Pitching Tents

1996

If These Walls Could Talk
6.6/73
A powerful, intimate portrait of three women living in the same house during different eras who all face unplanned pregnancies. The vignettes follow a...
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If These Walls Could Talk

2005

The Island
6.674/5443
In 2019, Lincoln Six-Echo is a resident of a seemingly "Utopian" but contained facility. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully-controlled envi...
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The Island

2001

Planet of the Apes
5.8/4135
After a spectacular crash-landing on an uncharted planet, brash astronaut Leo Davidson finds himself trapped in a savage world where talking apes domi...
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Planet of the Apes

2017

Amelia 2.0
5.5/33
After his wife Amelia suffers an aneurysm that leaves her bedridden and slowly dying, police officer Carter Summerland searches for a way to revive he...
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Amelia 2.0

2018

The Oath
5.7/99
In a politically-divided United States, a man struggles to make it through the Thanksgiving holiday without destroying his family.
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The Oath

2018

Kenny
0/0
A story of loss, grieving, independence, and family dysfunction. Kenny is a thirtysomething burnout who sacrifices his own dreams to care for his dyin...
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Kenny

1996

Her Costly Affair
4/6
A professor's casual fling with her graduate student turns deadly when he insists on a more permanent arrangement.
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Her Costly Affair

1993

Addams Family Values
6.9/3045
Siblings Wednesday and Pugsley Addams will stop at nothing to get rid of Pubert, the new baby boy adored by parents Gomez and Morticia. Things go from...
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Addams Family Values

2001

Daddy and Them
5.5/35
Ruby and her husband Claude are a working-class couple who live in suburban Arkansas. As crazy as they are for each other, their relationship is far f...
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Daddy and Them

2005

Fun with Dick and Jane
6.2/2471
After Dick Harper loses his job at Globodyne in an Enron-esque collapse, he and his wife, Jane, turn to crime in order to handle the massive debt they...
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Fun with Dick and Jane

2005

The Devil's Rejects
6.7/1439
The murderous, backwoods Firefly family take to the road to escape the vengeful Sheriff Wydell, who is not afraid of being as ruthless as his target.
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The Devil's Rejects

2001

Domestic Disturbance
5.764/437
Frank Morrison is a divorced father with a 12-year-old son, Danny. His ex-wife Susan and son Danny now live with Rick Barnes, Susan's new husband. Dan...
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Domestic Disturbance

2014

The Guest
6.647/1978
A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into the...
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The Guest

1990

Days of Thunder
6.4/1505
Talented but unproven stock car driver Cole Trickle gets a break and with the guidance of veteran Harry Hogge turns heads on the track. The young hots...
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Days of Thunder

1997

Con Air
6.748/4285
Newly-paroled former US Army ranger Cameron Poe is headed back to his wife, but must fly home aboard a prison transport flight dubbed "Jailbird" takin...
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Con Air

1995

Crimson Tide
7.169/1793
After the Cold War, a breakaway Russian republic with nuclear warheads becomes a possible worldwide threat. U.S. submarine Capt. Frank Ramsey signs on...
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Crimson Tide

2021

Silo
4.6/8
Disaster strikes in a small American farm town when teenager Cody Rose becomes the victim of a grain entrapment accident. As corn becomes quicksand in...
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Silo

1982

Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
5/5
The adventures and misadventures of Tom and Huck on the Mississippi River in Missouri with their involvement when they fall in with a gang of con arti...
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Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn

2006

Believe in Me
6.7/13
In a conservative small town, a young man's wish to coach high school basketball are tweaked by a school board decision that makes him the new coach o...
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