Christopher Meloni Biography

Christopher Peter Meloni (born April 2, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and as inmate Chris Keller on the HBO prison drama Oz. In June 2012, he returned to HBO, as the vampire Roman on the main cast of True Blood for the series' fifth season.

His films include Man of Steel, Wet Hot American Summer, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, 12 Monkeys, Runaway Bride, 42, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Early life

Meloni was born in Washington, D.C., the youngest of three children (he has a brother and sister) of Cecile (ne Chagnon; 1926-2016), a homemaker, and Charles Robert Meloni (1927-2012), an endocrinologist. His maternal ancestry is French Canadian and his paternal ancestry is Sardinian (from Italy). Meloni attended St. Stephen's School (now St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School) in Alexandria, Virginia, and played quarterback on the football team. He studied acting at the University of Colorado at Boulder and graduated with a degree in history in 1983. After graduation, Meloni went to New York where he continued his studies with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, as well as the Center for the Media Arts.

Acting career

Meloni worked as a construction worker prior to getting his acting break. He has also worked as a bouncer, bartender, and personal trainer. Meloni worked his way up the acting ladder with commercials, short-lived TV series, and bit parts in a number of films. His first noticeable role was as the hotheaded son of a Mafia Don in the 1996 thriller Bound. He also appeared as Robbie Sinclair's friend Spike in Dinosaurs and Julia Roberts' character's fianc in Runaway Bride.

Oz and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

From 1998 to 2003, Meloni portrayed the bisexual criminal Chris Keller on the HBO series Oz.

Law & Order producer Dick Wolf signed Meloni to play Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 1999; until Oz went off the air in 2003, Meloni appeared on both Oz and Law & Order: SVU simultaneously. In 2006, Meloni was nominated for an Emmy Award, in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, for his role as Elliot Stabler.

In May 2011, Meloni announced that he would not be returning to SVU in fall 2011 for its 13th season after the failure of negotiations over a new contract.

Other work

He returned to his comedic roots when he portrayed the character "Gene" in Wet Hot American Summer in 2001, the puppet-loving pediatrician Dr. Norris in a 2003 episode of Scrubs, and the character of "Freakshow" (albeit in heavy make-up) in the 2004 comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. He would make another cameo in its sequel, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, as "The Grand Wizard". In 2005, he appeared on episode 107 of MTV2's adult puppet show Wonder Showzen in a series of parody public service announcements warning of the threat of cooties. He also had an uncredited role as a, possibly gay, hotel desk clerk in Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.

In July 2009, Meloni portrayed DC Comics character Hal Jordan/Green Lantern in the DC Universe Animated Original Movie Green Lantern: First Flight. He briefly appeared in the first episode of the Comedy Central series Michael & Michael Have Issues portraying himself for a fake movie starring Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter.

Meloni played Colonel Hardy, a supporting role, in the Superman reboot film Man of Steel (2013). That year, he also played Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher in the historical baseball feature 42.

On November 30, 2011, it was announced that Meloni was in talks with HBO to take on a "major" role in the fifth season of True Blood as an "incredibly powerful" vampire. It was later confirmed that he would be taking a role as a series regular for season 5 as Roman, an "ancient, powerful vampire who holds the fate of Bill and Eric in his hands." He also starred in the 2014 comedy They Came Together. He also stars as John Taylor in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Public appearances

Meloni has appeared in many public service announcements in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. In 1999, Meloni jokingly kissed Lee Tergesen (who played Tobias Beecher, Meloni's on-screen boyfriend on Oz) at an awards dinner for GLAAD. In 2006, Meloni was given the Human Rights Campaign's Equality Award, along with actor Jake Gyllenhaal and director Ang Lee, for his work on behalf of LGBT issues. In addition, in 2011, Meloni appeared in a Human Rights Campaign's "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" video.

In 2004 and 2006 respectively, Meloni competed in both the fourth and the eighth series of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown; in the eighth series he finished in second place, behind Robin Tunney, and ahead of Macy Gray, Joy Behar, and Andy Dick. He played for Feed the Children.

He also appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy! on November 10, 2006, defeating fellow Law & Order stars Sam Waterston and Kathryn Erbe. Meloni split his $50,000 charity prize between the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Program and the Montefiore Advocacy Center.

Meloni was included in the 2006 edition of People magazine's Sexiest Men Alive.

Personal life

Meloni has been married to production designer (Doris) Sherman Meloni (ne Williams) since July 1, 1995, and they have two children, daughter Sophia Eva Pietra Meloni (b. March 23, 2001), and son Dante Amadeo Meloni (b. January 2, 2004). Former Law & Order: SVU co-star Mariska Hargitay is the godmother to his daughter.

He has a Cubist-inspired representation of the crucifixion of Christ tattooed on his upper left arm, as well as a butterfly tattoo on his left upper thigh and a Chinese astrological chart of his family on his right lower leg. In 2007, Meloni was inducted into his high school's athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the undefeated 1978 football team, for which he was quarterback.

Meloni currently resides in Los Angeles in a home made famous on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Clean Slate	Bodyguard
1994	Junior	Mr. Lanzarotta
1995	12 Monkeys	Lt. Halperin
1996	Bound	Johnnie Marzzone
1997	Money Talks	SPY
1998	Brown's Requiem	Sgt. Cavanah	Uncredited role
1998	Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Sven, Clerk at Flamingo Hotel
1998	The Souler Opposite	Barry Singer
1999	Carlo's Wake	Bennetto Torello
1999	Runaway Bride	Bob Kelly
2001	Wet Hot American Summer	Gene Jenkinson
2002	That Brief Moment	Ken	Short film
2004	Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle	Freakshow
2008	Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay	Grand Wizard	Credited as "Reverend Clyde Stanky"
2008	Nights in Rodanthe	Jack Willis
2009	Brief Interviews with Hideous Men	R / Subject #3
2009	Carriers	Frank
2010	Green Lantern: First Flight	Hal Jordan/Green Lantern	Voice
2011	National Lampoon's Dirty Movie	Producer Charlie LaRue
2013	Awful Nice	Jon Charbineau
2013	Man of Steel	Colonel Nathan Hardy
2013	42	Leo Durocher
2014	Beef	Lou
2014	White Bird in a Blizzard	Brock Connors
2014	Small Time	Al Klein
2014	They Came Together	Roland
2014	Sin City: A Dame to Kill For	Mort
2015	The Diary of a Teenage Girl	Pascal MacCorkill
2016	I Am Wrath	Dennis
2016	Marauders	Agent Jonathan Montgomery
2016	Holding Patterns	Howard
2017	Snatched	Roger Simmons

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989-1990	1st & Ten	Vito Del Greco/Johnny Gunn	11 episodes
1990	When Will I Be Loved?	Ron Weston	TV film
1990-1991	'	Frankie Fanelli	17 episodes
1991	In a Child's Name	Jerry Cimarelli	TV film
1991-1994	Dinosaurs	Spike	11 episodes
1992	Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story	David	TV film
1993	Without a Kiss Goodbye	Ray Samuels	TV film aka Falsely Accused
1993	The Boys	Doug Kirkfield
1993	Golden Gate	Douglas 'BW' Carlino	Unsold pilot
1995	A Dangerous Affair	Tommy Moretti	TV film
1995	Hope and Gloria	Billy	Episode: "Love with an Improper Stranger"
1995	Misery Loves Company	Mitch	8 episodes
1996-1997	NYPD Blue	Jimmy Liery	5 episodes
1997	The Last Don	Boz Skannet	Miniseries
1997	Leaving L.A.	Reed Sims	6 episodes
1997	Every 9 Seconds	Richard Sutherland	TV film
1997	Brooklyn South	Joe	3 episodes
1998	Target Earth	Det. Samuel 'Sam' Adams	TV film
1998	Homicide: Life on the Street	Bounty Hunter Dennis Knoll	2 episodes
1998-2003	Oz	Chris Keller	38 episodes
1999	Shift	Louis	TV film
1999-2011	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Det. Elliot Stabler	272 episodes
2000	Law & Order	Elliot Stabler	2 episodes; "Entitled" and "Fools for Love"
2002	Murder in Greenwich	Mark Fuhrman	TV film
2003	Scrubs	Dr. Dave Norris	Episode: "My White Whale"
2005	Wonder Showzen	Cooties Spokesman	Episode: "Health"
2005	Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Elliot Stabler	Episode: "Day"
2008	Gym Teacher: The Movie	Dave Stewie	TV film
2009	Michael & Michael Have Issues	Himself	Episode: "Greg the Intern"
2011	The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Tony Bologna	Cameo
2011	Ice Loves Coco	Himself	Cameo
2012	True Blood	Roman Zimojic	5 episodes
2013	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Dr. Phillip Banhauser	Episode: "Aziz Ansari Wears a Charcoal Blazer"
2014	Veep	Ray Whelans	2 episodes
2014	Surviving Jack	Jack Dunlevy	8 episodes (8th episode not shown on US network)
2015	The Jack and Triumph Show	Agent Ryker	Episode: "Siri"
2015	Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp	Gene Jenkinson/Jonas Jurgenson	Main cast (6 episodes)
2015	Drunk History	Othniel Marsh	Episode: "New Jersey"
2016-2017	Underground	August Pullman	Main cast (15 episodes) Directed episode: "Auld Acquaintance"
2017	Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later	Gene Jenkinson	4 episodes
2017	Happy!	Nick Sax	Lead role

Video game

List of voiced performances in video games

Year	Title	Role
2015	Call of Duty: Black Ops III	Commander John Taylor

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

• 2006: Nominated, "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

PRISM Awards

• 2004: Nominated, "Performance in a TV Drama Series Episode" - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• 2008: Nominated, "Performance in a TV Drama Series Episode" - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit