Neil Flynn Biography

Neil Richard Flynn (born November 13, 1960) is an American actor and comedian, known for his role as Janitor on the NBC/ABC medical comedy-drama Scrubs. He currently portrays Mike Heck on the ABC sitcom The Middle. In many of his acting roles, he has portrayed a police officer.

Early life

Flynn was born on the south side of Chicago. He is of Irish descent and was raised Roman Catholic. He moved to Waukegan, Illinois, at an early age. As a student at Waukegan East High School in 1978, he and partner Mike Shklair won an Illinois Individual Events state championship for "Humorous Duet Acting." He attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity and participated on the Bradley University Speech Team. After graduating in 1982, Flynn returned to Chicago to pursue an acting career.

Career

In Chicago, he acted with the renowned Goodman and Steppenwolf theaters. Flynn was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award (Actor in a Principal Role, for The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, 1986). He also performed at the Improv Olympic and the Second City Comedy Troupe.

Although his role on Scrubs had been to that point the most visible, he had other small roles in a variety of different TV shows and movies, including That '70s Show, Baby's Day Out, CSI, My Boys, Seinfeld, and Smallville.

In The Fugitive, he plays a Chicago police officer who is killed by the one-armed man, Frederick Sykes (Andreas Katsulas) while he is fighting Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), Chicago Police Department detectives to hunt Ford's character. This role was used in a subplot of the Scrubs episode "My Friend the Doctor" when J.D. (Zach Braff) notices Flynn's character in the film, and believes that Flynn's Janitor character is the actor in the film. In 2008, he worked with Harrison Ford again, playing a suspicious law enforcement official as FBI agent Smith in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Flynn had a minor role in Mean Girls as the father of Lindsay Lohan's character. He then played the part of an anonymous police officer in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; this scene was cut out of the final version of the film, though it can be viewed in the straight-to-DVD spin-off film Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, and in the deleted scenes of the Anchorman DVD. He had a minor role in Major League as a longshoreman and fan of the Cleveland Indians. Flynn had a role on Phil Hendrie's animated pilot that was not picked up by FOX. He was also the first baseman in the movie Rookie of the Year.

Flynn once appeared in an episode of The Drew Carey Show, playing the fake husband of future Scrubs co-star Christa Miller. He appeared on an episode of Seinfeld, playing a police officer.

Scrubs

For Scrubs, Flynn auditioned for the role of Dr. Cox, but was given the role of Janitor, instead. Flynn was originally only cast for the first episode ("My First Day"), but he became a regular, playing a character known only as the Janitor, who devotes much of his energy to menacing young Dr. John "J.D." Dorian. His name is not revealed in the series until the Season 8 finale when, upon J.D.'s first time asking about it, he simply says his name is Glenn Matthews. This is also speculated to be false for two reasons: first, after J.D. leaves the shot, an orderly addresses the Janitor as "Tony"; and second, while watching The Fugitive with Carla and Danni (Dr. Cox's sister-in-law, played by Tara Reid) in the Season 3 episode 'My Friend The Doctor', J.D. notices the real-life Flynn's character in the train scene. When the Janitor confirms he was in the movie at the end of the episode, some speculated the Janitor's real name in Scrubs is actually Neil Flynn. Flynn was a series regular with Scrubs through the first eight seasons. When Scrubs was cancelled by NBC and subsequently picked-up by ABC, he signed a second position one-year deal for Scrubs season nine, which would have allowed him to continue on Scrubs if his pilot The Middle was not picked up. The Middle was picked up, although he did guest star in the Season 9 premiere of Scrubs.

The Middle

Flynn plays Heck family patriarch Mike Heck on the ABC show, The Middle. In 2013, the series celebrated 100 episodes.

Voice-over work

He has also done voice acting for the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, though he is better known for voicing the popular characters Skidd McMarx and the Plumber in the first three Ratchet & Clank games for the PlayStation 2. He also was the voice of a fashion policeman in Kim Possible.

Flynn voiced the character Max Flush on the FOX TV show Bob's Burgers in episode "O.T. the Outside Toilet".

As of 2015, he is providing the voice of Chuck, the foster father of the title character in the DC Comics animated web-series Vixen.

Beer Shark Mice

Neil Flynn performs regularly with his improv group, Beer Shark Mice. The cast includes veteran comedians Mike Coleman, Pat Finn, Pete Hulne, David Koechner, and Paul Vaillancourt.

For years, Beer Shark Mice has been performing to sold-out houses at the iO West theatre in Los Angeles.

Voted Chicago Improv Festival"?s Ensemble of the Year and considered one of the best long-form improvisational groups in the country, the cast boasts an impressive list of credits, both collectively and individually, including Scrubs, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Seinfeld, American Body Shop, How High, My Boys, Ed, Mean Girls, Thank You for Smoking, and Saturday Night Live, among many others.

Filmography

Movies

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Major League	Longshoreman
1993	Rookie of the Year	Stan Okie
	The Fugitive	Transit cop
1994	Baby's Day Out	Cop in the park
	The Fence	Dominick
1996	Chain Reaction	Cop on the observatory roof
1997	Home Alone 3	Cop responding to Alex Pruit's 9-1-1 call
1999	Magnolia	Daniel Hill
2000	The Right Temptation	Max
2001	The Removers	Alien Mask Man
2003	Brainwarp (Straight-to-video)	Detective Jim Fist
2004	Mean Girls	Chip Heron
	Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy	Cop	Deleted scenes
2006	Hoot	Mr. Eberhart
2007	Sex and Death 101	Zack
	Alive and Well	Joel
	5-25-77	Dr. Callahan
2008	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	FBI agent Paul Smith
2009	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Weather News Network Producer	Voice
2017	The Resurrection of Gavin Stone	Waylon Stone

Television

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	LAPD Officer	Episode: "Kung Fu: The Next Generation"
	Sable	Real Security Guard	Episode: "Copycat"
1989	Tour of Duty	SEAL	Episode: "Sealed with a Kiss"
	Doogie Howser, M.D.	Policeman #1	Episode: "Pilot"
1996	To Sir, with Love II	Detective Dennis	TV movie
1996-97	Early Edition	Cop at Newsstand/Kellaher/Marilyn	3 episodes
1997	Seinfeld	Cop #1	Episode: "The Summer of George"
1998	The Drew Carey Show	Scott Honey	Episode: "Kate's Family"
	Ellen	George	Episode: "It's a Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay World!"
1999	That 70s Show	The Bouncer	Episode: "The Velvet Rope"
	Sliders	Officer Phil	Episode: "Easy Slider"
	Chicago Hope	John Derricks	Episode: "Vigilance and Care"
2000	Then Came You	Cop	Episode: "Then Came the Monthiversary"
	Family Law	Jack Lumberg	Episode: "Telling Lies"
2000-01	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command	XR	24 episodes; Voice
2001	The District	George Ryerson	Episode: "Vigilante"
	Norm	Lee	Episode: "Norm vs. Deception"
2001-09	Scrubs	Janitor	166 episodes, Main Cast Season 1-8 Guest Season 9
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Officer Yarnell	Episode: "Identity Crisis"
	Boston Public	Walter Andrews	Episode: "Chapter Thirty-Four"
	NYPD Blue	Kevin Healey	Episode: "Low Blow"
	It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie	Janitor/himself	TV movie
2002-03	Clone High U.S.A.	Various Characters	12 episodes; Voice
2003-04	Smallville	Pete Dinsmore	2 episodes
2005	King of the Hill	Turpin	Episode: "Arlen City Bomber"
	Love, Inc.	Nathan	Episode: "Love, Inc."
2006	Joey	Father O'Neill	2 episodes
	My Boys	Danny Finn	Episode: "When Heroes Fall from Grace"
	Re-Animated	Head of Appleday Board	TV movie
2007	The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show	Hitchhiker	Episode: "T-Bones TV"
2009	Monkey Talk	Kevin	TV movie
2009-present	The Middle	Michael "Mike" Heck	Main Cast; 191 episodes
2013	Bob's Burgers	Max Flush	Voice; Episode: "O.T. The Outside Toilet"
2014	Surviving Jack	Sport teacher	Episode 06: "She Drives Me Crazy"
2014	"Key & Peele"	Doctor	Episode: "Sex Addict Wendell"
2015	Undateable	Customer	Episode: "A Live Episode Walks Into a Bar"
	Jeopardy!	Himself	2 episodes

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015-2016	Vixen	Chuck McCabe	Recurring (6 episodes)

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2002	Ratchet & Clank	Plumber, Skid McMarx, Robot Lieutenant, Inventor, Foreman
2003	Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando	Plumber
2004	Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal	Plumber, Skid McMarx, Taxi Driver, Gary