Chris Ellis is an American film and television actor born on April 14, 1956, in Dallas, Texas. His fascination with acting began due to television, as he grew up in the 1950s in the deep south amidst a "world of privation and violence", where he saw people on TV living lives of ease and privilege.
Ellis took seven years to complete college, citing his "shiftless" nature. During this time, he became involved in community theatre in Memphis, where he worked with many excellent actors in about two dozen plays, both classical and contemporary. When he moved to New York, he had already gained a strong background in acting, which he believed would have been difficult for a newcomer to replicate.
Ellis's first role in television or film came in 1979, where he played a truck driver in the TV movie The Suicide's Wife, starring Angie Dickinson. However, this role resulted in limited work in the industry. After working in regional theatre for a year or so, Ellis fell off the radar screen and did not work for about ten years. During this period, he lived in poverty in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, accepting 102 dinner invitations in a nine-month period in 1987.
Ellis's career received a boost in 1990 when he landed a role in Days of Thunder, starring Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Cary Elwes, Robert Duvall, and Randy Quaid. This led to parts in films like My Cousin Vinny, Addams Family Values, Apollo 13, and many more. He also began picking up credits on well-known television shows like Melrose Place, NYPD Blue, and The X-Files.
Since working with Tom Hanks on Apollo 13, the two have collaborated on several projects, including That Thing You Do, From the Earth to the Moon, and Catch Me If You Can. Ellis has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Home Fries, October Sky, Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers, The West Wing, Ghost Whisperer, Chicago Hope, The Pretender, Alias, JAG, CSI: NY, Burn Notice, and Cold Case.
Ellis has established a reputation for his ability to portray Southern lawmakers, serious military, or police-type characters. He has also appeared in the TV series Millennium, playing the role of Jim Panseayres, and had guest appearances in NCIS as Gunnery Sergeant John Deluca.
