Dropping 57 pounds and shaving his head turned a typecast sitcom dad into cable TV's definitive dirty cop.
At a glance
- Known for
- Vic Mackey on *The Shield*, Ben Grimm in *Fantastic Four*
- Before fame
- Joined Actors' Equity at 13 while doing regional theater in Massachusetts
- Off-screen
- Drummer since age 7 who released a rock album at 53
Rise to Fame
A Belushi biopic almost killed his career before it started. He beat out 200 actors for Wired in 1989, gained 30 pounds for the role, and the film bombed so badly that Hollywood stopped returning his calls. The Commish saved him from obscurity but trapped him in a different box: the soft, cuddly cop who looked a decade older than he was.
The six-month hiatus wasn't a vacation. He shaved his head and dropped 57 pounds. FX had already offered Vic Mackey to Eric Stoltz, who passed. The casting department resisted Chiklis's audition based on his Commish reputation. FX president Kevin Reilly has said he walked in with a shaved head and biceps and "just chewed through the scene." The Emmy came in year one. The Golden Globe the year after. The phone started ringing again.
In the Spotlight
Most shows he's led since The Shield didn't last beyond a season or two. No Ordinary Family opened to 10.69 million viewers and bled them fast. Vegas opposite Dennis Quaid lasted one season. The short runs didn't change the casting offers: DEA agents in Hotel Cocaine and BMF, Captain Barnes on Gotham, always the menacing authority Mackey made his brand.
Directing Ken Jeong through a dramatic turn on Accused was where he was already headed: he'd directed episodes of The Shield and calls this phase "the fourth quarter" of his career. His defining role ended in 2008. The phone still rings.
Side Notes
His truck killed Jax Teller. In the Sons of Anarchy finale, he played Milo the truck driver in a cameo that creator Kurt Sutter had originally refused to give any Shield alumni. The casting reversal turned a bit part into a finale moment nobody saw coming.
Off camera, the pattern held. He and his wife fell victim to a Ponzi scheme in 2008, which he turned into an FX pitch about investment fraud. The show never got made. The marriage, now past 30 years, survived both the scam and Hollywood.