Michael David Rapaport is an American actor,
director and comedian.
He has acted in more than forty films since
the early 1990s.
For his television credits he's best known
for his roles on the television series Boston
Public, Prison Break, Friends, and The War
at Home.
Early life
Rapaport was born in Manhattan, New York City,
the son of June Brody, a New York radio personality,
and David Rapaport, a radio program manager.
His family is Jewish.
As a teenager, he idolized actors, fellow
New Yorkers, Robert De Niro and Christopher
Walken.
He was expelled from high school and moved
to Los Angeles, California to try stand-up
comedy.
Career
Rapaport has appeared in both dramatic and
comedic roles on film and television.
His movie roles include starring alongside
Eddie Murphy in Metro, as a wisecracking marine
biologist in Deep Blue Sea, and as a naive
college student whose loneliness drives him
to become a racist skinhead in Higher Learning.
Many credit his breakout role with the independent
film Zebrahead.
His other best known film role was in True
Romance as Dick Ritchie.
Rapaport costarred in the Fox sitcom The War
at Home, in which he played an "average Joe"
type dealing with the everyday challenges
of family life.
The sitcom debuted in September 2005, and
was cancelled in May 2007.
Rapaport previously starred in the TV drama
Boston Public.
He voiced Troy Bradshaw from August 2006's
Saints Row on Xbox 360, the sequel Saints
Row 2 and Joey Leone in the popular video
game Grand Theft Auto III.
Rapaport had a recurring guest-starring role
on several episodes of Friends in 1999 as
Phoebe's police officer boyfriend, Gary.
Coincidentally, Anita Barone, who plays Michael's
on-screen wife, Vicky Gold in The War at Home,
also appeared in Friends.
She played Ross' ex-wife Carol for one episode,
before Jane Sibbett was re-cast in the role.
He had a recurring role in My Name is Earl
as Frank, a convict Earl reunites with in
prison.
His character was the reason for many of the
things in Earl's life, such as indirectly
giving Earl his trailer and El Camino after
a botched robbery with his partner, Paco.
He played one of the main characters in the
season 4 of Prison Break as Homeland Security
Agent Don Self.
In October 2008, Rapaport announced that he
was directing a documentary about legendary
hip hop act, A Tribe Called Quest.
The film Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels
of a Tribe Called Quest was released in 2011
and received mostly positive reviews.
On November 10, 2008, TV Guide reported that
Rapaport is developing a series based on the
work of social workers for CBS.
Rapaport also provides the voice of "Squirt"
on The Hub's Pound Puppies series, which premiered
on October 10, 2010.
Rapaport guest starred in the fifth season
of the FX series Justified as villain Daryl
Crowe Jr, kingpin of the Crowe family.
Personal life
Rapaport was married to Nichole Beattie and
they had two children together, sons Julian
Ali and Maceo Shane.
His son was named after Vincent Mason of the
rap group De La Soul.
In 1997 after the relationship he was in with
the actress Lili Taylor ended, Rapaport continued
to contact Taylor without her consent and
began to alarm her.
He was eventually arrested and charged with
two counts of aggravated harassment.
Eventually Taylor gained a restraining order
against Rapaport.
He was in the New York tabloids in mid-2005
as the landlord who evicted actress Natasha
Lyonne from her apartment, when he described
as, among other things, "filthy".
Rapaport wrote an account of the matter in
May 2005's issue of Jane Magazine.
Rapaport has made an appearance in the music
video for punk band H2O's song 'What Happened'
and is close friends with lead singer Toby
Morse.
He also made an appearance in the Jay-Z music
video "City Is Mine".
On February 12, 2010, Rapaport participated
in the NBA All-Star Weekend's Celebrity Game
and won the MVP for the game for his defense
on football player Terrell Owens, the MVP
of the last two Celebrity Games, despite scoring
just 4 points and having 1 rebound.
In February 2014, Rapaport made an appearance
on The Arsenio Hall Show for two reasons:
One, because Mike played a character named
Darryl on Justified, and two, because Arsenio
baby sat for Mike when he was 13 growing up
in Brooklyn, New York.
On April 17, 2014, an ESPN "30 for 30" film
he directed premiered at the Tribeca Film
Festival sponsored by AT&T.
The film was about the 1970s championship-winning
New York Knicks led by Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier,
and Willis Reed.
Players that made it to the premiere consisted
of: Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, Phil Jackson,
Cazzie Russell, and Dick Barnett.
Bill Bradley was not able to come because
of a hip replacement surgery.
Filmography
China Beach
Zebrahead
Point of No Return
Poetic Justice
True Romance
Money for Nothing
The Scout
Hand Gun
The Foot Shooting Party
Higher Learning
Kiss of Death
The Basketball Diaries
Mighty Aphrodite
Don't Quit Your Day Job
Beautiful Girls
The Pallbearer
Illtown
Cop Land
Metro
A Brother's Kiss
Kicked in the Head
Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground
Palmetto
Some Girl
The Naked Man
Rescuers: Stories of Courage
E.R. season 4 episode 20
Friends Four episodes, starting with: "The
One With the Cop"
Deep Blue Sea
Kiss Toledo Goodbye
Small Time Crooks
Next Friday
The 6th Day
Bamboozled
Men of Honor
Chain of Fools
King of the Jungle
Lucky Numbers
Dr. Dolittle 2
Grand Theft Auto III
Boston Public
Comic Book Villains
Paper Soldiers
Triggermen
29 Palms
Chappelle's Show
A Good Night To Die
Death of a Dynasty
This Girl's Life
American Brown
Scrambled Eggs
Tom 51
Hitch
The War at Home
It Aint Easy
Live Free or Die
Special
Push
Saints Row
Grilled
My Name Is Earl
Assassination of a High School President
Prison Break
Saints Row 2
Tom Cool
Big Fan
A Day in the Life
The Saints of Mt. Christopher
Accidentally on Purpose
Pound Puppies - Squirt
Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe
Called Quest
Inside Out
The Baytown Outlaws
Kiss of the Damned
Transformers Roberts in Disguise Slingshot
My Man Is A Loser
Last I Heard
The Heat
Kiss of the Damned
Justified
Raising Hope
Texas Rising
Music video appearances
Frank Zappa: Civilization, Phaze III - Act
Two, playing Moon Zappa's black-acting "boyfriend"
in skits.
Talib Kweli: Cameo in "Waiting for the DJ"
High & Mighty: The Highlite Zone - "How to
Rob an Actor"
Ludacris' music video for the song "Runaway
Love"; he portrayed the victimizer of "Lisa"—the
first child depicted in the song.
Jay-Z "The City is Mine"
H2O's "What Happened?"
Jaylib "McNasty Filth"
Masta Ace "A Long Hot Summer"; portrays Ace's
prison cell mate in a number of skits.
References
External links
Michael Rapaport at The Tribeca Film Festival
- VIDEO INTERVIEW - Beats, Rhymes & Life:
The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest
Michael Rapaport at the Internet Movie Database
Michael Rapaport on Twitter
