Michael Charles Chiklis ( born August 30, 1963) is an American actor, television director, television producer and musician. He is best known for his role as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Detective Vic Mackey on the FX police drama The Shield (2002–2008), for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2002, and was nominated in 2003. Other starring television roles of his include Commissioner Tony Scali on the ABC police drama The Commish (1991–1996), Chris Woods in Daddio (2000), Jim Powell on the ABC science-fiction comedy-drama No Ordinary Family (2010–2011), Vincent Savino in the CBS crime drama Vegas (2012), Dell Toledo in American Horror Story: Freak Show (2014), and Nathaniel Barnes in Gotham (2015–2017). In film, he is best known for his roles as The Thing in two Fantastic Four films (2005–2007), George Callister in Eagle Eye (2008), Terry Eidson in When the Game Stands Tall (2014), and Father Dave in Hubie Halloween (2020). Early life Chiklis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. His mother, Katherine (née Vousboukis), is a hospital administrative aide, and his father, Charlie Chiklis, runs a hair/beauty salon. Chiklis has been described as having inherited his acting ability from his mother. His father is a second-generation Greek American (his paternal ancestors came from Lesbos), and his mother is of Greek and Irish descent. Chiklis grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and began entertaining his family with celebrity imitations when he was 5 years old. As a child, Chiklis appeared in regional theater productions and became a member of the Actors' Equity Association at age 13. In the ninth grade, he portrayed Hawkeye Pierce in Andover High School's production of M*A*S*H. He graduated from Boston University College of Fine Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Career After graduating from college, Chiklis moved to Brooklyn, New York and was cast in the role of John Belushi in the controversial biopic Wired (1989). The film was panned in general and flopped at the box office, though Chiklis's performance as Belushi (one of his idols) was highly praised. He also guest starred in several popular television series such as Miami Vice, B.L. Stryker, Wiseguy, L.A. Law, Murphy Brown, and Seinfeld, as well as in bit parts in such films as Nixon. Chiklis' first successful role was in The Commish, a police comedy/drama that ran from 1991 to 1996 on ABC. Chiklis played