John C. McGinley

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Birthday:

3 August 1959, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name:

John Christopher McGinley

Height:

188 cm

John C. McGinley's path to stardom is a story that reads like a classic Hollywood script. While an understudy in New York in the Circle-In-The-Square production of John Patrick Shanley's "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea," he was spotted by director Oliver Stone and soon after was cast in "Platoon," the first of a long list of collaborations between Stone and McGinley which includes "Wall Street," "Talk Radio," "Born on the Fourth of July," "Nixon" and "Any Given Sunday."He stars as the title character in IFC's scripted comedy-horror series, "Stan Against Evil," on which he also serves as a producer. John C. stars as disgruntled former police sheriff 'Stanley Miller,' a sour, aging bulldog who has recently lost his position as head honcho due to an angry outburst at his wife's funeral. When the new sheriff opens his eyes to the plague of angry demons haunting their small New Hampshire town, 'Stan' begrudgingly joins an alliance with her to fight them off.John C.'s deep commitment to independent films has driven him to star in and complete production on three upcoming motion pictures in 2016 alone! James Gunn's "The Belko Experiment," Paul Shoulberg's "The Good Catholic" and Richard Dresser's "Rounding Third."He is an audience favorite for his hilarious portrayal of 'Dr. Perry Cox' in the Emmy-nominated medical comedy series, "Scrubs," which ended its successful nine season run in 2010. He starred for two seasons in TBS's workplace comedy series "Ground Floor," which reunited him with creator Bill Lawrence ("Scrubs"). John C. played 'Mr. Mansfield,' the critical boss to hot-shot young banker 'Brody' (Skylar Austin). He also made a memorable arc on season 6 of USA Networks' hit drama series "Burn Notice."John C.'s impressive career in film spans a diverse range of characters in over seventy films to date, including such features as the recent "Get A Job," "Alex Cross," "Wild Hogs," "Identity," "The Animal," "The Rock," "Nothing to Lose," "Set It Off," "Seven," "Office Space," "Mother," "Wagons East," "Surviving the Game," "On Deadly Ground," "Point Break," "Highlander II," "A Midnight Clear" and "Fat Man and Little Boy." He also previously starred opposite Ice Cube in Sony/Revolution Studios' feature, "Are We Done Yet?," the sequel to the hit comedy "Are We There Yet?" He recently received critical acclaim for his role as Brooklyn Dodgers' radio broadcaster 'Red Barber' in Warner Bros.' "42," the life story of Jackie Robinson and his history-making signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.As a testament to his passion for the independent film community, John C. has appeared in director Eriq La Salle's "Crazy As Hell" and director Scott Silver's "Johns." He also worked on "Truth or Consequences, N.M.," Kiefer Sutherland's feature directorial debut and on "Colin Fitz," a film John C. co-produced which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. He starred in director D.B. Sweeney's independent feature, "Two Tickets to Paradise," which received raves on the festival circuit. For his performance in the later film, John C. was awarded Method Fest's Festival Director's Award, which is awarded for special recognition/excellence in film.John C. is a partner at McGinley Entertainment Inc., an independent film production company with several projects currently in development. John C. first worked both sides of the camera, serving double duty as actor and producer for the romantic comedy "Watch It!" (with Peter Gallagher and Lili Taylor).He received stunning reviews for his starring role in Dean Koontz's gripping and highly rated suspense drama, "Intensity," a four-hour original film for FOX-TV. He executive-produced and starred opposite John Cusack in HBO Pictures' western, "The Jack Bull," directed by John Badham; and he appeared in HBO NYC's "The Pentagon Wars."In addition to film and television, John C.'s background is heavily rooted in theater. He received stellar reviews for his starring performance as 'Dave Moss' in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Glengarry Glen Ross." According to Newsday, "John C. McGinley is especially dazzling as the hothead who plans the office crime." The play also starred Al Pacino and Bobby Cannavale and ran through January 20, 2013.He was previously featured on Broadway in "Requiem for a Heavyweight" and off-Broadway in "The Ballad of Soapy Smith" and the original cast production of Eric Bogosian's "Talk Radio," both at the renowned Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. He often cites Papp as the most instrumental force behind his career.In May 2005, John C. was invited and honored to deliver the keynote address at the commencement ceremony for the University of California San Francisco's (UCSF) School of Medicine, one of the top medical schools in the nation.As the father of Max, his eighteen-year-old son with Down syndrome, John C. is committed to building awareness and acceptance of people with Down syndrome. He serves as an Ambassador for Special Olympics and is a board member of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. John C. is also one of the original creators, in conjunction with Special Olympics, of the groundbreaking "Spread the Word to End the Word" national campaign to eradicate the "R" word (retard). He has blogged repeatedly on the Huffington Post, advocating acceptance and awareness of people with special needs as well as the importance of eliminating the "R" word.He can be seen in high profile commercial campaigns for Speed Stick (as Coach Speedman), Halls Cough Drops (as Tough Love/menthol-lyptus and Soft Love/honey-lemon) and Carhartt (as the voice of founder Hamilton Carhartt).John C. resides in Los Angeles and enjoys stand-up paddle surfing, weight lifting and golf. He married Nichole Kessler on April 7, 2007 at the couple's home in Malibu and they now have two young daughters Billie Grace and Kate Aleena, in addition to big brother Max. Show less «

[on how he memorizes his lines and prepares for his roles] I go downstairs and don't come up from there until I get that stuff hammered in m...Show more »

[on how he memorizes his lines and prepares for his roles] I go downstairs and don't come up from there until I get that stuff hammered in my skull, until I can do it water skiing or jumping out of a plane. It's all about the text, flushing it out, to excavate, to really get in there and see what falls through your fingers. Show less «

[on why he feels he never landed a role as a TV series regular until Scrubs (2001)] With my dorky head, I guess I just wasn't handsome enoug...Show more »

[on why he feels he never landed a role as a TV series regular until Scrubs (2001)] With my dorky head, I guess I just wasn't handsome enough. I'd do the audition but never hear back. TV tends to look for the living equivalents of squeaky-clean Kens and Barbies, but with my dial I'm more like Ken's dirty old uncle. Show less «

[on talking to his Any Given Sunday (1999) costar, Al Pacino] When Johnny [John Cusack] and I were shooting The Jack Bull (1999) in Calgary,...Show more »

[on talking to his Any Given Sunday (1999) costar, Al Pacino] When Johnny [John Cusack] and I were shooting The Jack Bull (1999) in Calgary, he told me just to go up and knock on Al's trailer door. That's the secret of talking to him. If no one knocks on his door, he stays closeted up by himself. It really worked. I spent a lot of time talking to Al. Show less «

The [Scrubs (2001)] pilot script's notes described the character as a John C. McGinley-type. Now, I don't know what that type is, but I said...Show more »

The [Scrubs (2001)] pilot script's notes described the character as a John C. McGinley-type. Now, I don't know what that type is, but I said, "Well, you've got him." I still had to audition five times for the network. Show less «

I did Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), with Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert down in Buenos Aires, and I stunk. I was infatuated wi...Show more »

I did Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), with Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert down in Buenos Aires, and I stunk. I was infatuated with Orson Welles' filmography at the time, so I wanted to see if I could make my voice as low as his, and I succeeded. Nothing in the text supported that choice, though, so in the film, I look like a jackass. I don't look like a tough guy, I look like an idiot actor trying to toy around with his vocal apparatus. Show less «

[on his road to stardom] I dug tungsten. I was a successful waiter in New York. I worked at a shrink-wrap factory. I wrote tickets on the Ne...Show more »

[on his road to stardom] I dug tungsten. I was a successful waiter in New York. I worked at a shrink-wrap factory. I wrote tickets on the New York Stock Exchange. I was an assistant to a broker. I caddied the U.S. Open, and I was a camp counselor. Show less «

I have mixed feelings about Car 54, Where Are You? (1994) Because we shot it as a musical and whoever the studio head was at Orion, or whoev...Show more »

I have mixed feelings about Car 54, Where Are You? (1994) Because we shot it as a musical and whoever the studio head was at Orion, or whoever the powers that be were, cut all but, like, two musical numbers out of it. That is the same as cutting the musical numbers out of The Wizard of Oz (1939); it wouldn't be that interesting. So the film, to me, doesn't make sense without the musical numbers in it. They kept in one of Buster [Poindexter's] musical numbers. And then maybe there's one other, but the film doesn't make sense. I wouldn't pretend to know what happened, what the decision-making process was, but we busted our humps on those numbers, and then the film came out and I didn't understand what I was watching.Because Orion was also producing a film in Kansas City called Article 99 (1992), I was doing them simultaneously. I would do Car 54, Where Are You? (1994) Monday through Wednesday, and they'd fly me last flight out from Toronto to Kansas City to shoot Thursday and Friday in Kansas City. And that happened for about four weeks. I love grinding like that. Show less «

(2013, on landing Office Space (1999)) When you came in, everybody auditioned for the role Gary Cole played. That was the audition piece, si...Show more »

(2013, on landing Office Space (1999)) When you came in, everybody auditioned for the role Gary Cole played. That was the audition piece, since the two Bobs weren't really on the page. So before you came in, you were issued illustrations and sent a file on your computer of an animated version of the role that Gary played. Everybody came in and auditioned for that. Then Gary got that, and Mike said, "You want to play one of the Bobs?" And I'm like, "Dude, I just want to be in this movie. It's the funniest thing I've ever read. But who are the Bobs?" And he goes, "We'll invent them down in Austin."Everybody says that to you, and it never happens. What we're going to invent when you get there on the day is that the 10k light just went out, and that's what we're going to address, not the Bobs doing the interviews. But he was true to his word, and I was only down there for three days, which is fantastic because we just stayed in. I'm only in two or three different interiors, that interview room and out in the office and then at the stapler guy's desk. That's it. So for three days, we just immersed into that and shot tons and tons of stuff for those people coming in when we're going to fire them or downsize. We just started to roll camera and do stuff. Show less «