Terry Kinney
About
Biography
Filmography
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Biography
Terry Kinney was an American stage, film and TV actor who was also well-known for being one of the co-founders, along with Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise, of the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Born into a working class family in Lincoln, Illinois, Kinney always dreamt of becoming an actor. By the time he entered college at Illinois State University in the early 1970s, that dream only intensified. Then one day in 1973 while attending a production of "Grease" their mutual friend Gary Sinise was starring in, Kinney and Jeff Perry decided to team up with Sinise to form a brand new theater company. They called it the Steppenwolf Theatre, and set up shop in a church basement in Highland Park, Illinois. Together, the three of them put on performances for the next three years on a part-time basis as they finished college. The Steppenwolf Theatre became a full-time endeavor for Kinney and his two co-founders in 1976 after the three of them had graduated college. Kinney spent the next decade focusing primarily on building Steppenwolf into a powerhouse theater company, which it would eventually become in the 1980s. Kinney was a stage actor, first and foremost, but by the mid-1980s, with Steppenwolf gaining a positive reputation in the theater world, Kinney began nabbing various screen acting roles in films like "A Walk on the Moon" (1987), "The Last of the Mohicans" (1992), and "Sleepers" (1996). Then in 1997 Kinney landed his breakout acting role on the HBO prison series "Oz" (HBO, 1997-2003). He played Tim McManus on all six seasons of the show, which ended in 2003. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s Kinney worked steadily in both films and on TV. In 2009 he nabbed a recurring role on "The Mentalist" (CBS, 2008-2015), and followed that up with a recurring roles on "Fargo" (FX, 2014- ), as well as the critically-acclaimed HBO mini-series "Show Me a Hero" (2015). In 2016 Kinney joined the cast of the Showtime series "Billions" (Showtime, 2016- ). That series, about two prominent figures in the high-stakes world of New York finance, also starred Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1976
Stage debut, "The Indian Wants the Bronx" at Steppenwolf Theatre
1976
Co-founded Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, IL
1981
Made stage directing debut with "And a Nightingale Sang" at Steppenwolf Theatre; production transferred off-Broadway
1985
Feature film debut, "A Walk on the Moon"
1986
Made TV debut starring in CBS miniseries "Murder Ordained"
1987
Landed recurring role on ABC drama series "thirtysomething" as Ellyn's (Polly Draper) boyfriend
1991
Co-starred in the New York stage production of "The Grapes of Wrath"; recreated role for the PBS version
1993
Co-starred in Sydney Pollack's "The Firm" opposite Tom Cruise
1993
Played Joseph Kennedy Sr. in the ABC TV-movie "JFK: Reckless Youth"
1997
Directed the 50th anniversary production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" at Steppenwolf Theatre
1997
Portrayed Tim McManus, the head of a penitentiary unit on HBO prison drama series "Oz"
2000
Staged Steppenwolf Theatre revival of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," starring Gary Sinise
2003
Directed "The Violet Hour" at Steppenwolf Theatre
2005
Directed Kieran Culkin and Anna Paquin in "After Ashley" on the New York stage
2006
Wrote and directed drama short "Kubuku Rides (This Is It)"
2008
Cast in Fox's short-lived legal drama "Canterbury's Law"
2008
Helmed indie comedy "Diminished Capacity"
2009
Played recurring guest role on "The Mentalist" (CBS)
2012
Featured in "Promised Land," directed by Gus van Sant; film co-written by Damon and John Krasinski
2015
Appeared in the HBO mini-series "Show Me a Hero"
2016
Was cast in Showtime's money drama "Billions"
Videos
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