People

Michael Shannon

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor, producer, musician, and theatre director. He has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in the Sam Mendes period drama Revolutionary Road (2008) and the Tom Ford psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals (2016). He earned Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for his role in 99 Homes (2014), and a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for the Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (2016). Shannon made his film debut in 1993 with Groundhog Day and received widespread attention for his performance in 8 Mile (2002). He is known for his on-screen versatility, performing in both comedies and dramas such as Pearl Harbor (2001), Bad Boys II (2003), Bug (2006), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), The Iceman (2012), Premium Rush (2012), The Night Before (2015), The Shape of Water (2017) and Knives Out (2019). He played Superman's Kryptonian adversary General Zod in Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and is set to reprise the role in The Flash (2022). Shannon is a frequent collaborator of Jeff Nichols, appearing in all of his films: Shotgun Stories (2007), Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2012), Midnight Special, and Loving (both 2016). He is also known for his role as Nelson Van Alden in the HBO period drama series Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014), for which he was nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2021, he had a main role in the Hulu drama miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

Buddy

As Willie (voice)

Bullet Train

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Shape of Water

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Bug

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Knives Out

As Walt Thrombey

Man of Steel

As General Zod

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

As Zod

The Flash

As General Zod

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

Open Doors: Cinema That Sees Everyone

From a deaf drummer to a queer romance in space, these eight films expand who gets to be a hero, a lover, a survivor. A journey through inclusive storytelling t...

8 films

When Nature Turns

Exploring the deep to the desert, and the skies to the suburbs, animals have long been cinema's most primal villains. This chain traces the evolution of the cre...

8 films

When the Children's Host Turns Predator

Casper Kelly's Buddy lets a singing orange unicorn hold his own cast hostage inside a deranged 1990s kids' show. This chain traces the lineage of the lethal ent...

5 films

Criminal Alliances

A chain tracing the anti-hero ensemble film from its war-movie origins through heist, western, and genre mutations to the modern comic-book iteration, examining...

8 films

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