Michael Rapaport
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Michael Rapaport (born March 20, 1970 in New York City, New York) is an American actor and a comedian and has acted in more than 20 films since the early 1990s.
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[edit] Biography
Rapaport idolized other New Yorkers Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken as a teenager. He was expelled from high school and moved to Los Angeles to try stand-up comedy.
He has appeared in both dramatic and comedic roles in 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 naïve 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 currently stars in the Fox sitcom The War at Home, in which he plays an "average Joe" type dealing with the everyday challenges of family life. The sitcom debuted in September 2005 on Sunday nights and now airs on Sunday nights.
He was in the New York tabloids in mid-2005 as the landlord who evicted actress Natasha Lyonne from her apartment (in one of the residential buildings he owns), which he described as, among other things, "filthy". Rapaport wrote an account of the matter in May 2005's issue of Jane Magazine.
[edit] Selected filmography
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[edit] Musical appearances
Talib Kweli: Cameo in "Waiting for the DJ" (2002)
High & Mighty: The Highlite Zone - "How to Rob an Actor" (2003)
Ludacris' music video for the song Runaway Love; he portrayed the victimizer of "Lisa"--the first child depicted in the song. (2006)
[edit] Trivia
- Is a huge Hip-Hop fan. He appeared in Ludacris' music video for the song "Runaway Love"; he portrayed the victimizer of "Lisa"--the first child depicted in the song--when her mother, his girlfriend, is asleep. He has also appeared in skits on Talib Kweli's critically acclaimed album Quality and Masta Ace's A Long Hot Summer. In 2003, he was featured on the High & Mighty album The Highlite Zone with his own song "How to Rob an Actor." A music video for "How to Rob an Actor" can be seen on the bonus DVD for the Eastern Conference Records compilation Eastern Conference All-Stars Vol. 4, and he also made an appearance in the music video for Jay-Z's "The City Is Mine." Rapaport also appeared in, the late J Dilla's video for Jaylib's "McNasty Filth" featuring Frank-N-Dank.
- His name is incorrectly spelled as "Michael Rappaport" in the opening credits of Scarface: The World Is Yours.
- Played Popcopy employee in the pilot episode of Chappelle's Show (On DVD, Chappelle and writer Neil Brennan said that they had bumped into Rapaport on the street, and offered him the job).
- In some of his first gigs in his career as an actor, he had very minor roles during the early 90's in popular TV shows. In an April 27, 1992 episode of Murphy Brown he played Robbie. In a September 20, 1993 episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air he played Will's party friend Mike, and in an October 5, 1993 episode of NYPD Blue, playing a drug-addict named Jaime who killed an old woman.
- He was the voice of Joey Leone in the popular video game, Grand Theft Auto III. He also played Troy in Saints Row.
- He has been subject to some ridicule over the excessively large shirts he often wears.
- He is a New York Yankees fan.
- He is also a big LA Lakers fan, made an appearance on NBA Inside Stuff where he got to visit the Lakers locker room.
- Had a recurring guest-starring role on several episodes of Friends in 1999 as Phoebe's (Lisa Kudrow) police officer boyfriend, Gary.
- He has an on-going feud with the "Sports Gal" (wife of ESPN's " The Sports Guy"), due to not looking up while crossing the street
[edit] External link
Categories: Articles lacking sources from March 2007 | All articles lacking sources | 1970 births | American film actors | American television actors | American television directors | Grand Theft Auto cast members | Jewish American actors | Jewish American comedians | Living people | People from New York City
