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Mike McShane

 

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Mike McShane



 
 
Michéal ("Mike") McShane (born June 25, 1955 in Boston, MA, and raised in Roeland Park, Kansas
Roeland Park, Kansas

Roeland Park is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, Kansas, United States. The population was 6,817 at the 2000 United States Census....
) is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian who first became known through his appearances in the early 1990s on the British version of the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Whose Line Is It Anyway? was a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a United Kingdom radio programme, it moved to television in 1988 as a series made for Britain's Channel 4....


McShane had performed on stage, on television, and in film, and was an alumnus of Los Angeles Theatresports
Theatresports

Theatresports is a form of improvisational theatre, which uses the format of a competition for dramatic effect. Opposing teams can perform scenes based on audience suggestions, with ratings by the audience or by a panel of judges ....
. One of his larger TV roles was as Kramer
Cosmo Kramer

Cosmo Kramer is a character on the American Television program Situation comedy Seinfeld , played by Michael Richards. The character is loosely based on comedian Kenny Kramer, Larry David's former neighbor....
's nemesis Franklin Delano Romanowski (FDR) on Seinfeld
Seinfeld

Seinfeld is an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning Television in the United States Situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in Broadcast syndication....
.






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Michéal ("Mike") McShane (born June 25, 1955 in Boston, MA, and raised in Roeland Park, Kansas
Roeland Park, Kansas

Roeland Park is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, Kansas, United States. The population was 6,817 at the 2000 United States Census....
) is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian who first became known through his appearances in the early 1990s on the British version of the television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?
Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Whose Line Is It Anyway? was a short-form improvisational comedy TV show. Originally a United Kingdom radio programme, it moved to television in 1988 as a series made for Britain's Channel 4....


McShane had performed on stage, on television, and in film, and was an alumnus of Los Angeles Theatresports
Theatresports

Theatresports is a form of improvisational theatre, which uses the format of a competition for dramatic effect. Opposing teams can perform scenes based on audience suggestions, with ratings by the audience or by a panel of judges ....
. One of his larger TV roles was as Kramer
Cosmo Kramer

Cosmo Kramer is a character on the American Television program Situation comedy Seinfeld , played by Michael Richards. The character is loosely based on comedian Kenny Kramer, Larry David's former neighbor....
's nemesis Franklin Delano Romanowski (FDR) on Seinfeld
Seinfeld

Seinfeld is an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning Television in the United States Situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in Broadcast syndication....
. He also had a cameo role as a doomed hypnotherapist in the film Office Space
Office Space

Office Space is an United_States_of_America comedy film, released in 1999, that was written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes work life in a typical software company during the 1990s, focusing on a handful of individuals who are fed up with their jobs....
.

In 1995 McShane starred as Harley in the BBC Screen Two TV Movie Crazy For A Kiss, about a young boy who is sent to a mental institution for teenagers in Kansas. Touted as being somewhat biographical of McShane's childhood, the film has never been released on video or DVD.

McShane appeared in Tom and Huck
Tom and Huck

Tom and Huck is a 1995 in film Walt Disney Pictures film starring Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Brad Renfro, Joey Stinson, and Rachael Leigh Cook; it is based on Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
 as Muff Potter. McShane appeared in Brotherly Love as the experienced but wisecracking mechanic, Lloyd.

He provided the voice for Cid in the video games Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X

is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Co. as the tenth installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 2001 for Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 2....
 and Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy X-2

is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Co. for Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 2. It was released in 2003 and is the sequel to the best-selling 2001 game Final Fantasy X....
, and played Friar Tuck
Friar Tuck

Friar Tuck is a companion to Robin Hood in the legends about that character. He is a common character in modern Robin Hood stories, which depict him as a jovial friar and one of Robin's Merry Men....
 in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a 1991 in film adventure film film director by Kevin Reynolds . The film was marketed with the tagline "For the good of all men, and the love of one woman, he fought to uphold justice by breaking the law."...
. He appeared in Tower of Terror
Tower of Terror (film)

Tower of Terror is a 1997 television film, film director by D. J. MacHale. It is based on the theme park attraction The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida and was originally a presentation of The Wonderful World of Disney....
, a TV movie based on the Disney attraction as "Q" along with Steve Guttenberg
Steve Guttenberg

Steven Robert "Steve" Guttenberg is an United States actor and comedian. He became known during the 1980s, after a series of starring roles in major Hollywood films, including Cocoon , Three Men and a Baby, Police Academy , and Short Circuit....
 and Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst

Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actor and singer. She made her film debut in New York Stories#Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories ....
. He had also appeared with Tony Slattery
Tony Slattery

Anthony Declan James Slattery is an England actor and comedian....
 in the comedy sketch show S&M, starred in the sitcom The Big One
The Big One (TV series)

The Big One is a 1992 United Kingdom comedy-drama television series starring Sandi Toksvig as Deddie Tolbert and Mike McShane as James Howard....
, and provided voice work in the anime Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a 2000 in film Japanese anime film, written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, with characters designed by Yutaka Minowa....
, as D's sarcastic possessed left hand. He also provided the voice of Detective Twitch in the HBO animated series Spawn. Other voice work by McShane includes the characters of Tuck/Roll in "A Bug's Life" and the video game of the same name in 1998, plus the character of Baron Rakan Harkonnen in the 2002 strategy game Emperor: Battle for Dune.

In 2003 McShane underwent gastric bypass surgery
Gastric bypass surgery

Gastric bypass procedures are any of a group of similar operations used to treat morbid obesity?the severe accumulation of excess weight as fatty tissue?and the health problems it causes....
, losing a significant amount of weight.

In 2006 he was slated to appear in a new production of Talk Radio directed by Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee

Stewart Graham Lee is an England stand-up comedian, writer and director probably best known for being one half of the 1990s Double act Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically-acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera....
, but later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. McShane later said that it "was a huge mistake and I still regret not performing in Talk Radio."

Mike appeared as the voice of Audrey II (as well as playing a number of peripheral characters) in the London revival of Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (musical)

Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood....
 at the Menier Chocolate Factory
Menier Chocolate Factory

The Menier Chocolate Factory is an award-winning 190 seat fringe theatre studio theatre, restaurant and gallery. It is located in a former 1870s chocolate factory in Southwark Street, a major street in the London Borough of Southwark, central south London, England....
 in Southwark
Southwark

Southwark, or the Borough, is an area of south-east London in the London Borough of Southwark, situated 1.5 miles east of Charing Cross....
 between December 2006 and February 2007. The show was a critical success and was sold out for the duration of its run, and Mike had been contracted to continue in the role following the show's transfer to the West End
West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English language world....
 at the Duke of York
Duke of York

The title Duke of York is a title of nobility in the British peerage. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of the British monarch....
 theatre. In September 2007 he took part in the British Library's celebration of Jack Kerouac, reading excerpts from On The Road on the 50th Anniversary of its publication.

In 2008 he appeared as a guest performer in Paul Merton's Impro Chums
Paul Merton's Impro Chums

Paul Merton's Impro Chums is an improvisational comedy stage show, consisting of comedian Paul Merton heading a cast of Richard Vranch, Suki Webster and Lee Simpson, as well as a special guest performer....
, a live improv show, and as Dr Vaabit in episode 5 of BBC's Sitcom Lab Rats
Lab Rats

Lab Rats is a 2008 BBC 2 situation comedy set in a university science laboratory. It stars Chris Addison, who has co-written the series with Carl Cooper ....
, and appeared on the BBC radio programme Just a Minute
Just a Minute

Just a Minute is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game which has been broadcast since 22 December 1967 and is Master of Ceremonies by Nicholas Parsons....
.

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