Neil Richard Flynn (born November 13, 1960) is an American actor and comedian, known for his role as Janitor in the medical comedy-drama Scrubs. He currently portrays Mike Heck in the ABC sitcom The Middle. He stands at 6 foot 5 inches.
Voice
Early life
Flynn was born in the south side of Chicago. He is of Irish descent and was raised Catholic.[1] He moved to Waukegan, Illinois at an early age. As a student at Waukegan East High School in 1978, he and partner Mike Shklair won an Illinois Individual Events state championship for "Humorous Duet Acting". He attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity and participated on the nationally renowned Bradley University Speech Team.[citation needed] After graduating in 1982, Flynn returned to Chicago to pursue an acting career.
Career
During his time in Chicago, he acted with the renowned Goodman and Steppenwolf Theaters. Flynn was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award (Actor in a Principal Role, for The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, 1986). He also performed at the Improv Olympic and the Second City Comedy Troupe.
For Scrubs, Flynn auditioned for the role of Dr. Cox but was given the role of Janitor instead. Flynn was originally only cast for the first episode ("My First Day") but was so popular he became a regular, playing a character known only as the Janitor who devotes much of his energies to menacing young Dr. John "J.D." Dorian.[2] Although his role on Scrubs had been to that point the most visible, he had other small roles in a variety of different TV shows and movies, including That '70s Show, Baby's Day Out, CSI, My Boys, Seinfeld, and Smallville.
In The Fugitive, he plays a Chicago police officer who is killed by the one-armed man, Frederick Sykes (Andreas Katsulas) while he is fighting Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), an excuse used by corrupt Chicago Police Department detectives to hunt Ford's character. This role was used in a subplot of the Scrubs episode "My Friend the Doctor" when J.D. (Zach Braff) notices Flynn's character in the film, and believes that Flynn's Janitor character is the actor in the film. In 2008, he worked with Harrison Ford again, playing a suspicious law enforcement official as FBI agent Smith in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Flynn also appeared briefly in the 2009 box office bomb All About Steve, which featured Sandra Bullock.
Flynn had a minor role in Mean Girls as the father of Lindsay Lohan's character. He then played the part of an anonymous police officer in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; this scene was cut out of the final version of the film, though it can be viewed in the straight to DVD spin-off film Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, and in the deleted scenes of the Anchorman DVD. He had a minor role in Major League as a longshoreman and fan of the Cleveland Indians. Flynn had a role on Phil Hendrie's animated pilot that wasn't picked up by FOX. He was also the first baseman in the movie Rookie of the Year.[3]
Flynn once appeared in an episode of The Drew Carey Show, playing the fake husband of future Scrubs co-star Christa Miller. He appeared on an episode of Seinfeld, playing a police officer. He has also done voice acting for the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, though he is better known for voicing the popular characters Skidd McMarx and the Plumber in the first three Ratchet & Clank games for the PlayStation 2. He also was the voice of a fashion policeman in Kim Possible.
He filmed a pilot called The Middle. In case it wasn't picked up he signed a second position one-year deal for Scrubs season nine. The Middle was picked up, although he did guest star in the season 9 premiere of Scrubs.
Neil Flynn played as "Max Flush" on the FOX TV show Bob's Burgers in episode "O.T. the Outside Toilet"
Beer Shark Mice
Neil Flynn performs regularly with his improv group Beer Shark Mice. The cast includes veteran comedians: Mike Coleman, Pat Finn, Pete Hulne, David Koechner and Paul Vaillancourt.
For years, Beer Shark Mice has been performing to sold out houses at the iO West theatre in Los Angeles.
Voted Chicago Improv Festival’s Ensemble of the Year and considered one of the best long-form improvisational groups in the country, the cast boasts an impressive list of credits, both collectively and individually, including Scrubs, Anchorman, Seinfeld, American Body Shop, How High, My Boys, Ed, Mean Girls, Thank You for Smoking, Saturday Night Live, among many others.
Filmography
Movies
| Film[4] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | |
| 1989 | Major League | Longshoreman | |
| 1993 | Rookie of the Year | Stan Okie | |
| 1993 | The Fugitive | Transit cop | |
| 1994 | Baby's Day Out | Cop in the park | |
| The Fence | Dominick | ||
| 1996 | Chain Reaction | Cop on the observatory's roof | |
| To Sir, with Love II (TV Movie) | Detective Dennis | ||
| 1997 | Home Alone 3 | cop responding to Alex Pruit's 9-1-1 call | |
| 1999 | Magnolia | Stanley Berry | |
| 2000 | The Right Temptation | Max | |
| 2001 | The Removers | Alien Mask Man | |
| 2002 | It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (TV Movie) | Janitor/himself | |
| 2003 | Brainwarp (Straight-to-video) | Detective Jim Fist | |
| 2004 | Mean Girls | Chip Heron | |
| 2004 | Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy | Cop (Scenes deleted) | |
| 2006 | Hoot | Mr. Eberhart | |
| Re-Animated (TV Movie) | Head of Appleday Board | ||
| 2007 | Sex and Death 101 | Zack | |
| Alive and Well | Joel | ||
| 77 | Dr. Callahan | ||
| 2008 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | FBI agent Paul Smith | |
| 2009 | Monkey Talk (TV Movie) | Kevin | |
| Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | Weather News Network Producer; Voice | ||
Television
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year(s) | Show | Role | Notes/Episode |
| 1982 | Brookside | Sozza | Episode #1.6 |
| 1987 | CBS Summer Playhouse | LAPD Officer | Episode: "Kung Fu: The Next Generation" |
| Sable | Real Security Guard | Episode: "Copycat" | |
| 1989 | Tour Of Duty | SEAL | Episode: "Sealed With A Kiss" |
| Doogie Howser, M.D. | Policeman #1 | Episode: "Pilot" | |
| 1996–1997 | Early Edition | Cop at Newsstand/Kellaher/Marilyn | 3 episodes |
| 1997 | Seinfeld | Cop #1 | Episode: "The Summer of George" |
| 1998 | The Drew Carey Show | Scott Honey | Episode: "Kate's Family" |
| Ellen | George | Episode: "It's a Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay World!" | |
| 1999 | That 70s Show | The Bouncer | Episode: "The Velvet Rope" |
| Sliders | Officer Phil | Episode: "Easy Slider" | |
| Chicago Hope | John Derricks | Episode: "Vigilance and Care" | |
| 2000 | Then Came You | Cop | Episode: "Then Came the Monthiversary" |
| Family Law | Jack Lumberg | Episode: "Telling Lies" | |
| 2000–2001 | Buzz Lightyear of Star Command | XR | 24 episodes; Voice |
| 2001 | The District | George Ryerson | Episode: "Vigilante" |
| Norm | Lee | Episode: "Norm vs. Deception" | |
| 2001–2009 | Scrubs | Janitor | 170 episodes |
| 2002 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Officer Yarnell | Episode: "Identity Crisis" |
| Boston Public | Walter Andrews | Episode: "Chapter Thirty-Four" | |
| NYPD Blue | Kevin Healey | Episode: "Low Blow" | |
| 2002–2003 | Clone High U.S.A. | Various Characters | 12 episodes; Voice) |
| 2003–04 | Smallville | Pete Dinsmore | 2 episodes |
| 2005 | King of the Hill | Turpin | Episode: "Arlen City Bomber" |
| Love, Inc. | Nathan | Episode: "Love, Inc." | |
| 2006 | Joey | Father O'Neill | 2 episodes |
| My Boys | Danny Finn | Episode: "When Heroes Fall from Grace" | |
| 2007 | The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show | Hitchhiker | Episode: "T-Bones TV" |
| 2009–present | The Middle | Mike Heck | Series Regular, 53+ Episodes |
| 2013 | Bob's Burgers | Max Flush | Episode: "O.T. The Outside Toilet" |
References
- ^ Keller, Joel (May 5, 2010). "Patricia Heaton on Spending Mother's Day in 'The Middle'". TV Squad. Retrieved October 10, 2010. "And so many of us -- Neil Flynn grew up in the suburbs of Chicago -- and just talking about how he grew up ... And he's also Irish-Catholic, which is how I grew up."
- ^ Starrymag.com
- ^ "Rookie of the Year at IMDB". IMDb. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
- ^ "Neil Flynn". IMDB. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
External links
- Neil Flynn at the Internet Movie Database
- Cast biography at scrubstv.com
- Beer, Shark, Mice at iO WEST