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Christopher McDonald (born February 15, 1955) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his mostly-improvised role of Tappy Tibbons in Requiem for a Dream. McDonald is also well known for playing Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore.

Personal life

McDonald was born in New York City, the son of Patricia, a nursing professor and real estate agent, and James McDonald, an educator.^[1] He was raised in upstate Romulus, New York and is a graduate of Hobart College in Geneva, New York, where he was an active member of The Kappa Alpha Society. McDonald is married to Lupe Gidley and together they are the parents of four children. He has five surviving siblings following the death of his younger brother, actor Daniel McDonald (1960 - February 15, 2007), who died on Christopher's 52nd birthday. He is a Buffalo Bills fan. He marched with the Geneva Appleknockers Jr. Drum and Bugle Corps in the late 1960s.

Career

McDonald has numerous film and television roles to his name, often as a supporting actor. In addition to the above, his credits also include Grease 2, The Boys Next Door, Thelma and Louise, Grumpy Old Men, Quiz Show, Flubber, The Faculty, The Perfect Storm, House Arrest, Dirty Work, American Pie 5: The Naked Mile, Broken Flowers and Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams. He was featured as Ward Cleaver in the movie version of Leave It to Beaver and famous baseball broadcaster Mel Allen in 61*. In 1994 he starred in the film Terminal Velocity as an aggressive Russian mafia villain alongside Charlie Sheen. In early 2010 it was announced that McDonald was voted number 4 on the "Sexiest Men Alive 2009" magazine.

In the realm of television, along with recurring roles on the television series Family Law, North Shore and Veronica's Closet, McDonald has also made guest appearances on Cheers, Riptide, Knight Rider, The Sopranos, Psych, Home Improvement, Las Vegas, the Law and Order franchise and Star Trek: The Next Generation as Lt. Richard Castillo in the season 3 episode Yesterday's Enterprise.

His voice work includes the determined government agent Kent Mansley in the animated film The Iron Giant. He also voiced Superman's father Jor-El in Superman: The Animated Series and subsequently a much older Superman in the Batman Beyond two part episode The Call. He has recalled great affection for these roles, saying that he enjoyed them because he was (and continues to be) such a fan of Superman and because they were in such contrast to his less than sympathetic on screen roles that he is famous for. He subbed for Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg in The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning.

He was also in Peter Gabriel's music video for the song The Barry Williams Show with McDonald as the eponymous lead. He also replaced Robert De Niro in the Midnight Run movie franchise; he played "Jack Walsh" in three TV films - Another Midnight Run, Midnight Runaround, and Midnight Run for Your Life.

He portrayed baseball player Joe DiMaggio in the ESPN original series The Bronx Is Burning.

Filmography

References

External links

• Christopher McDonald at the Internet Movie Database
• Christopher McDonald at the Internet Broadway Database
• Christopher McDonald at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)