From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John C. McGinley
Born	John Christopher McGinley August 3, 1959 (1959-08-03) (age 50) New York City, New York, U.S.
Other name(s)	John C. Mc Ginley John McGinley
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1985–present
Spouse(s)	Lauren Lambert (1997–2001) Nicole Kessler (2007–present)

John Christopher McGinley (born August 3, 1959) is an American actor, most notable for his roles as Perry Cox in Scrubs, Bob Slydell in Office Space, and Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's Platoon. He has also written and directed for television and film. Apart from acting, McGinley is also an author and a spokesperson for the National Down Syndrome Society.

Early life

McGinley, who is one of five children, was born in the Greenwich Village section of New York City, the son of Patricia, a schoolteacher, and Gerald McGinley, a stockbroker.^[1] His paternal great-grandfather was from Donegal, Ireland.^[2] McGinley was raised in Millburn, New Jersey, and attended Millburn High School, where he played wide receiver for the school's football team. He studied acting at Syracuse University, and later at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Upon completing his education, McGinley did a variety of different work, including Off Broadway and Broadway productions, and a two-year stint on the soap opera Another World.

At the age of 20, McGinley was a ball spotter at the 1980 U.S. Open. While on the job, he exchanged a few words with professional golfer Arnold Palmer.^[3]

Career

McGinley has had a prolific career, primarily as a supporting character actor. He was noticed by a casting scout while working as John Turturro's understudy in John Patrick Shanley's 1984 production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,^[4] which led to an audition for the role of Sergeant Red O'Neill in the Oscar-winning Platoon, although his first movie role was Alan Alda's Sweet Liberty (1986). That was followed the next year with Wall Street (1987), and again the next with Talk Radio (1988). He also was featured in a 1980s Subaru commercial.^[5] He appeared in the "Celebrity Challenge" version of American Gladiators, losing to Dean Cain. McGinley wrote the script for 1990s Suffering Bastards,^[6] in which he also co-starred.

He worked continually throughout the 1990s, appearing in films such as Point Break (1991), Highlander 2 (1991), Article 99 (1992), Wagons East! (1994), Se7en (1995), The Rock (1996), Nothing to Lose (1997) and Office Space (1999) (McGinley improvised several takes about his character's fondness for Michael Bolton). In 2007, he had a role as Chuck in the film Are We Done Yet? He has also had a small role as a gay highway patrolman in the Touchstone Pictures film Wild Hogs.

McGinley has done voiceover work on animated television series, including the superhero The Atom on several episodes of Justice League Unlimited, a guest appearance as "The White Shadow", the secret government agent overseeing Huey Freeman on The Boondocks, voicing The Whammer on the PBS Kids Go! series WordGirl as well as the lead character in the Sony PSP video game Dead Head Fred.

McGinley received critical acclaim for his performance as a serial killer in Dean Koontz's suspense drama, Intensity (1997). It became Fox's highest-rated miniseries. He worked with Koontz and Fox once more in Sole Survivor (2000).

In 2001, McGinley began work as a regular on the NBC sitcom Scrubs as the acerbic Dr. Perry Cox. Throughout the series Dr. Cox acts as an unwilling mentor to the protagonist J.D. (Zach Braff). McGinley has said that there are three things over the course of the series that he improvises: his constant usage of girls' names for JD, which he does with all his real friends; his whistle, which he describes as "a bad habit"; and his habit of touching his nose, a tribute to Robert Redford's character in The Sting; he says the gesture means "It's gonna be OK."^[7]

Since the NFL season of 2007, McGinley has played the "Commish" of the More Taste League commercials for Miller Lite. He has also done commercials for the Champions Tour, a professional golf tour for men over the age of 50.^[3] In 2008, McGinley was the narrator of the documentary of the Detroit Red Wings' 2008 Stanley Cup Championship.^[8] In 2009, McGinley started narrating commercials for ESPN.com.

In 1994, McGinley appeared in the role of a plumber, Danny Kriezel, in the TV show Frasier who, it is later revealed, used to bully Frasier's brother Niles Crane in high school.

McGinley wrote a 2005 book Untalkative Bunny: How to Be Heard Without Saying a Word, for Big Tent Entertainment.

Recently, he was cast in the movie adaptation of the comic book Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, and he plays the role of the classic Superman villain, Metallo.^[9]

Personal life

In February 1997, McGinley married Lauren Lambert. Their child, Max, born that year, has Down syndrome; While shooting Scrubs, he wears a wristband for a Down Syndrome charity. In December 2001, Lambert and McGinley divorced. In October 2002, he was chosen as "Dad of the Month" at iParenting.com.^[10] In August 2006, McGinley became engaged to yoga instructor Nichole Kessler in Malibu, whom he had dated for two years. The couple were married on April 7, 2007 in a private ceremony at their home.^[11] They have one daughter together, Billie Grace, who was born on February 2, 2008.

McGinley owns a stake in one of Billy Gilroy's New York SoHo bistros along with fellow actor Willem Dafoe. He is a close friend of John Cusack with whom he likes to play golf.^[12]

In 2006, McGinley served as the national spokesperson for the National Down Syndrome Society's annual Buddy Walk.^[13]

McGinley appeared on the television show American Gladiator in 1994, during the Celebrity Challenge.^[14]

McGinley is also an avid fan of the Detroit Red Wings, and shows this by wearing a Red Wings jersey (usually Chris Chelios') in several Scrubs episodes.

McGinley maintains a home in Malibu, California and is well-known as a member of the "Malibu Mob",^[15] a group of celebrity friends and neighbors including John Cusack, Tony Danza, former Detroit Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios, big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton, beach volleyball pro Gabrielle Reece, and tennis player John McEnroe.^[16]

Selected filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• John C. McGinley at the Internet Broadway Database
• John C. McGinley at the Internet Movie Database
• John C. McGinley at Allmovie
• John C. McGinley at TV.com