Christopher Ellis (born April 14, 1956) is an American character
actor.Ellis was born in Dallas, Texas. He grew up in Frayser, a suburb
of Memphis, in a middle class/working class area. He always wanted to
be an actor because of what he saw on television.It took him seven
years to finish college however, because "I have always been
shiftless". During those years Chris became involved in community
theatre in Memphis, Tennessee, where "I did and do still think the
quality of the work has always been quite good". By the time he moved
to New York, he had worked with many excellent actors in about two
dozen plays, classical and contemporary. "I cannot imagine what might
have supplanted that background for a newcomer in New York."His first
part in either television or film came in 1979, where he played a
truck driver in the television movie The Suicide's Wife, which starred
Angie Dickinson. The role resulted in little further work. After
working in regional theater for a year or so, Ellis did not work for
about ten years. During that time he lived in "bone-grinding poverty"
in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen. In one nine-month period of 1987, Ellis
accepted 102 dinner invitations. "I don't know why they kept arriving,
nor why I counted them, though I do know why I accepted them."
actor.Ellis was born in Dallas, Texas. He grew up in Frayser, a suburb
of Memphis, in a middle class/working class area. He always wanted to
be an actor because of what he saw on television.It took him seven
years to finish college however, because "I have always been
shiftless". During those years Chris became involved in community
theatre in Memphis, Tennessee, where "I did and do still think the
quality of the work has always been quite good". By the time he moved
to New York, he had worked with many excellent actors in about two
dozen plays, classical and contemporary. "I cannot imagine what might
have supplanted that background for a newcomer in New York."His first
part in either television or film came in 1979, where he played a
truck driver in the television movie The Suicide's Wife, which starred
Angie Dickinson. The role resulted in little further work. After
working in regional theater for a year or so, Ellis did not work for
about ten years. During that time he lived in "bone-grinding poverty"
in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen. In one nine-month period of 1987, Ellis
accepted 102 dinner invitations. "I don't know why they kept arriving,
nor why I counted them, though I do know why I accepted them."
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