Michael Rooker

Acting

Biography

Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor who mainly plays roles of antagonists. He first rose to prominence for portraying the titular role in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) and is best known for starring as Merle Dixon in the AMC series The Walking Dead (2010–2013) and as Yondu Udonta in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), followed by its sequels Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). He is a recurring collaborator of Guardians of the Galaxy director and co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn, appearing in all of his films to date, including Slither (2006), Super (2010), and The Suicide Squad (2021). Rooker's other notable roles include Chick Gandil in Eight Men Out (1988), Frank Bailey in Mississippi Burning (1988), Terry Cruger in Sea of Love (1989), Rowdy Burns in Days of Thunder (1990), Bill Broussard in JFK (1991), Hal Tucker in Cliffhanger (1993), Sherman McMaster in Tombstone (1993), Jared Svenning in Mallrats (1995), Detective Edward Kennesaw in Deceiver (1997), Detective Howard Cheney in The Bone Collector (1999), Detective Jake Riley in Replicant (2001), and Buddy in F9 (2021).

Filmography Movies

Acting

MOVIE

Corrective Measures

5.0(0.1K)

Set in San Tiburon, the world's most dangerous maximum-security penitentiary and home to the world's most treacherous superpowered criminals, where tensions among the inmates and staff heighten, leading to anarchy that engulfs the prison and order is turned upside down.

The Box

4.5(0.0K)

An ex-con tries to go straight but also wants to get back money he's owed for the job that put him in prison. He meets a waitress who's also seen her share of trouble and they start up a tenuous relationship. Then there's a murder and things get complicated. It's noir so the plot isn't the main focus but the mood of the film is consistent and properly downbeat. The characters can't seem to shake the fate that hangs over them.

Days of Thunder

6.4(1.7K)

Talented but unproven stock car driver Cole Trickle gets a break and with the guidance of veteran Harry Hogge turns heads on the track. The young hotshot develops a rivalry with a fellow racer that threatens his career when the two smash their cars. But with the help of his doctor, Cole just might overcome his injuries-- and his fear.

Mississippi Burning

7.7(1.9K)

Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.

JFK

7.6(2.4K)

Follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison.

Music Box

7.2(0.2K)

A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.

Mallrats

6.8(1.4K)

Both dumped by their girlfriends, two best friends seek refuge in the local mall. Eventually, they decide to try and win back their significant others and take care of their respective nemeses.

Replicant

5.8(0.5K)

Scientists create a genetic clone of a serial killer in order to help catch the killer, teaming up with two cops.

The Dark Half

6.0(0.5K)

Following the public's realization that Thad Beaumont and George Stark are one and the same, the former stages a mock funeral, only for a series of gruesome murders to begin occurring as in his books.

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The Dark Half

Sheriff Alan Pangborn

MOVIE

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

6.7(0.8K)

Arriving in Chicago, Henry moves in with ex-con acquaintance Otis and starts schooling him in the ways of the serial killer.

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Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

Henry

Production

MOVIE

Pennhurst

3.1(0.0K)

A local television show embarks to capture the paranormal activity at Pennhurst, an abandoned psychiatric hospital well known to ghost hunters across the world.

Wicked Ways

5.3(0.0K)

A wife, her two-timing husband and a flirting neighbor are unpredictable competitors in a warped game that turns into a life-or-death affair.

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Wicked Ways

Co-Executive Producer

MOVIE

Brown's Requiem

4.7(0.0K)

Fritz Brown is an ex-LAPD, recovering alcoholic who now splits his time repossessing cars for a used car lot and staffing his one-man private detective agency. When a filthy caddie named Freddy "Fat Dog" Baker wanders into Fritz's office one day, flashing a wad of cash, Fritz is hired to follow Fat Dog's kid sister Jane, who is holed up with a Beverly Hills sugar daddy named Sol Kupferman. Kupferman is a 70 year-old bag man for the mob, and Fat Dog claims that "Solly K" is up to something evil that may harm Jane. The trail leads Fritz to an encounter with his dark past in the person of Haywood Cathcart, current head of LAPD internal affairs and the person who kicked Fritz off the police force.

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Brown's Requiem

Associate Producer