Michael Rooker was born on April 6, 1955 in Jasper, Alabama. When he was thirteen, his parents divorced and he went with his mother to live in Chicago. He caught the acting bug while attending college, and began appearing in local stage productions. On first breaking into film, his intensity and "don't-mess-with-me" good looks were highlighted to chilling effect as he title character in _Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer , among others. Additionally, Rooker's talents go beyond both film and television. He adds his voice to various video games, including The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Lollipop Chainsaw.
Studied Japanese martial art of Aikido with Fumio Toyoda Shihan prior to establishing himself in Chicago theatre.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer was his first movie, which was filmed in 1986 but was not released until 1990.
Attended and graduated from Chicagos Goodman School of Drama.
Ranked #17 on Tropopkin magazines Top 25 Most Intriguing People [Issue #100].
He unofficially reprised his role from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer for the music video, "All Wrapped Up", by the heavy metal band, American Head Charge.
Currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Michael Rooker and Brian Thompson are the only actors to have acted alongside all three of the major action heroes of the 1980s. Rooker appeared with Sylvester Stallone in Cliffhanger , Arnold Schwarzenegger in The 6th Day and Jean-Claude Van Damme in Replicant . Thompson appeared with Sylvester Stallone in Cobra , Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator and Jean-Claude Van Damme in Lionheart .
Has appeared in two films whose plot centered around Human Cloning: The 6th Day and Replicant .
Has two daughters with his wife Margot LaRose: Alynne Rooker and Gillian Rooker.
Announced on Twitter, with a photo, that his first daughter gave birth to his first grandchild, a daughter, on Thanksgiving morning, 28 November 2013.
"The Walking Dead" is not the first series on which he played a character with a prosthetic arm. He played a one-armed, drug smuggling, boat captain with a hook for a hand in the "CSI: Miami" episode "Dead Zone".
Said in an interview, that when he was 13 years old, he saw a Volvo commercial that compared Volvos to other cars by hanging them upside down from a crane and dropping them on their roof. He was so impressed with how well the Volvo fared in the comparison that hes wanted one ever since. In 2014, he finally purchased an s60 Volvo Sedan.
(On filming Super (2010/I) ) It was mayhem. No, not really.
I think I ended up getting my SAG card with that. And I had to cut my,hair. I was in a play, and I had to have my long hair for it. Then [the,Crime Story producers] wanted me to cut my hair because I was a cop or,something like that. So what we ended up doing was cutting just the,edges and stuffing my hair up under my hat, my cop hat, and I did the,role that way.
And I just stayed in the room and just prepared for the next scene. So,yeah, it was kind of weird and crazy, but that was a technique that,seemed like it worked.
they saw it and said, "Cast him. " I got the role because of,Henry, and because of whatever, the stars. I did everything you should,never, ever do to get this role. I fought with the casting director, I,was an asshole. I was upset. I mean, I was everything Chick Gandil was.
Hence, Eight Men Out.
(On filming Cliffhanger (1993) ) Cliffhanger got me in the best,shape of my life, working at 10,000 feet up in the mountains. And,everybody was great. I lived in Italy for seven months doing that,movie. It was a great vacation.
The inmates were very, very cool. I have a lot of friends, a lot of,fans that are in maximum-security prisons all over this country. .
