| Michael Emerson | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| ...as Gerry Rankin | ||
| Characters Gerry Rankin Allan Shaye | ||
| Date of birth September 7, 1954 | ||
| Place of birth Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA | ||
 | ||
| ...as Allan Shaye | ||
| IMDb profile |
Michael Emerson is an Emmy Award winning actor who played two different characters in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He played the role of Gerry Rankin in the CI episode "Phantom", and Allan Shaye in the SVU episode "Ritual".
He is married to actress Carrie Preston since 1998, who also made several guest appearances on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. They also worked on several projects together: Emerson played Ben Linus on television's Lost, and Preston was a guest star in episode 20 of season 3, "The Man Behind the Curtain" as Ben's mother Emily in flashback scenes, though she and Emerson never shared scenes together. The couple were featured in the 2004 comedy film Straight-Jacket and the 2008 feature film, Ready? OK!. She appeared in several episodes of Person of Interest (with Amy Acker, James Carpinello, Annie Parisse, and Camryn Manheim) as Grace Hendricks, the former fiancée of Emerson's character, Harold Finch.
Emerson was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and grew up in the nearby town of Toledo, Iowa. After graduating in 1976 from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he studied theater and art, he moved to New York City. Unable to find acting work, he took retail jobs and worked as a freelance illustrator. In 1986, he moved with his first wife to Jacksonville, Florida. There, from 1986 to 1993, he appeared in local productions, and worked as a teacher and director.
Emerson considered forgoing a career in acting in favor of a more stable vocation in teaching. He decided to instead further his studies with a Master of Fine Arts, that might also introduce him to theatre professionals and directors in his chosen trade. In 1993, he enrolled in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's University of Alabama-sponsored Master of Fine Arts/Professional Actor Training program and upon graduating in 1995, he returned to New York where he appeared in the annual Alabama Shakespeare Festival showcase.
Emerson got his big break in 1997 when he starred as Oscar Wilde in Moises Kaufman's critically-acclaimed off-Broadway play, Gross Indecency: The Trials of Oscar Wilde, and then followed up with several other notable stage performances. In 1998 he performed opposite Uma Thurman in the off-Broadway production of The Misanthrope. In 1999, he played the part of Willie Oban in The Iceman Cometh. He co-starred with Kate Burton in both Give Me Your Answer, Do! and Hedda Gabler.
In film and television, Emerson made a name for himself playing dangerous, damaged characters. In 2001, he won an Emmy Award as "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series", for playing the serial killer William Hinks in several episodes of The Practice (with Dylan McDermott, LisaGay Hamilton, Steve Harris, Camryn Manheim. Michael Badalucco, Kelli Williams, and Lara Flynn Boyle).
One of Emerson's most well-known works was in 2004, as the character Zep Hindle in the horror movie Saw. In that year he also played the loyal somewhat Alfred Pennyworth-like butler to a Rock Hudson-like heartthrob, Guy Stone, in the comedy film Straight-Jacket.
In 2006, Emerson began a guest starring role playing Benjamin Linus (formerly called "Henry Gale" on the show) on the serial drama television series Lost. This casting was a result of his work on The Practice, as the Lost producers liked his work there, and thought he was a good fit for the character of Ben Linus that they were developing in their own show. Emerson was originally set to appear in a small number of episodes, and then returned for the third season as a main cast member, earning a 2007 Emmy nomination for his work on the series.