Despite making his big screen debut back in 1993 in Groundhog Day actor Michael Shannon really has made a name for himself in Revolutionary Road earning an Oscar nomination for his performance.
Shannon began his acting career on the stage in Chicago where he founded the A Red Orchid Theatre as well as working with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the Northlight Theatre.
Despite just having a small role as a wedding groom Groundhog Day marked his big screen debut but it was his theatre work that dominated his career in these early years.
He turned his attention back to the big screen in 1996 and a sting of small roles followed in independent movies such as a drug addict in 1998's Hellcab, and gun wielding psychopath in Jesus' Son in 1999 and a Vietnam sergeant in Tigerland in 1999.
Even though his theatre work still remained a priority his movie roles grew more substantial as he worked on Michael Bay's Pearl Harbour, Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise and 8 Mile.
However it was his performance in Bug in 2007 that gave his career a major boost. Ashley Judd stars as a lonely waitress in this study in fear and paranoia from director William Friedkin.
Aggie lives a largely solitary life in Oklahoma, haunted by a sad past and hounded by her ex-con ex-husband (Harry Connick, Jr.). When a female friend and occasional lover introduces Aggie to Peter (Michael Shannon), it seems she has found her match.
The pair enters into a cautious romance, but their dark natures fuel more than just passion. Peter reveals that he was a victim of government experimentation that left blood-hungry aphids crawling under his skin, and the couple begins to obsess over the idea that they could be infected by the insects.
He followed this up with the critically acclaimed Before the Devil Knows You're Dead alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke but it's Revolutionary Road that is propelling him to further fame.
For his role as John Givings in Sam Mendes' fifties based movie Revolutionary Road with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
For his performance Shannon earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, it was the only acting nod for the movie.
Up next for him is The Missing Person, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done and 13.
Revolutionary Road is out now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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