Michael David Rapaport (born March 20, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. Beginning his career in the early 1990s, he has made over 100 appearances in film and television. His film roles include ''

True Romance ''True Romance'' is a 1993 American romantic crime film directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. It features an ensemble cast led by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, with Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt ...

'' (1993), '' Higher Learning'' (1995), '' Metro'' (1997), ''

Cop Land ''Cop Land'' is a 1997 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by James Mangold. It stars an ensemble cast that includes Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, and Robert De Niro, with Peter Berg, Janeane Garofalo, ...

'' (1997), '' Deep Blue Sea'' (1999), '' The 6th Day'' (2000), ''

Dr. Dolittle 2 ''Dr. Dolittle 2'' (also known as ''Doctor Dolittle 2'') is a 2001 American fantasy comedy film and a sequel to the 1998 film '' Dr. Dolittle''. It was written by Larry Levin, one of the co-writers of ''Dr. Dolittle'', and directed by Steve Carr. ...

'' (2001), ''

Big Fan ''Big Fan'' is a 2009 American film written and directed by Robert D. Siegel, and starring Patton Oswalt, Kevin Corrigan, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Michael Rapaport, and Scott Ferrall. The story revolves around the bleak yet amiable life of the self-de ...

'' (2009), and '' The Heat'' (2013). On television, he headlined the Fox sitcom '' The War at Home'' (2005–2007) and was a series regular on the Fox drama '' Boston Public'' (2001–2004), the fourth season of the Fox serial drama ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American serial drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield ( Wentworth Miller); Burrows has been sentenced ...

'' (2008–2009), and the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

comedy drama '' Atypical'' (2017–2021). Rapaport also held recurring roles on the NBC sitcoms ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Li ...

'' (1999) and ''

My Name Is Earl ''My Name Is Earl'' is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia that aired on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and starred Ja ...

'' (2007–2008) and the FX Western '' Justified'' (2014). Outside of his acting career, Rapaport directed the 2011 documentary '' Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest'' about the eponymous hip hop group

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

. Active on several podcasts, he is the host of the ''I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast''.

Early life and education

Rapaport was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the son of June Brody, a New York radio personality, and David Rapaport, a radio executive who was the general manager of the All-Disco format at New York radio station WKTU Disco 92. He has a brother named Eric Rapaport and an older half-sister named Claudia Lonow (née Rapaport) via his father's prior marriage. After his parents divorced, Rapaport's mother married comic Mark Lonow, who owned

The Improv The Improv is a comedy club franchise. It was founded as a single venue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City in 1963, and expanded into a chain of venues in the late 1970s. History Originally, it was a single venue founded in 1 ...

with Budd Friedman. Rapaport grew up on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the we ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, near 70th Street and York Avenue. He is

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

; his family is originally from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. Rapaport had a hard time in school. He attended

Erasmus Hall High School Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Ac ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in the 1980s, but was expelled. He graduated from Martin Luther King High School in Manhattan.

Career

In 1989, Rapaport moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

when he was 19 years old to try to become a

stand-up comic Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

. Rapaport's stepfather, comic Mark Lonow, who owned

with Budd Friedman, helped him get into the stand-up world. He did that for three years. His big break in acting was on the TV series '' China Beach''. Rapaport had a recurring role in ''

'' as Frank, a convict Earl reunites with in prison. His character was the reason for many of the things in Earl's life, such as indirectly giving Earl his trailer and El Camino after a botched robbery with his partner, Paco. He played one of the main characters in the season four of ''

'' as Homeland Security Agent

Don Self This is a list of characters in the American television series ''Prison Break''. The characters are listed alphabetically by their last name or by the name which appears in the episode credits. Overview : = Main cast (credited) : = Recurr ...

. In October 2008, Rapaport announced that he was directing a documentary about hip hop act

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

. The film, '' Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest'', was released in 2011 and received mostly positive reviews. Rapaport guest starred in the fifth season of the FX series '' Justified'' as villain Daryl Crowe Jr, kingpin of the Crowe family. On February 12, 2010, Rapaport participated in the NBA All-Star Weekend's Celebrity Game and was named the MVP because of his defense on football player Terrell Owens, the MVP of the last two Celebrity Games, despite scoring just four points and having only a single rebound. Michael Rapaport (2013) 2

On April 17, 2014, an ESPN ''

30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...

'' film he directed premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

. The film was about the 1970s championship-winning

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

led by

Earl Monroe Vernon Earl Monroe (born November 21, 1944) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for two teams, the Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks, during his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Both teams ...

, Walt Frazier, and

Willis Reed Willis Reed Jr. (born June 25, 1942) is an American retired basketball player, coach and general manager. He spent his entire professional playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks. In 1982, Reed was inducted into the Naismith Me ...

. Rapaport is an occasional guest on the '' Howard Stern Show'' on Sirius Satellite Radio, especially when he participates in the staff's fantasy football pool. Rapaport hosts the ''I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast'' on the CBS Local radio network with childhood friend Gerald Moody. Other podcasts that Rapaport has appeared on include ''The Monday Morning Podcast'' with Bill Burr, ''Mailtime'' and ''Pardon My Take'' by

Barstool Sports Barstool Sports is an American blog website and digital media company headquartered in New York City that produces content on sports and pop culture. Founded by David Portnoy in 2003 in Milton, Massachusetts, the company's two primary owners ...

, '' The Adam Carolla Show'', ''

The Fighter and The Kid ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'', ''

Unqualified ''Unqualified'' is an American advice podcast created and hosted by actress Anna Faris, featuring interviews with celebrities and cultural figures, followed by personal phonecalls to listeners asking for relationship and other advice. It was co- ...

'', ''The

Bill Simmons William John Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is an American sports analyst, author, podcaster, and former Sports journalism, sports writer who is the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website ''The Ringer (website), The Ringer ...

Podcast'' and its predecessor, ''The BS Report''; ''The Chive Podcast'', '' WTF with Marc Maron'', ''His & Hers Podcast'', '' Cari Champion's Podcast'', ''The Joey Boots Show'', ''The Dirty Sports Podcast'' and more. On June 19, 2017, Rapaport announced on Twitter that he would be joining the popular sports satire website Barstool Sports where he will be a correspondent for the podcast ''Pardon My Take''. On February 18, 2018, Rapaport was fired from Barstool Sports after making a rude comment toward their fan base. Rapaport is currently also a reporter for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

, covering the

BIG3 Big3 (stylized BIG3) is a 3-on-3 basketball league founded by hip hop musician and actor Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz. The league consists of 12 teams whose rosters include both former NBA players and international play ...

basketball league formed by

Ice Cube An ice cube is a small piece of ice, which is typically rectangular as viewed from above and trapezoidal as viewed from the side. Ice cubes are products of mechanical refrigeration and are usually produced to cool beverages. They may be p ...

. He is also the narrator of the ''WWE 365'' series on WWE Network.

Personal life

In 2000, Rapaport married writer and producer Nichole Beattie. They have two sons. They divorced in 2007. In 2005, Rapaport wrote an article for ''

Jane Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * Jane (1915 film), ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * Jane (2016 film), ''Jane'' (20 ...

'' magazine about having to evict the actress Natasha Lyonne from a property he was renting to her during a period of heavy drug use on her part. The two have since reconciled and remain friends. In 2016, Rapaport married his long time girlfriend, actress Kebe Dunn. In June 2018, Rapaport, while on an American Airlines flight from Houston to Los Angeles, stopped another passenger from opening an emergency door mid-flight.

Harassment charges

Rapaport was arrested on May 18, 1997, for harassing ex-girlfriend Lili Taylor and charged with two counts of aggravated harassment. He then pleaded guilty to the charges in court and

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

Justice Arlene Goldberg issued a protection order to keep the actor from contacting Taylor, as well as mandating that he undergo counseling sessions.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video Games

Music Videos

Works and publications

References

External links

*
I Am Rapaport
' podcast * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rapaport, Michael 1970 births Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Male actors from New York City American people of Polish-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent People from the Upper East Side Jewish American male actors American male film actors American documentary filmmakers American stand-up comedians American male television actors American male video game actors American podcasters Comedians from New York City 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians American landlords 21st-century American Jews