Chris Messina

This article is about the actor. For the open source advocate, see Chris Messina (advocate).

Chris Messina
Born	August 11, 1974 (1974-08-11) Northport, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1998–present

Chris Messina (born August 11, 1974) is an American film and television actor.

Life and career

Messina was born in Northport, New York. He started his career as an off-Broadway actor.^{[citation needed]} He has appeared in episodes of the television series Law & Order, Third Watch and Medium. He had a recurring role in the fifth and final season of the HBO drama Six Feet Under, playing Claire's (Lauren Ambrose) love interest Ted Fairwell. His film credits include Rounders, The Siege, You've Got Mail and Towelhead.

Messina starred as Ira in Ira and Abby, a 2007 film directed by Robert Cary and written by and co-starring Jennifer Westfeldt. In 2008 Messina starred in Woody Allen's film Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Messina starred in an HBO pilot Anatomy of Hope, which J. J. Abrams directed. Simon Callow also starred, but the pilot was not picked up to series. In October 2007 Daily Variety named him as one of 10 actors to watch.^{[citation needed]} His 2009 film appearances include Julie & Julia and the Sam Mendes-directed film Away We Go. Messina also appeared in 2010 in Greenberg, directed by Noah Baumbach. He also starred in Devil, under the direction of John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle, for producer M. Night Shyamalan and Universal Pictures. In April 2010 Monogamy, starring Messina and Rashida Jones, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film, which is directed by Dana Adam Shapiro, won the jury prize for best NY narrative. Shapiro was previously nominated for an Academy Award for his documentary Murderball.^{[citation needed]}

Messina joined the cast of Damages for its fourth season.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1998	Rounders	Higgins
	The Siege	Corporal
	You've Got Mail	Fox salesperson
2000	Turn It Up	Baz
2001	Ordinary Sinner	Silvio
2005	Road	Larry
	The Crooked Corner	Nephew
	Bittersweet Place	Seymour
2006	Ira and Abby	Ira Black
2007	Security	Zelly	Short film
	Towelhead	Barry	also known as Nothing is Private
2008	Humboldt County	Max
	Made of Honor	Dennis
	Vicky Cristina Barcelona	Doug
2009	Brief Interviews with Hideous Men	Subject #19
	Julie & Julia	Eric Powell
	Away We Go	Tom Garnett
	An Invisible Sign of My Own	Ben Smith
2010	Monogamy	Theo
	Devil	Bowden
	The Giant Mechanical Man	Tim
	Greenberg	Philip Greenberg

Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Third Watch	Charlie	1 episode "History"
2001	Big Apple	Ricky	1 Episode "A Ministering Angel"
2003	Law & Order	Don Cushman	3 episodes: "Suicide Box", "Homesick", 'Rebels"
2005	Six Feet Under	Ted Fairwell	6 episodes
2007	Medium	Casey Edward Frank	1 episode "The Whole Truth"
2009	Anatomy of Hope	Dr. Gary Kaplan	TV movie
2011	Damages	Chris Sanchez	Season regular

External links

• Chris Messina at the Internet Movie Database