Neil Flynn

Neil Flynn
Born	Neil Richard Flynn
Occupation	Actor/Comedian
Years active	1982–present

Neil Richard Flynn (born November 13, 1960) is an American actor and comedian, best known for his role as Janitor in the medical situation comedy Scrubs. He also currently portrays Mike Heck in the ABC sitcom The Middle.

Early life

Flynn was born in the south side of Chicago, and is of Irish descent. He moved to Waukegan, Illinois at an early age. As a student at Waukegan East High School in 1978, he and partner Mike Shklair won an Illinois Individual Events state championship for “Humorous Duet Acting.” After graduating from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, in 1982, Flynn returned to Chicago to pursue an acting career. Flynn participated on the nationally renowned Bradley University Speech Team.

Career

During his time in Chicago, he acted with the renowned Goodman and Steppenwolf Theaters. Flynn was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award (Actor in a Principal Role, for The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, 1986). He also performed at the Improv Olympic and the Second City Comedy Troupe.

Flynn originally auditioned for the role of Dr. Cox but was given the role of Janitor instead. In Scrubs, Flynn was originally only cast for the first episode ("My First Day") but was so popular he became a regular, playing a character known only as Janitor who devotes much of his energies to menacing young Dr. John "J.D." Dorian. Although his role on Scrubs has been Flynn's most visible to date, he has had small roles in a variety of different TV shows and movies, including That '70s Show, Baby's Day Out, CSI, My Boys, Seinfeld, and Smallville.

He played a Chicago Transit Authority police officer in The Fugitive. This role was used in a subplot of the Scrubs episode ("My Friend the Doctor") (Season 3, Episode 8) when J.D. (Zach Braff) notices Flynn's character in the film, and believes that Flynn's Janitor character is the actor in the film. In 2008, he worked with Harrison Ford again, playing a suspicious law enforcement official as FBI agent Smith in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Flynn also appeared briefly in the 2009 box-office bomb All About Steve which featured Sandra Bullock.

Flynn had a minor role in Mean Girls as the father of Lindsay Lohan's character. He then played the part of an anonymous police officer in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; this scene was cut out of the final version of the film, though it can be viewed in the straight to DVD spin-off film Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, and in the deleted scenes of the Anchorman DVD. He had a minor role in Major League as a longshoreman and fan of the Cleveland Indians. Flynn had a role on Phil Hendrie's animated pilot that wasn't picked up by FOX. He was also the first baseman in the movie Rookie of the Year.

Flynn once appeared in an episode of The Drew Carey Show, playing the fake husband of future Scrubs co-star Christa Miller. He appeared on an episode of Seinfeld, playing a police officer. He has also done voice acting for the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, though he is better known for voicing the popular characters Skidd McMarx and the Plumber in the first three Ratchet & Clank games for the PlayStation 2 . He also was the voice of a fashion policeman in Kim Possible.

He filmed a pilot called The Middle. In case it wasn't picked up he signed a second position one-year deal for Scrubs season nine. The Middle was picked up, although he did guest star in the season 9 premiere of Scrubs.

Filmography

Movies

Film
Year	Film	Role
1989	Major League	Longshoreman
1993	Rookie of the Year	Stan Okie
1993	The Fugitive	Transit cop
1994	Baby's Day Out	Cop in the park
	The Fence	Dominick
1996	Chain Reaction	Cop on the observatory's roof
	To Sir, with Love II (TV Movie)	Detective Dennis
1997	Home Alone 3	cop responding to Alex Pruit's 9-1-1 call
1999	Magnolia	Stanley Berry
2000	The Right Temptation	Max
2001	The Removers	Alien Mask Man
2002	It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (TV Movie)	Janitor
2003	Brainwarp (Straight-to-video)	Detective Jim Fist
2004	Mean Girls	Chip Heron
2006	Hoot	Mr. Eberhart
	Re-Animated (TV Movie)	Head of Appleday Board
2007	Sex and Death 101	Zack
	Alive and Well	Joel
	77	Dr. Callahan
2008	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	Smith
2009	Monkey Talk (TV Movie)	Kevin
	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Weather News Network Producer (Voice)

Television

Film
Year(s)	Show	Role	Notes/Episode
1982	Brookside	Sozza	Episode: #1.6
1987	CBS Summer Playhouse	LAPD Officer	Episode: Kung Fu: The Next Generation
	Sable	Real Security Guard	Episode: Copycat
1989	Tour Of Duty	SEAL	Episode: Sealed With A Kiss
	Doogie Howser, M.D.	Policeman #1	Episode: Pilot
1996-1997	Early Edition	Cop at Newsstand/Kellaher/Marilyn	3 Episodes
1997	Seinfeld	Cop #1	Episode: The Summer of George
1998	The Drew Carey Show	Scott Honey	Episode: Kate's Family
	Ellen	George	Episode: It's a Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay World!
1999	That 70s Show	The Bouncer	Episode: The Velvet Rope
	Sliders	Officer Phil	Episode: Easy Slider
	Chicago Hope	John Derricks	Episode: Vigilance and Care
2000	Then Came You	Cop	Episode: Then Came the Monthiversary
	Family Law	Jack Lumberg	Episode: Telling Lies
2000-2001	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command	XR	24 Episodes (Voice)
2001	The District	George Ryerson	Episode: Vigilante
	Norm	Lee	Episode: Norm vs. Deception
2001-2009	Scrubs	Janitor	170 Episodes
2002	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Officer Yarnell	Episode: Identity Crisis
	Boston Public	Walter Andrews	Episode: Chapter Thirty-Four
	NYPD Blue	Kevin Healey	Episode: Low Blow
2002-2003	Clone High U.S.A.	Various Characters	12 Episodes (Voice)
2003–04	Smallville	Pete Dinsmore	2 Episodes
2005	King of the Hill	Turpin	Episode: Arlen City Bomber
	Love, Inc.	Nathan	Episode: Love, Inc.
2006	Joey	Father O'Neill	2 Episodes
	My Boys	Danny Finn	Episode: When Heroes Fall from Grace
2007	The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show	Hitchhiker	Episode: T-Bones TV
2007	Kim Possible	Tweed	Episode: Fashion Victim
2009–present	The Middle	Mike Heck	46 Episodes

External links

• Cast biography at scrubstv.com
• Beer, Shark, Mice at iO WEST