Michael McKean

Michael McKean
Born	Michael McKean
Height	6' (1.83 m)

Michael McKean (born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, composer and musician, best known for his portrayal of Leonard 'Lenny' Kosnowski on the sitcom Laverne and Shirley; as one of the members of Spinal Tap; as a Saturday Night Live cast member; and for other various appearances in popular TV series and films.

Early career

McKean began his career (as well as the characters of Lenny and Squiggy) in Pittsburgh while a student at Carnegie Mellon University; David Lander was a fellow student at CMU. Their partnership grew after graduation as part of the comedy group The Credibility Gap with Harry Shearer in Los Angeles but McKean's breakthrough came in 1976 when he joined the cast of Laverne and Shirley. McKean directed one episode, and the characters became something of a phenomenon, even releasing an album as Lenny and the Squigtones in 1979, which featured a young Christopher Guest on guitar (credited as Nigel Tufnel, the name Guest would use a few years later as part of the spoof rock band, Spinal Tap). McKean also played his character in an episode of Happy Days. After leaving Laverne and Shirley in 1982, McKean played David St. Hubbins in the cult spoof documentary movie This Is Spinal Tap with both Guest and Shearer, and appeared in the soap opera spoof Young Doctors in Love.

Film and television

McKean quickly became a recognizable name in film and television, with appearances in films such as Clue (1985), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), the film adaptation of Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992), Coneheads (1993) and Radioland Murders (1994). He also had guest roles on such shows as Murder, She Wrote, Murphy Brown, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Caroline in the City.

Having already appeared as a musical guest and then host of Saturday Night Live, McKean joined the cast in 1994. During this time, he also released a video follow up to Spinal Tap, played Mr. Dittmeyer in The Brady Bunch Movie, and played the boss Gibby in the HBO series Dream On. After leaving Saturday Night Live, McKean spent a lot of time doing children's fare, voicing various TV shows and movies. In 1999, with two children from a previous marriage (to Susan Russell, from 1970 to 1993), McKean married Annette O'Toole.

Recent career

In 1997, he played the lead voice role in computer game Zork Grand Inquisitor, as Dalboz of Gurth.

His more recent films have included Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999); Mystery, Alaska (1999); Best in Show (2000) (in which he reunited with Christopher Guest); Little Nicky (2000); The Guru (2002); And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003); and A Mighty Wind (2003) (in which the The Folksmen are played by the actors who play Spinal Tap).

Recent TV guest appearances include The Simpsons; Law & Order; Family Guy; Star Trek: Voyager; and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. He also lent his voice to an episode of Kevin Smith's Clerks: The Animated Series that was never aired on ABC but was included on the VHS and DVD versions of the series. In 1998, he guest starred in a two-part episode of The X-Files called "Dreamland" in which his character, Morris Fletcher, switched bodies with Fox Mulder. The character was a success, and reappeared in 1999's Three of a Kind, an episode which focused on the recurring characters of The Lone Gunmen. The character appeared on their short-lived spin-off series in 2001, and then returned to The X-Files in its final season for an episode called "Jump the Shark". McKean had a regular role as the brassy, heavily made-up bandleader Adrian Van Horhees in Martin Short's Comedy Central series, Primetime Glick, and in 2003, he guest starred on Smallville, the Superman prequel in which his wife stars as Martha Kent. McKean played Perry White, who - in the Superman universe - ultimately becomes Clark Kent's boss. He previoulsly has been related to the Superman myth. In 1994, on the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman 1st. season episode "Vatman", He played Dr. Fabian Leek, a cloning expert who creates a Superman clone that belonged to corporate mogul Lex Luthor (John Shea). Also, during his short stint on Saturday Night Live, McKean played Perry White in a Superman spoof.

In 2003, he appeared in the Christopher Guest comedy A Mighty Wind. He co-wrote several songs for the film, including A Mighty Wind (with Guest and Eugene Levy), which won the Grammy for "Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" and A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow (with wife Annette O'Toole), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song.

He was on Broadway in a production of Hairspray in 2004, and is apparently writing his own musical with O'Toole. He was co-starring as Hines in a revival of The Pajama Game with Harry Connick, Jr. at the American Airlines Theatre in the first half of 2006. Recently, McKean reunited with most of the cast of A Mighty Wind to film the comedy, For Your Consideration. He also appeared in Love Song on the stage in London.

On March 22, 2006, while Harry Shearer was being interviewed on the Opie and Anthony Radio Show about the movie "Spinal Tap", he stated the following, "Well, Michael McKean had been in a band called 'The Left Banke'. They'd done a hit called 'Walk Away Renee', and 'Pretty Ballerina' was their follow-up that was a semi-hit, and he joined the band right after they had their hits."

McKean was recently cast in the pilot episode of The Thick of It as the chief of staff. The pilot is being directed by Guest.

Recurring Characters on SNL

• Anthony, the weatherman from "Good Morning, Brooklyn"

Celebrity Impersonations on SNL

• Bill Clinton (after Phil Hartman left at the end of season 19)
• Jimmy Carter
• Robert Evans
• John Tesh
• Robert Shapiro
• Spalding Gray
• Tom Skerritt
• Vincent Price
• Richard Gephardt
• Jeffrey Dahmer
• Howard Stern
• Donald Belfi
• Adam West
• Elvis Costello
• George F. Will
• Gary Busey

Filmography

• Cracking Up (1977)
• 1941 (1979)
• Used Cars (1980)
• Young Doctors in Love (1982)
• This Is Spinal Tap (1984) (also writer)
• D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)
• Clue (1985)
• Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)
• Light of Day (1987)
• Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
• Portrait of a White Marriage (1988)
• Short Circuit 2 (1988)
• Earth Girls Are Easy (1988)
• Hider in the House (1989)
• The Big Picture (1989) (also writer)
• Flashback (1990)
• Book of Love (1990)
• True Identity (1991)
• Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
• Man Trouble (1992)
• Coneheads (1993)
• Airheads (1994)
• Radioland Murders (1994)
• The Brady Bunch Movie (1995)
• Across the Moon (1995)
• Edie & Pen (1996)
• The Pompatus of Love (1996)
• Jack (1996)
• No Strings Attached (1997)
• That Darn Cat (1997)
• Nothing to Lose (1997)
• Still Breathing (1997)
• The Man Who Counted (1998) (short subject)
• Spinal Tap: The Final Tour (1998) (short subject)
• The Pass (1998)
• Small Soldiers (1998) (voice)
• Archibald the Rainbow Painter (1998)
• With Friends Like These... (1998)
• Sugar: The Fall of the West (1998)

Awards

• 2004 Academy Award Nomination: Best Song - A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow - (shared with Annette O'Toole)
• 2004 Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Winner: Best Song - A Mighty Wind - (shared with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy)
• 2004 Golden Satellite Award Nomination: Best Original Song - A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow - (shared with Annette O'Toole)
• 2004 Grammy Award Winner: Best Song Written for a Motion Picture - A Mighty Wind - (shared with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy)
• 2003 Seattle Film Critics Award Winner: Best Music - A Mighty Wind - (shared with Christopher Guest, John Michael Higgins, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Annette O'Toole, Harry Shearer and Jeffrey C.J. Vanston)
• 2003 DVD Exclusive Award Nomination: Best Animated Character Performance - The Hunchback of Notre Dame II - (shared with Ritsuko Notani)
• 2001 DVD Exclusive Award Winner: Best DVD Audio Commentary - This Is Spinal Tap - (shared with Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer)

External links

• Michael McKean at IMDb
• Michael McKean at the Internet Broadway Database
• Michael McKean - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org