Neil Flynn

Neil Flynn
Flynn at the Hollywood Walk of Fame in May 2012
Born Neil Richard Flynn
(1960-11-13) November 13, 1960
South Side, Chicago, Illinois, U.S
Occupation Actor, comedian, voice actor
Years active 1982–present

Neil Richard Flynn (born November 13, 1960) is an American actor, comedian and voice actor. He is best known for his roles as The Janitor on Scrubs and Mike Heck in the ABC comedy series The Middle (2009–18).

Flynn has had notable appearances in many prolific television programs in small roles, such as That '70s Show, Seinfeld, CSI and Smallville and the television films It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie.

His film career includes performances in The Fugitive, Home Alone 3, Mean Girls, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Resurrection of Gavin Stone.

Flynn's credits also extend to voice-acting work with roles in movies including Cloudy With a Chance Of Meatballs, prime-time TV shows King of the Hill and Bob's Burgers, the Ratchet and Clank series of games as well as the animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Clone High

In 2015, he joined The CW's Arrowverse with a starring role in the DC web series Vixen (2015–present). He is also set to appear alongside Natalie Morales in the NBC sitcom Abby's in a main role with a projection date of 2019.

Early life

Flynn was born on the south side of Chicago. He is of Irish descent and was raised in a devout Roman Catholic household.[1] 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." He attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity and participated on the Bradley University Speech Team. After graduating in 1982, Flynn returned to Chicago to pursue an acting career.

Career

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. In 1998, he founded the improv team Beer Shark Mice with David Koechner, which was still active as of 2015.[2]

Although his role on Scrubs had been to that point the most visible, he had other 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.

In The Fugitive, he plays a Chicago police officer who is killed by the one-armed man, Frederick Sykes (Andreas Katsulas) while he is fighting Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford), prompting Chicago Police Department detectives to hunt Ford's character. This role was used in a subplot of the Scrubs episode "My Friend the Doctor" 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 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 was not picked up by FOX. He was also the first baseman in the movie Rookie of the Year.[3]

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.

Scrubs

For Scrubs, Flynn auditioned for the role of Dr. Cox, but was given the role of Janitor, instead. Flynn was originally only cast for the first episode ("My First Day"), but he became a regular, playing a character known only as the Janitor, who devotes much of his energy to menacing young Dr. John "J.D." Dorian. His name is not revealed in the series until the season 8 finale when, upon J.D.'s first time asking about it, he simply says his name is Glenn Matthews. This is also speculated to be false for two reasons: first, after J.D. leaves the shot, an orderly addresses the Janitor as "Tommy"; and second, while watching The Fugitive with Carla and Danni (Dr. Cox's sister-in-law, played by Tara Reid) in the season 3 episode 'My Friend The Doctor', J.D. notices the real-life Flynn's character in the train scene. When the Janitor confirms he was in the movie at the end of the episode, some speculated the Janitor's real name in Scrubs is actually Neil Flynn.[4] Flynn was a series regular with Scrubs through the first eight seasons.[5] When Scrubs was cancelled by NBC and subsequently picked-up by ABC, he signed a second position one-year deal for Scrubs season 9, which would have allowed him to continue on Scrubs if his pilot The Middle was not picked up.[5] The Middle was picked up, although he did guest star in the season 9 premiere of Scrubs.

The Middle

Flynn's most famous role as Mike Heck came on ABC's The Middle (2009-2018). A spin-off for The Middle is being cast around Eden Sher. It is not yet known if he will guest star, have a recurring role, or be part of the main cast. As Mike Heck on The Middle, he had 3 children, and worked at the Orson Limestone Quarry. The Heck Family was a middle class family in Indiana. [6] In 2017, the series celebrated 200 episodes. The Middle has been Flynn's main show throughout his television career.

Voice-over work

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 made a guest appearance in Kim Possible.

Flynn voiced the character Max Flush on the FOX TV show Bob's Burgers in the episode "O.T.: The Outside Toilet".

As of 2015, he is providing the voice of Chuck, the foster father of the title character in the DC Comics animated web series Vixen.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
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
1994 The Fence Dominick
1996 Chain Reaction State Trooper Neimitz
1997 Home Alone 3 Police Officer #1
1999 Magnolia Daniel Hill
2000 The Right Temptation Max
2001 The Removers Alien Mask Man
2003 Brainwarp Detective Jim Fist Direct-to-video
2004 Mean Girls Chip Heron
2004 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Cop Deleted scenes
2006 Hoot Mr. Eberhart
2007 Sex and Death 101 Zack
2007 Alive and Well Joel
2007 5-25-77 Dr. Callahan
2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull FBI Agent Paul Smith
2009 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Weather News Network Producer (voice)
2017 The Resurrection of Gavin Stone Waylon Stone

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1987 CBS Summer Playhouse LAPD Officer Episode: "Kung Fu: The Next Generation"
1987 Sable Real Security Guard Episode: "Copycat"
1989 Tour of Duty SEAL Episode: "Sealed with a Kiss"
1989 Doogie Howser, M.D. Policeman #1 Episode: "Pilot"
1996 To Sir, with Love II Detective Dennis Television film
1996–97 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"
1998 Ellen George Episode: "It's a Gay, Gay, Gay, Gay World!"
1999 That '70s Show The Bouncer Episode: "The Velvet Rope"
1999 Sliders Officer Phil Episode: "Easy Slider"
1999 Chicago Hope John Derricks Episode: "Vigilance and Care"
2000 Then Came You Cop Episode: "Then Came the Monthiversary"
2000 Family Law Jack Lumberg Episode: "Telling Lies"
2000–01 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command XR (voice) 24 episodes
2001 The District George Ryerson Episode: "Vigilante"
2001 Norm Lee Episode: "Norm vs. Deception"
2001–09 Scrubs Janitor 166 episodes
Guest (seasons 1 and 9)
Main cast (seasons 2–8)
2002 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Officer Yarnell Episode: "Identity Crisis"
2002 Boston Public Walter Andrews Episode: "Chapter Thirty-Four"
2002 NYPD Blue Kevin Healey Episode: "Low Blow"
2002 It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie Janitor/Himself Television film
2002–03 Clone High U.S.A. Various Voices 12 episodes
2003–04 Smallville Pete Dinsmore 2 episodes
2005 King of the Hill Turpin (voice) Episode: "Arlen City Bomber"
2005 Love, Inc. Nathan Episode: "Love, Inc."
2006 Joey Father O'Neill 2 episodes
2006 My Boys Danny Finn Episode: "When Heroes Fall from Grace"
2006 Re-Animated Head of Appleday Board Television film
2007 The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show Hitchhiker Episode: "T-Bones TV"
2009 Monkey Talk Kevin Television film
2009–18 The Middle Michael "Mike" Heck Main cast
215 episodes
2013 Bob's Burgers Max Flush (voice) Episode: "O.T.: The Outside Toilet"
2014 Surviving Jack Sport Teacher Episode: "She Drives Me Crazy"
2014 Key & Peele Doctor Episode: "Sex Addict Wendell"
2015 Undateable Customer Episode: "A Live Episode Walks Into a Bar"
2015 Jeopardy! Himself 3 episodes
2019 Abby's Fred Main cast

Web

Year Title Role Notes
2015–16 Vixen Chuck McCabe (voice) Recurring role
6 episodes

Video games

Year Title Role
2002 Ratchet & Clank Plumber, Skid McMarx, Robot Lieutenant, Inventor, Foreman
2003 Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando Plumber
2004 Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal Plumber, Skid McMarx, Taxi Driver, Gary

References

  1. ↑ Keller, Joel (May 5, 2010). "Patricia Heaton on Spending Mother's Day in 'The Middle'". TV Squad. Retrieved October 10, 2010. And so many of us -- Neil Flynn grew up in the suburbs of Chicago -- and just talking about how he grew up ... And he's also Irish-Catholic, which is how I grew up.
  2. ↑ Metz, Nina (10 August 2015). "'Middle' and 'Anchorman' stars return to iO Theater with improv team Beer Shark Mice". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  3. ↑ "Rookie of the Year at IMDB". IMDb. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  4. ↑ Starrymag.com
  5. 1 2 Andreeva, Nellie (15 May 2009). "ABC renews 'Scrubs'". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Ng, Philiana (13 October 2013). "'The Middle': Patricia Heaton, Creators Reflect on Road to 100 Episodes". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
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