Early life

Michael Rooker was born in Jasper, Alabama. He has eight brothers and sisters. His parents divorced when he was 13 years old, and he moved with his mother and siblings to Chicago, Illinois, where he studied at the Goodman School of Drama.

Career

Rooker made his film debut in 1986, playing the title role in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, a film based on the confessions of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. He was acting in a play when the director of the play, who was going to do the prosthetics for Henry, told him about the film. Rooker did not care if the script was good or bad, he just wanted to act in a film as it would "challenge" himself. Henry was a critical success and got Rooker noticed in the filmmaking industry, which led to his receiving more film roles.

Rooker was given more dramatic roles in films such as Eight Men Out, Mississippi Burning, and JFK, but he became widely known for his roles in action and thriller films such as Sea of Love, Days of Thunder, Cliffhanger, and Tombstone. He also starred in Mallrats, Rosewood, The 6th Day, Slither, Jumper, Super and Hypothermia.

In June 2010, he revealed via Twitter that he was to appear in the AMC television series The Walking Dead as Merle Dixon, one of the survivors of a zombie apocalypse. He guest starred in two episodes of the first season and one of the second season before finally becoming a series regular for the third season.

Rooker is also known for his roles in video games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops (where he played himself), Mike Harper in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 in November 2012, and voiced Merle in The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, the video game based on the television series.

Rooker played Yondu in the Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy, which was directed by James Gunn. Rooker announced at the Wizard World Tulsa Comic Con that he will reprise his role as Yondu in the announced Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in 2017.

Personal life

Rooker lives in Tujunga, California, and is married to Margot Rooker. They have two daughters.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer	Henry	Fantasporto Award for Best Actor Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
1987	Light of Day	Oogie
1987	Rent-A-Cop	Joe
1988	Above the Law	Man in bar
1988	Eight Men Out	Arnold "Chick" Gandil
1988	Mississippi Burning	Frank Bailey
1989	Sea of Love	Terry Cruger
1989	Music Box	Karchy Laszlo
1990	Days of Thunder	Rowdy Burns
1991	JFK	Bill Broussard
1993	The Dark Half	Sheriff Alan Pangborn
1993	Cliffhanger	Hal Tucker
1993	Tombstone	Sherman McMasters
1994	Suspicious	Attendant	Short film
1994	The Hard Truth	Jonah Mantz
1995	Mallrats	Jared Svenning
1996	Bastard Out of Carolina	Uncle Earle
1996	The Trigger Effect	Gary
1996	Back to Back	Bob Malone
1997	Song of Hiawatha	Bertrand
1997	Rosewood	Sheriff Walker
1997	Keys to Tulsa	Keith Michaels
1997	Deceiver	Kennesaw
1998	The Replacement Killers	Stan "Zeedo" Zedkov
1997	Shadow Builder	Father Vassey
1998	Brown's Requiem	Fritz Brown	Also associate producer
1998	Renegade Force	Matt Cooper
1999	A Table for One	Matt Draper/Dr. Matthew Swan	Also co-executive producer
1999	Bone Collector, TheThe Bone Collector	Captain Howard Cheney
2000	Table One	Rowdy
2000	Here on Earth	Malcolm Arnold
2000	NewsBreak	John McNamara
2000	The 6th Day	Robert Marshall
2001	Replicant	Det. Jake Riley
2002	Undisputed	AJ Mercker
2003	The Box	Det. Stafford
2004	The Eliminator	Miles Dawson
2005	Chasing Ghosts	Mark Spencer
2006	Repo! The Genetic Opera	Repo Man	Short film
2006	Lenexa, 1 Mile	Russ
2006	Slither	Grant Grant
2007	Whisper	Sidney
2008	The Lena Baker Story	Randolph County Sheriff
2008	Jumper	William Rice
2008	This Man's Life	Richard Crummly	Short film
2009	Super Capers	Judge/Dark Winged Vesper
2009	Penance	Mann
2009	The Marine 2	Church	Direct-to-DVD
2010	Scott's Dead	Mitch	Short film
2010	Freeway Killer	Detective St. John
2010	Blood Done Sign My Name	Defense Attorney Billy Watkins
2010	Cell 213	Ray Clement
2010	DC Showcase: Jonah Hex	Red Doc (voice)	Short film
2010	Louis	Pat McMurphy
2010	Super	Abe
2011	Atlantis Down	Father/Alien
2011	Mysteria	Captain McCarthy
2011	Elwood	Condello	Short film
2012	The Lost Episode		Director
2012	Hypothermia	Ray Pelletier
2013	Brother's Keeper	Chief Carver
2014	Guardians of the Galaxy	Yondu
2016	Bolden!	Pat McMurphy	Post-production
2016	The Belko Experiment	Bud Melks	Post-production
2017	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2	Yondu	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Crime Story	Lieutenant	Episode: "Pilot"
1988	The Equalizer	Bill Whitaker	Episode: "No Place Like Home"
1989	Gideon Oliver	Det. John Quinn	Episode: "Sleep Well, Professor Oliver"
1989	The Edge	Deputy Sheriff	Television film
1989	L.A. Takedown	Bosko	Television film
1990	Equal Justice	Wallace 'Wally' Dalton	Episode: "Sugar Blues"
1992	Afterburn	Casey "Z" Zankowski	Television film
1995	Fallen Angels	Babe McCloor	Episode: "Fly Paper"
1995	Johnny & Clyde	Frank Tennant	Television film
2001	Outer Limits, TheThe Outer Limits	Col. Beckett	Episode: "Patient Zero"
2001	Hostage Rescue Team	Special Agent Nicholas Roberts	Pilot
2002	Jeremiah	Major Quantrell	Episode: "Firewall"
2003	Tremors	Kinney	Episode: "Hit and Run"
2003	Lucky	Gibby	Episode: "Savant"
2003	Stargate SG-1	Col. Edwards	Episode: "Enemy Mine"
2003	CSI: Miami	Marty Jones	Episode: "Dead Zone"
2003	On Thin Ice	Hopkins	Television film
2003	Saving Jessica Lynch	Col. Curry	Television film
2004	Skeleton Man	Capt. Leary	Television film
2004	Las Vegas	Marcus Wexler	Episode: "Degas Away with It"
2005	Numb3rs	Don's partner	Unaired pilot
2005	JAG	Capt. Jack Ramsey	Episode: "Heart of Darkness"
2006	Thief	Det. John Hayes	5 episodes
2007	Crossing Jordan	Shawn Curaco	Episode: "D.O.A."
2008	Law & Order	Jamie Yost	Episode: "Executioner"
2008	Shark	Oscar Riddick	Episode: "Bar Fight"
2008	Chuck	Mauser	Episode: "Chuck Versus Santa Claus"
2008	Humanzee!	Priest	Episode: "Pilot"
2009	Meteor	Calvin Stark	2 episodes
2009	Criminal Minds	Chief Carlson	Episode: "House on Fire"
2009	Psych	Garth Longmore	Episode: "Shawn Takes a Shot in the Dark"
2010	Burn Notice	Dale Lawson	Episode: "Guilty as Charged"
2010	Matadors	John Canterna	Pilot
2010-2013	Walking Dead, TheThe Walking Dead	Merle Dixon	14 episodes Satellite Award for Best Cast - Television Series
2012	Outlaw Country	Larkin's henchman	Television film
2012	Archer	Sheriff EZ Ponder (voice)	Episode: "Bloody Ferlin"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay	Centurion / Jack (voices)
2006	Scarface: The World is Yours	Various voices
2011	Call of Duty: Black Ops	Himself (voice)	Call of The Dead DLC
2011	Days of Thunder	Rowdy Burns (voice)
2012	Lollipop Chainsaw	Vikke (voice)
2012	Call of Duty: Black Ops II	Mike Harper (voice)	Also provides motion capture
2013	The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct	Merle Dixon (voice)

Charities

Michael Rooker supports the following charitable cause: ALS (amyrotrophic lateral sclerosis).

[ Source: Wikipedia ]