Christopher Meloni Movies
Perhaps most famous for his dramatic work on TV series like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Christopher Meloni has also been praised for his comedic appearances on screens of all sizes. His resumé proves him a versatile actor, indeed, with experience on television, in feature films -- both comedic and dramatic -- and even on-stage. (He acted in the 2001 Williamstown Theatre Festival.)He was born on April 2, 1961, in Washington, D.C., and earned his degree in 1983 at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Having grown interested in acting in college, he next studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City with Sandford Meisner.
First noted for his role that began in 1990 on the hit series The Fanelli Boys on NBC, Meloni's accomplished television background consists of appearances on NYPD Blue (1993), the HBO's prison series Oz (1997), and numerous other series and TV movie roles. His lengthy list of supporting appearances on film includes major features like 12 Monkeys (1995), Bound (1996), and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). In 1999, he played one of Julia Roberts' husbands-to-be in Runaway Bride.
Building upon his Oz experience, he starred in the PBS feature Shift in 2001, in a dramatic role as a prison inmate lovesick over a woman whom he only knows via telephone, and who doesn't know his whereabouts. Also in that year, he played a crazy 'Nam vet chef -- who provided some of the most accessible laughs of the absurd comedy -- at summer camp in David Wain's Wet Hot American Summer. ~ Sarah Sloboda, All Movie Guide
- 1989
Season six of the raunchy HBO football sitcom 1st & Ten is subtitled "Do it Again" -- meaning that the California Bulls are championship-bound again after a three-year dry spell. Sexy team owner Kristy Fulbright (Shannon Tweed) and foul-mouth coach Ernie Denardo (Reid Shelton) have placed their championship homes on their new star player, Vito Del Greco, alias Johnny Gunn -- played by a decidedly pre-Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Christopher Meloni. Episode titles this season include: "The Book According to Zagreb," "The Con," "False Start," "Mind Games," "Love and Marriage," "Clean and Sober," "Blood Money," "Vindication" "Gunn and Bullette," "Heaven Help Me," "Surprise Surprise," "All is Fair in Love and Football," "Earn This One for Ernie," and "Who Stole Johnny Gunn?". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shannon Tweed, Reid Shelton, (more)
- 1990
In this comedy drama, three women meet each other in a divorce attorney's waiting room and soon become fast friends as they try to help each other through the pain of their crumbling marriages. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In this two-part made for TV movie, a woman (Valerie Bertinelli) fights for the custody of her sister's son after the sister is murdered by her husband.. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Bertinelli, Michael Ontkean, (more)
- 1992
- Add Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story to QueueAdd Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story to top of Queue
Something to Live For: The Alison Gertz Story was one of a myriad of early 1990s TV movies centering around the AIDS issue. Molly Ringwald stars as Alison Gertz, an upscale Manhattanite who thinks she knows her way around. Still, Alison conducts an "unprotected" one-night affair, which results in her contacting the AIDS virus. Despite her alleged smarts, Alison continues to seek out sexual partners and can't understand why they're reluctant to sleep with her, even though she belatedly offers to use contraceptives. Perhaps if it had been made five years earlier, and perhaps if it didn't have its characters speaking fluent pop profundities, Something to Live For might have been one of the truly important made-for-TV AIDS sagas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ultimate manly man Arnold Schwarzenegger learns what it's like to be an expectant mother in director Ivan Reitman's high-concept comedy. Schwarzenegger plays Dr. Hess, a medical researcher working on a revolutionary drug to help mothers carry endangered infants to term. When government regulations prevent Dr. Hess from testing the drug through normal channels, his partner Dr. Arbogast (Danny DeVito) develops an unorthodox solution: they will steal a female egg and implant it in Hess, who will carry the child himself. Predictably, much of the subsequent humor centers on the incongruous sight of the muscular Schwarzenegger undergoing the trials and tribulations of pregnancy, from morning sickness to labor pains. Emma Thompson returns to her comic roots and provides romantic interest as an incorrigibly clumsy but intelligent scientist who catches on to Hess' deception. Reitman, Schwarzenegger, and DeVito had previously had a hit with Twins (1988), which revolved around a similarly ludicrous medical premise, but they failed to repeat that film's success here, as audiences largely ignored the film and reviewers criticized the humor as disappointingly obvious. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, (more)
Dana Carvey plays a private detective who forgets everything when he goes to sleep at night, waking up each morning with a "clean slate," in this hit-and-miss comedy that plays like a companion piece to the much funnier Groundhog Day. Pogue (Carvey) is afflicted with his unique form of amnesia after getting injured in a car explosion. With the aid of a mysterious woman (Valeria Golino) who allegedly died in the bombing, he must find a priceless coin and evade the murderous clutches of the mobster (Michael Gambon) who executed the explosion and who wants to silence Pogue before he can testify against him. Carvey fares reasonably well in his role, but the best moments are provided by Pogue's dog, a one-eyed Jack Russell named Barkley who makes a habit out of running into things headfirst. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dana Carvey, Valeria Golino, (more)
- 1995
Connie Sellecca portrays another 1990s woman in peril in this made-for-television thriller. Sellecca stars as Sharon Blake, a successful career woman who has a passionate affair with a possessive man (Gregory Harrison). When she tries to break off the relationship though, she uncovers the dark side of her former lover, who starts stalking and harassing her. Harrison (Trapper John, M.D.) is effectively creepy as the obsessed, spurned ex-lover. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Connie Sellecca, Gregory Harrison, (more)
An intense film about time travel, this sci-fi entry was directed by Terry Gilliam, a member of the comedy troupe Monty Python. The film stars Bruce Willis as James Cole, a prisoner of the state in the year 2035 who can earn parole if he agrees to travel back in time and thwart a devastating plague. The virus has wiped out most of the Earth's population and the remainder live underground because the air is poisonous. Returning to the year 1990, six years before the start of the plague, Cole is soon imprisoned in a psychiatric facility because his warnings sound like mad ravings. There he meets a scientist named Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the mad son of an eminent virologist (Christopher Plummer). Cole is returned by the authorities to the year 2035, and finally ends up at his intended destination in 1996. He kidnaps Dr. Railly in order to enlist her help in his quest. Cole discovers graffiti by an apparent animal rights group called the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, but as he delves into the mystery, he hears voices, loses his bearings, and doubts his own sanity. He must figure out if Goines, who seems to be a raving lunatic, holds the key to the puzzle. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, (more)
- 1996
Awakening in bed with hoodlum Jimmy Liery (Christopher Meloni), Diane Russell (Kim Delaney) can remember nothing that happened after Jimmy drugged her. Back at the 15th precinct, a victim of muscular dystrophy is murdered, and the victim's neighbors seem extremely nervous about providing information. As Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) and Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) investigate a frustrating homicide involving a clever married couple, Lt. Fancy (James McDaniel) nervously anticipates informing Bobby and Andy that only one of them has been promoted to detective first grade. And back in Liery's apartment, a confrontation ends in gunfire -- and guess who pulled the trigger? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly nearly set the screen on fire in this clever, female-powered twist on the standard Mob caper film. Gershon is Corky, an ex-con renovating the apartment next door to where Tilly's Violet lives. Violet is the moll of psychotic gangster Caesar (Joe Pantoliano), who uses the apartment as an occasional location for meetings and beatings, and also uses Violet as an occasional plaything for his Mob cronies. Violet is attracted to the super-sexy Corky, and the two begin an intense affair. Corky hatches a plot to escape with $2 million that Caesar is planning to give to a Mob boss, and the mayhem escalates from there. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, (more)
- 1996
A group of female impersonators witness a murder committed by a child-killer who is supposedly serving hard time. When Fancy's (James McDaniel) former foster son is brought up on heroin charges, help comes from an unexpected source. Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) and Diane Russell (Kim Delaney) rekindle their relationship, while Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) is stopped from romantically pursuing Abby Sullivan (Paige Turco) by a surprising revelation. And while working undercover, Diane is placed in grave danger by handsome hood Jimmy Liery (Christopher Meloni). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
A mentally challenged girl who was assaulted by a group of prep-school boys commits suicide, and investigating detectives Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) and Simone (Jimmy Smits) demand justice. The precinct house is "invaded" by an escaped mental patient (Raphael Sbarge) who has trouble communicating an important message to the detective who had him committed. Still working undercover, Diane (Kim Delaney) witnesses the violence beneath the smooth veneer of handsome hoodlum Jimmy Liery (Christopher Meloni). Gina Colon (Lourdes Benedicto) takes over the troublesome Geri's duties. And Simone takes notice of new detective Kirkendall (Andrea Thompson). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1996
While in New York on an art-collecting expedition, a European princess is attacked and left comatose. Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) thinks that the princess' husband (Ian Buchanan) might know more than he's willing to admit about the crime. In other developments, a female member of the precinct makes a shocking proposition; Medavoy (Gordon Clapp) continues to lose weight; newly elected union delegate Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) must exercise discretion when faced with the possibility that one of the 15th's cops is a bigamist; and recovering alcoholic Diane (Kim Delaney) is assigned to an undercover case that threatens to push her off the wagon again. Future Law & Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni makes the first of several appearances as underworld operative Jimmy Liery. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this romantic comedy, LA stand-up comic Barry (Christopher Meloni) and dentist Robert (Timothy Busfield) are longtime buddies. Barry has a rocky relationship with feminist activist Thea (Janel Moloney) who begins to find his glib, one-liner approach to life annoying. She drifts off to campaign for candidate Jerry Brown. Meanwhile, Robert has a different kind of problem -- dealing with his lesbian wife (Allison Mackie). Comic Steve Landesberg portrays himself. Shown at the AFI/Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Meloni, Janel Moloney, (more)
This crime drama, based on the best-selling novel by Mario Puzo, follows 20 years in the long reign of powerful Mafia kingpin Don Domenico Clericuzio (Danny Aiello). For years, the Clericuzios have been warring with a rival crime family, the Santadios, which is not helped when Domenico's daughter Rose Marie (Kirstie Alley) decides to marry the son of the head of the Santadio clan. On the night of Rose Marie's wedding, Domenico orders the execution of the entire Santadio family, including his new son-in-law. Rose Marie is pregnant as a result of her brief honeymoon, and her son Dante (Rory Cochrane) grows up to become a hired killer with a bitter hatred of his grandfather. Meanwhile, Pippi De Lena (Joe Mantegna), Domenico's key enforcer who carried out the slaughter of the Santadinos, has been grooming his son Croccifixio (Jason Gedrick) to take over as the Clericuzio's new trigger man. However, after he muffs a crucial execution, Croccifixio is sent to work with the family's operations in Las Vegas, where he becomes involved with starlet Athena Aquitane (Daryl Hannah). Soon Dante makes a risky bid to seize control of the Santadio family's crime empire. Originally produced as a television miniseries, the home video release of The Last Don is 262-min. long and it includes material not used for television broadcast. The video version features adult language and nudity and received an R rating. The Last Don co-stars Robert Wuhl, Penelope Ann Miller, Seymour Cassel, Burt Young, and k.d. lang. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Danny Aiello, Joe Mantegna, (more)
- 1997
Simone (Jimmy Smits) pulls in hoodlum Jimmy Liery (Christopher Meloni) when neighbors complain about gunfire. Jimmy is allowed to walk -- but he doesn't get far, and Diane (Kim Delaney) is upset at Liery's ultimate fate. Elsewhere, Martinez (Nicholas Turturro) takes a troublesome kid (Javier Núñez) under his wing; Sipowicz (Dennis Franz) blames Fancy (James McDaniel) when he is passed over for promotion; and an artist (Michael David Lally) reluctantly agrees to wear a wire in order to trap a group of murderous mobsters. New York Police Commissioner Howard Safir appears as himself. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1997
Amy Pietz stars in this made-for-TV thriller as Carrie, a professional writer who volunteers her services at a crisis-hotline center dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence. Late one evening, Carrie receives an anguished phone call from an anonymous woman who threatens to kill her abusive ex-husband. As Carrie and the rest of the staff conduct a desperate search for the would-be murderer, they must also tackle the case of a teenager who'd been viciously beaten by her boyfriend after declining help from the center. Also known as A Call for Help, Every 9 Seconds was first telecast October 12, 1997 by NBC ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gail O'Grady, Amy Pietz, (more)
- 1997
A quintet of young, white gangsta wannabes looks for an opportunity to gain entry into the world of organized crime in this urban drama from writer, director, co-producer, and star Derek Dunsay. Following a stint in a juvenile detention facility, Doug (Dunsay) returns to his old haunts in a working class L.A. suburb, which especially include the tattoo parlor where his pals hang out. They include Jerry (Shawn Andrews), who is somewhat mentally unbalanced, the heroin junkie J.J. (Lee Holmes), spineless Steve (Ron Livingstone), and FL (Christopher Meloni), who is somewhat older and wiser than the others. Although only guilty of petty crimes and occasional gang skirmishes, the group wants to take the next step up the ladder of criminal empire-building, and they get their chance in the aftermath of a violent encounter with a group of racist skinheads. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Derek Dunsay, Shawn Andrews, (more)
- 1998
Ever since the 1950s, the area around the city of Springfield, Illinois has been plagued by mysterious 3-day abductions, with the victims returning just as quickly as they disappeared, seemingly none the worse for wear. In truth, however, these victims have been harvest by aliens, who, using implants on their human prey, are laying the groundwork for a mass takeover of the world once those implants are activated. But the only person who has an inkling of what is really going on is police detective Sam Adams (Christopher Meloni), a local "character" whom no one takes seriously. Things begin to intensify when Sam investigates the case of a local six-year-old girl who has undergone a sudden change of personality. Dabney Coleman and Chad Lowe play key roles in this made-for-TV derivation of the old favorite Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Target Earth originally aired February 5, 1998, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
In this first episode of a two-part story, bounty hunters Knoll (Christopher Meloni) and Lichte (Vic Noto) descend upon Baltimore in search of fugitive killer Joe Errico -- and promptly shoot and kill the wrong man. Elsewhere, Al and Mike Giardello (Yaphet Kotto, Giancarlo Esposito) find themselves the reluctant subjects of a human-interest article in Baltimore Magazine; and Gharty (Peter Gerety) drives Munch (Richard Belzer) crazy with his vivid recollections of his war experiences in Vietnam. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with a car carrying one of the bounty hunters and two of the detectives plowing into a vehicle driven by two senior citizens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Belzer, Giancarlo Esposito, (more)
- 1998
In the conclusion of a two-part story, Mike Giardello (Giancarlo Esposito) has physically recovered from the car accident that claimed the lives of two senior citizens, but emotionally it is a different story. Despite their resentment of the two bounty hunters who have arrived in Baltimore in search of fugitive killer Joe Errico, Mike and his father, Al (Yaphet Kotto), nonetheless agree to cooperate in bringing Errico to justice. The trail leads to Miami, where head bounty hunter Dennis Knoll (Christopher Meloni) offers to cut a deal with two of the nonplussed Baltimore detectives. This episode was originally scheduled to air on November 20, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Belzer, Giancarlo Esposito, (more)
Season two of Oz gets under way in the wake of the bloody riot at "Emerald City," the experimental unit set up on Cell Block 5 of Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary, in which eight are killed and 34 wounded. Though it is obvious to many observers that the ruthlessly ambitious Governor Devlin (Zeljko Ivanek) has used the riot as an excuse to violently smash Warden Glynn's (Ernie Hudson) efforts to rehabilitate the prisoners via more freedom of movement and extra privileges, Devlin's questionable actions in the incident are condoned by the prison board. Ten months later, the convicts are herded into Emerald City's new facilities -- whereupon the old power struggles and drug trading resumes as if nothing had happened. The unit's still-idealistic manager, Tim McManus (Terry Kinney), hopes to mollify the prisoners and mold them into useful citizens worthy of rehabilitation by reinstating many of their privileges, and by attempting to bring the various factional subgroups -- the Latinos, the Italians, the Muslims -- into a homogenous "whole" in which everyone is equal and no one is mad at anyone. McManus has also convinced himself that the cons would benefit from an education program. Before long, alas, most of McManus' New Age notions are flattened beneath the juggernaut of reality. New to the Em City prisoner population this season are Chris Keller (Christopher Meloni), Agamemnon "The Mole" Busmalis, (Tom Mardirosian), and Cyril O'Reily (Scott William Winters). Events crucial to the action include the rape of Gov. Glynn's daughter by members of the Latinos; the publication of a "true" interpretation of the riot by inmate Kareem Said (Eamonn Walker), the powerful and nationally famous leader of the Muslims; the governor's announcement that prisoner Shirley Bellinger (Kathryn Erbe) is to be the first woman executed by the state since 1841; and a "foolproof" escape attempt that ends in a double tragedy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernie Hudson, Terry Kinney, (more)
Based on a novel by acclaimed crime writer James Ellroy, this film stars Michael Rooker as Fritz Brown, a former L.A.P.D. detective who was kicked off the force due to his drinking. Now struggling to remain sober, Brown works as a private eye when he can, but he makes most of his money repossessing cars. One day, Brown is offered some detective work by Freddie "Fat Dog" Baker (William Sasso), a golf caddy who has some severe reservations about his younger sister, Jane (Selma Blair) and her relationship with Solly (Harold Gould), a wealthy businessman with mob connections who is old enough to be Jane's grandfather. Brown isn't interested at first, but when "Fat Dog" starts flashing an impressive bankroll, he decides to take the case. Brown's investigation of Solly causes him to cross paths with Cathcart (Brion James), the head of L.A.P.D. internal affairs who was responsible for Brown losing his job. Soon Brown runs afoul of a group of hired thugs and several key figures wind up dead as Brown tries to find out the truth about Solly and Jane. Ellroy wrote Brown's Requiem, his first novel, while he was still supporting himself as a golf caddy and breaking himself of a decade-long addiction to drugs and alcohol. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Rooker, Tobin Bell, (more)
- 1999
- Add Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 01 to QueueAdd Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 01 to top of Queue
The first season of the popular Law & Order spin-off Law & Order: Special Victims Unit begins with the episode "Payback," with the SVU investigating the murder and sexual mutilation of a former Serbian soldier -- who also happened to be a rapist. Quickly establishing their characters, Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) conducts the investigation in a cool, detached manner, while Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), a child of rape, cannot help but sympathize with the murderer rather than the victim. Later episodes introduce new characters or further develop the personalities of the familiar regulars. In "Closure," Benson and first-year Detective Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters) spend the night together; in "Limitations," Michelle Hurd joins the cast as streetwise Detective Monique Jeffries; and in the season finale, circumstances dictate that a forensic psychologist recommends that Stabler, outwardly the most "normal" member of the team, be removed from the SVU for emotional instability. The season's most intriguing episode is the aforementioned "Closure," a two-part story which would not be resolved until season two. And finally, "Entitled" finds Law & Order: Special Victims Unit involved in a crossover plot with its parent series, Law & Order, allowing the casts of both series to work in concert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, (more)
Idealistic, "New Age" unit manager Tim McManus (Terry Kinney) persists in trying to mold "Emerald City" (aka Cell Block 5 of Oswald State Correctional Facility -- formerly Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary) into a model "prison within a prison" as Oz begins its third season. Part of McManus' pie-in-the-sky plan includes the hiring of his old friend Sean Murphy (Robert Clohessy) as a guard. Alas, Murphy's efforts to redirect the convicts' energies and hostilities into good, clean athletics are compromised when one inmate renders another inmate brain-dead in a boxing match. No one is more delighted at Tim McManus' frustration than the state's ambitious governor James Devlin (Zeljko Ivanek), who as part of his platform to strip the cons of all perks and privileges has ruthlessly slashed the prison's budget to the bone. In addition to Sean Murphy, Officer Claire Howell (Kristin Rhode) joins the guard unit, immediately making enemies of everyone within the sound of her voice. Not only does Howell force the cons into having sex with her to lighten up punishment duty, but she also ends up suing McManus for sexual harassment. Sensing the opportunity to establish themselves as top dogs at Emerald City block leaders, convicts Adebisi (Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje) and Wangler (J.D. Williams) likewise gang up on McManus, taking their complaints to the press. Elsewhere, the death sentence of Shirley Bellinger (Kathryn Erbe) is commuted to life without parole when it turns out she is pregnant; Warden Glynn (Ernie Hudson) hires Off. Clayton Hughes (Seth Gilliam), the son of one of Oz's former guards, only to discover that Hughes is a psycho on a revenge kick; Beecher (Lee Tergesen) hatches an elaborate revenge scheme of his own; and charismatic Muslim leader Said (Eamonn Walker) is among those thrown into solitary after a bitter racial showdown. The season ends with a not-so-merry Christmas for all, and to all a bad night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ernie Hudson, Terry Kinney, (more)
