Career Highlights: Sea of Love, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Trigger Effect
First Major Screen Credit: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Biography
Raised in Chicago by his divorced mother, Michael Rooker lived a hand-to-mouth existence until his teens. Rooker successfully auditioned for the Goodman School, and upon graduation, appeared in Chicago-area stage productions. He made a spectacular film debut in the sociopathic title role of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which was filmed in 1986 but not given a general release until four years later. Henry established Rooker as a gifted purveyor of "don't screw with me" roles, such as chief "Black Sox" conspirator Chick Gandil in Eight Men Out (1988). Michael Rooker's more rugged film assignments of the 1990s included Cliffhanger (1993) and Tombstone (1994). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rooker, with eight brothers and sisters, was born in Jasper, Alabama and studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where he moved to be with his mother and siblings at the age of thirteen, after his parents divorced.[1][2]