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Michael Emerson (born September 7, 1954) is an American actor of the stage and screen. He won an "Outstanding Guest Actor" Emmy in 2001 for a part on The Practice and played Zep Hindle in the 2004 film Saw, but he is best known for his role as Benjamin Linus in the television series Lost. Despite having been drawn to comedy early in his career, actor Michael Emerson emerged later in decidedly more creepier roles, playing a suspected serial killer in an Emmy award-winning performance on “The Practice” (1997-2004) and Ben Linus a.k.a. Henry Gale, the manipulative leader of The Others on “Lost” (2004- ). Michael Emerson is a stage actor who makes occasional films. Michael graduated from the prestigious Professional Actor Training M. F. A. program at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in 1995. Graduate of Drake University, where he earned a degree in Theater Arts. Worked as a freelance illustrator for publications like The Boston Globe and The New York Times. Although he had considered abandoning acting in favor of teaching, Emerson instead took the advice of a playwright-actor friend and enrolled in the MFA program at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where he spent three years honing his craft in “The Tempest,” “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Henry V.” Armed with his graduate degree, he opted to tackle New York once more, but most of the offers he received were for parts in regional theater. Finally in 1997, Emerson was hired for a supporting role in the off-Broadway play "Gross Indecency: The Trials of Oscar Wilde." When the performer tapped to play Oscar Wilde was fired, Emerson was tapped to play the lead. With glowing reviews, the production transferred to an off-Broadway theater and Emerson became touted as one to watch. Although he reportedly turned down a role in Michael Bay’s disaster flick "Armageddon" (1998) to remain with "Gross Indecency,” Emerson did accept supporting roles in "The Journey" (1997, which co-starred future second wife, actress Carrie Preston) as well as "The Impostors" and "Playing by Heart" (both 1998). On "Lost" (2004), he played Ben Linus, the son of Roger Linus, played by Jon Gries, who is actually 3 years the junior of Emerson. The age difference is explicable because Roger is first seen in flashbacks to Ben's birth and childhood. Ben's mother was played by Carrie Preston, who in addition to being (like Gries) about the same age as Emerson, is also his real-life wife. Successful in television and film, Michael has appeared in episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Without a Trace, and The X-Files. He offered a memorable performance as (fictional) confessed serial killer William Hinks in several episodes of The Practice, for which he won a 2001 Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Emerson continued to churn out guest spots on series television, but had yet to find a home with a recurring or regular role. After episodes of “The Education of Max Bickford” (2001-02) and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (NBC, 1999- ), Emerson made the occasional foray into features with a small part in the Richard Gere-Diane Lane thriller “Unfaithful” (2002). Emerson popped up in guest starring roles on the long-running FBI procedural “Without a Trace” (2002- ), the short-lived “Skin” (2003-2004), Jerry Bruckheimer’s porn-centered take on “Romeo and Juliet,” and the ubiquitous “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (2001- ). Back in features, he had a small role in “Straight-Jacket” (2004), a period drama about a closeted 1950s actor (Matt Letscher) trying to keep the lid on his homosexuality by entering into a sham marriage to a naïve studio secretary (Carrie Preston). Emerson made a noticeable impact with his role as a sexually ambiguous orderly in the brutal horror flick “Saw” (2004). In 2006, he began a guest-starring role playing Benjamin Linus (formerly called "Henry Gale" on the show) on the American television show LOST. Originally set to appear in a small number of episodes, Emerson returned for the third season as a main cast member. On the big screen he has appeared in such films as Saw (in which he played the character of hospital orderly Zep Hindle), The Legend of Zorro, The Laramie Project, Playing by Heart, The Imposters, and Jumping off Bridges. Emerson was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and grew up in the nearby town of Toledo, Iowa. After graduating in 1976 from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he studied theater and art, he moved to New York City. Unable to find acting work, he took retail jobs and worked as a freelance illustrator. In 1986, he moved with his first wife to Jacksonville, Florida. There, from 1986 to 1993, he appeared in local productions and worked as a teacher and director. Emerson considered giving up acting in favor of a more stable career as a teacher, but instead decided to find an MFA program that would help introduce him to professionals in theater and a higher grade of directors. In 1993, he enrolled in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's University of Alabama-sponsored Master of Fine Arts/Professional Actor Training program. After graduation, Emerson returned to New York and appeared in the annual Alabama Shakespeare Festival showcase. Emerson considered forgoing a career in acting in favor of a more stable vocation in teaching. He decided to instead further his studies with a Master of Fine Arts that might also introduce him to theatre professionals and directors in his chosen trade. In 1993 he enrolled in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's University of Alabama-sponsored Master of Fine Arts/Professional Actor Training program, and upon graduating in 1995, he returned to New York where he appeared in the annual Alabama Shakespeare Festival showcase. Emerson got his big break in 1997 when he starred as Oscar Wilde in Moises Kaufman's critically-acclaimed off-Broadway play, Gross Indecency: The Trials of Oscar Wilde, and then followed up with several other notable stage performances. In 1998 he performed opposite Uma Thurman in the off-Broadway production of The Misanthrope. In 1999, he played the part of Willie Oban in The Iceman Cometh with Kevin Spacey. He co-starred with Kate Burton in both Give Me Your Answer, Do! and Hedda Gabler. In film and television, Emerson made a name for himself by playing dangerous and damaged characters. In 2001 he won an Emmy Award as "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series", for playing the (fictional) confessed serial killer William Hinks in several episodes of The Practice. One of Emerson's most well-known works was in 2004 as the character Zep Hindle in the horror movie Saw. In that year he also played the loyal somewhat Alfred Pennyworth-like butler to a Rock Hudson-like heartthrob, Guy Stone, in the comedy film Straight-Jacket. In “The Legend of Zorro” (2005), Emerson had the tricky role of playing a fundamentalist Christian assassin who has a cross burned into his cheek and two pistols named Salvation and Damnation. Returning to television, he landed a guest spot on another short-lived series, “The Inside” (Fox, 2004-05), an FBI drama about a female profiler tracking down the most grisly of serial killers. It was in early 2006 during the second season of “Lost” that Emerson finally landed the role of a lifetime. Originally slated for three episodes as a captured member of the mysterious Others, Henry Gale, Emerson impressed the producers enough for them to write him into the show as a regular character. The seemingly innocent Henry Gale turned into the manipulative Ben Linus, the leader of The Others, by the end of season two. Straddling the line between good and evil, Emerson kept viewers guessing what Ben was up to and why he was manipulating the island’s castaways, adding a much-needed element of intrigue in a show that was seen by some as losing steam. His eerie portrayal earned the one time walk-on an Emmy award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 2006 Emerson began a guest starring role playing Benjamin Linus (formerly called "Henry Gale" on the show) on the serial drama television series Lost. This casting was a result of his work on The Practice because the Lost producers liked his work there and thought he was a good fit for the character they were developing in their own show--Benjamin Linus. Emerson was originally set to appear in a small number of episodes, and then returned for the third season as a main cast member, earning a 2007 Emmy nomination for his work on the series. Emerson met his second wife, actress Carrie Preston, while he was performing in a stage production of Hamlet in Alabama. They married in September 1998, and both Emerson and his wife starred in the 2004 film, Straight-Jacket. On Lost, Preston portrayed Emily Linus, Emerson's character's mother, in the flashback sequences of the episode "The Man Behind the Curtain". Michael's hobbies include Shakespeare, the Greeks, verse, black-and-white films, black-and-white drawings, bluegrass, world crafts and ghost stories. He is a long-time supporter of the charities that are connected to the Theater community Actors Fund, Broadway Cares, Gay Men's Health Crisis and Off-Off Broadway, as well as publicly supported radio stations, and Habitat. Michael has been married to actress Carrie Preston since 1998, and they both had roles in the movies Straight-Jacket, Grace & Gloria and The Journey, as well as an episode of the short-lived television crime drama The Inside. Michael Emerson also had a small role in the film 29th and Gay, which Carrie Preston produced, directed, and edited. Both Michael Emerson and Carrie Preston are in the popular TV Show LOST. Michael is playing Ben Linus, the enigmatic leader of the Others, and Carrie Preston is in the episode, "The Man behind the Curtain." She plays his mother and can be seen during a flashback. |
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