Michael McDonald
Biography
Michael James McDonald (born December 31, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for starring in the sketch comedy show MADtv. He was also a writer, director, and producer of the ABC TV series Cougar Town.
His best known movie roles are as Little John in Halloween Kills, Ronovan Scargle in The Happy time Murders, Jonathan in Ghostbusters (2016), Bryce Crean in The Boss, Patrick in Spy, Julian in The Heat, and small roles in each Austin Powers movie.
He graduated from USC with a degree in Business and became a loan officer at a bank in Los Angeles. A friend took him to see a sketch comedy/improv show at L.A.'s famous Groundling Theater, and everything changed for him. He quit his job as a banker, enrolled in the Groundling's Improv Program, and became a member of the troupe from 1992 to 1997.
His first professional writing and acting jobs came from Concorde Pictures, Roger Corman's infamous low-budget movie studio. Starting as an extra, he landed small roles in many B-movies of the early 1990s, and he gradually earned bigger roles as well as eventually writing and directing some films.
He joined MADtv during the fourth season (1998) and remained in the cast until the end of the thirteenth and penultimate season, having become the longest-tenured cast member. After 10 years on MADtv, he left the cast, but was a contributing writer and director for the show's final season. He was the last member of the cast to be hired in the 1990s, and the last cast member to have been born in the 1960s, and is the only cast member to have a "best of" clip show special dedicated to him.
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Full filmography
- Desperate Housewives (2004) as Steven
- Seinfeld (1989) as Jesse
- Seinfeld (1989) as Player #2
- Scrubs (2001) as Mike Davis
- Scrubs (2001) as Dr. Toilet (voice)
- Scrubs (2001) as Mr. Cropper
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013) as Adam Jarver
- Community (2009) as Insurance Man
- The Drew Carey Show (1995) as The Parking Attendant
- LIVE with Kelly and Mark (1988)
- Hannah Montana (2006) as Chef Duncan Keats
- Ellen (1994) as The Guy
- What We Do in the Shadows (2019) as Gustave Leroy
- Just Shoot Me! (1997) as Reg
- The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992)
- Family Matters (1989) as Manager
- The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021) as George
- 7th Heaven (1996) as Edward Jameson
- Cougar Town (2009) as Wayne Gibbons
- NewsRadio (1995) as Lee
- 25 Words or Less (2018) as Self
- Reaper (2007) as Mr. Elliott Sprong
- Pushing Daisies (2007) as Galveston Gus
- The John Larroquette Show (1993) as Phil