Terry Kinney Biography

Fast Facts

• Was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for "The Laramie Project" in 2003
• His film "Kubuku Rides (This Is It)" was nominated for a Gold Hugo for best short film at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2006
• Helped found the Steppenwolf Theater Company, which started out in the basement of a church, but grew from a small collaboration between friends, to a non-profit, to a company including dozens of ensemble members
• Quote: "I used to be so cocky in my adolescent hero phase․ I was in touch with pain․ I was clearly regaling in the fact that I could go to extreme catharsis․"
• Quote: "We've always been more influenced by cinematic techniques than stage techniques because stage techniques have been around long enough to become really boring and cliché․ Our earliest influences were the films of Cassavetes, not any plays we'd seen․"
• Has directed a number of plays for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, including "A Streetcar Named Desire," "A Clockwork Orange" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," which later moved to Broadway
• Started performing on television in 1985, and is probably best known on screen for playing Tim McManus, an idealistic unit manager on the prison drama "Oz․"
• Founded the Steppenwolf Theatre Company with Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry, which implemented cinematic techniques on stage such as accelerated time, soundtracks and the equivalents of dissolves and bleeds