MACHINE GUN PREACHER

MICHAEL SHANNON (Donnie) was an Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor in 2008 for his performance in Sam Mendes' relationship drama Revolutionary Road. Over the last few years, Shannon has collaborated with many of the industry's most-honored talents and treaded the boards in some of the world's most respected theaters.

Shannon stars in September's Take Shelter, opposite Jessica Chastain and Shea Whigham, for director Jeff Nichols. He plays a working-class husband and father who questions whether his terrifying dreams of an apocalyptic storm signal something to come, or reveal the onset of an inherited mental illness he's feared his whole life. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and won the Critics Week Grand Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. In his first collaboration with Jeff Nichols, Shannon starred in the critically acclaimed drama Shotgun Stories (2007).

Shooting just wrapped on David Koepp's Premium Rush, an action film starring Shannon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He is currently in production on Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, in which Shannon plays super-villain General Zod opposite Henry Cavill, Amy Adams and Diane Lane. Next, he will co-star with James Franco and Benicio Del Toro in The Iceman, based on the life of the cold-blooded contract killer known as "Mr. Softee.”

Shannon grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and began his professional stage career in Chicago. With more than 30 roles in feature films, his credits include Liza Johnson's Return, Floria Sigismondi's The Runaways, Werner Herzog's My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done and The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, William Friedkin's Bug, Curtis Hanson's Lucky You, Michael Bay's Bad Boys II and Pearl Harbor, Curtis Hanson's 8 Mile, David McNally's Kangaroo Jack, Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky, John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented, Noah Buschel's The Missing Person and Shana Feste's The Greatest.

On the small screen, Shannon has a recurring role in Martin Scorsese's HBO series, "Boardwalk Empire,” starring Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt and Kelly Macdonald. He plays Nelson Van Alden, a dedicated senior agent with the Treasury Department who has a strong interest in controlling bootlegging in Prohibition-era Atlantic City.

For all his roles on screen, Shannon has maintained his connection to the theater. Recently, he earned many accolades for his starring role in Craig Wright's Off Broadway play "Mistakes Were Made.” Shannon received a Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor, a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play, an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance and a Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performance.

Other stage credits include "Our Town,” "Lady,” "The Metal Children,” "The Little Flower of East Orange,” "The Pillowman,” "Bug,” "Man From Nebraska,” "Mr. Kolpert,” "Killer Joe,” "The Idiot,” "The Killer” and "Woyzeck.”

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