Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/385207
Before becoming an Academy Award–nominated film star, Michael Shannon honed his acting chops in Chicago theater. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, he now lives in New York with fellow actor (and Steppenwolf Theatre Company member) Kate Arrington and their two daughters. Shannon has brought his trademark intensity to roles ranging from the off-kilter John in Revolutionary Road to the villainous General Zod in Man of Steel to the tortured Bureau of Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, whose final season wraps this month. "Pretty numb," says the actor, 40, of how he feels saying good-bye to Van Alden. "But I just go on to the next job." For Shannon, finding the next job clearly isn't going to be a problem. The screen versus the stage: I feel a great sense of wonder when I'm onstage. Theater is a miracle. Acting on camera is work. It's very technical—it's like modeling. I act because: It's too late now to do anything else. There are days when I think I don't ever want to act again. But I keep getting reinspired by new artists that I meet, like director Jeff Nichols. The Chicago inf luence: LA and New York are very unforgiving. Chicago—it's not easy, but people are willing to take chances. Favorite movie: The King of Comedy. Cause I'm passionate a bout: The environment. Underneath the comic-book aspect of Man of Steel is a story about a civilization that destroys its own planet and then tries to find another one. Up next: R amin Bahrani's 99 Homes, about the foreclosure crisis, which plays this fall's Venice, Toronto, and Telluride film fests. MICHAEL SHANNON THIS STAR OF FILM AND TV LEARNED HIS CRAFT ON CHICAGO'S STAGES. O'Connor suit ($4,420), sporty oxford ($635), tie ($250), and Gianni shoes ($1,470), Tom Ford. 66 E. Oak St., 312-605-5041. Pocket square, lapel pin, and hat, stylist's own MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 109