Facts

• In 2004, Michael Emerson played the loyal “Alfred Pennyworth” like butler to Guy Stone, in the comedy film Straight-Jacket.
• Michael Emerson and his wife, Carrie Preston, have had roles in movies together since getting married in 1998. The list of movies in which they both appear in includes Straight-Jacket, Grace & Glorie and The Journey. She also appeared as the mother Michael Emerson’s character (Benjamin Linus) on Lost, in episode “The Man Behind the Curtain.
• Michael Emerson is a long-time supporter of the charities that are connected to the Theater community such as Actors Fund, Broadway Cares, Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Off-Off Broadway, as well as publicly supported radio stations, and Habitat.
• Michael Emerson was originally hired to appear in just three episodes of Lost, but was so impressive that producers made him into a key character in the third season.
• Once he moved to New York City, Michael Emerson was unable to find work as an actor right away. Emerson took retail jobs and worked as a freelance illustrator for newspapers like The Boston and The New York Times.
• Michael Emerson narrated the audio book CD of Robert Penn Warren’s novel All the King’s Men in 2005.
• Michael Emerson co-narrated a version of James Patterson’s novel, Four Blind Mice , with Peter J. Fernandez.
• Michael Emerson played the character Arnold Dudley in the 1998 television mini-series Grace & Glorie.
• Michael Emerson considered giving up acting in favor of a more stable career as a teacher, but opted to stick with acting when he found an interesting MFA program to continue to improve his acting.
• Michael Emerson was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Septemeber 7, 2954 ; however grew up in Toledo, Iowa.
• Michael Emerson played the character Frank Nelson in the drama movie “Jumping Off Bridges” in 2006.
• Michael Emerson won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for playing William Hinks on The Practice in the year 2001.
• In 1976, Michael Emerson graduated from Iowa’s Drake University where he had majored in theatre and minored in art.
• Michael Emerson was the narrator of the radio play adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s short story, Murder Mysteries.
• Michael Emerson narrated the audio book CD of The Amalgamation Polka by Stephen Wright, which was published in February of 2006.
• Michael Emerson was the voice of George Washington in a 2003 experimental documentary film about the relationship between George Washington and Alexander Hamilton called Favorite Son.
• Some of Michael Emerson’s theatre credits include: The Importance of Being Earnest, Amadeus, The Iceman Cometh, Hedda Gabler, Frequency Hopping, Tartuffe, Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me, Hamlet and Bach at Leipzig.
• In 1993, Michael Emerson considered giving up acting for teaching but instead decided to find an MFA program that would help introduce him to professionals in theater and a higher grade of directors.
• After Michael Emerson earned a degree at Iowa’s Drake University for Theatre Arts in 1976, he moved to New York to live and persue a carrer in acting.
• Michael Emerson married his first wife in 1986, however, they later divorced in 1993.
• Michael Emerson worked as a freelance illustrator for publications such as The Boston Globe and The New York Times before becoming an actor.
• In 1995, Michael Emerson graduated from the prestigious Professional Actor Training M.F.A. program at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
• Michael Emerson met the woman who was to become his second wife, actress Carrie Preston, while he was performing in a stage production of Hamlet in Alabama.
• Michael Emerson married Carrie Preston in September of 1998. They are still married to this day.
• Michael Emerson is 5 feet 8 inches tall. This is also 1.73 meters.
• In the year 2001, Michael Emerson won an Emmy in the “Outstanding guest actor in a drama series” category by his terrifying Michael Hinks portrayal (a cold-blooded sociopath murderer) on The Practice.
• 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
• On July 31, 2010, Michael Emerson and his wife Carrie Preston read A. R. Gurney’s Love Letters, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, at the Charleston Stage. They performed it as a fundraiser for the South Carolina’s theatre.
• On February 15, 2011 Michael appeared on NBC’s Parenthood playing “Amazing Andy,” a kids’ party entertainer who specializes in bugs and has Asperger’s Syndrome. This was Michael’s first appearance on television after the end of Lost in May of 2010.