Early work and film debut After a directing apprenticeship at both the
Chelsea Theatre under
Robert Kalfin and the
Public Theater with
Joseph Papp, he made his
Broadway debut at the age of 26 in Kalfin's production of
Isaac B. Singer's
Yentl opposite
Tovah Feldshuh, for which he received the
Theatre World Award.
Yentl started Off Broadway at the Chelsea Theatre Center at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and, after a favorable reception, was moved to the
Eugene O'Neill Theatre by producer and Actors Studio co-founder,
Cheryl Crawford, and was later made into a film starring
Barbra Streisand. After seeing his performance
Lee Strasberg invited Shea to join the
Actors Studio where he spent several years studying
method acting. Since his Broadway debut in the mid 1970s, Shea has continued to work in
Off-Broadway and Broadway theatre productions, starring in
Arthur Kopit's
End of the World starring with
Linda Hunt and
Barnard Hughes. In 1977, during his first trip to Los Angeles to get experience in front of a camera, he played guest roles in such TV series as
Eight Is Enough and
Man from Atlantis, and co-starred in
The Last Convertible, a miniseries for Universal.
Early career: 1978–1982 He made his television film debut as Joseph in
The Nativity (1978) opposite
Madeleine Stowe as Mary, a biblical epic shot in Spain. His feature film debut came in Matthew Chapman's English film noir
Hussy (1980), opposite
Helen Mirren. The film, shot on locations in Mexico, also won the
Palme d'Or at the
1982 Cannes Film Festival and helped launch Shea's international acting career. During the early 1980s, Shea was asked to join the billed cast of
Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize winning
How I Learned to Drive along with
Molly Ringwald as well as the following:
Anne Meara's
Down the Garden Paths,
Eugene O'Neill's ''
Long Day's Journey Into Night,'' the original production of
A. R. Gurney's
The Dining Room, Peter Parnell's
The Sorrows of Stephen,
Stephen Poliakoff's
American Days,
Theodore Mann's production of
Romeo and Juliet,
Philip Barry's
The Animal Kingdom opposite
Sigourney Weaver. Shea went on to be cast in the title role in Nancy Hasty's
The Director, and, later, in
Israel Horovitz's ''The Secret of Madame Bonnard's Bath''. In 1983, Shea co-starred as
Robert F. Kennedy in the critically acclaimed NBC miniseries
Kennedy, alongside
Martin Sheen as
John F. Kennedy and
Blair Brown as
Jacqueline Kennedy.
Breakthrough roles: 1984–2004 In 1984 Shea starred in Armyan Bernstein's
Windy City along with
Kate Capshaw. He won the "Best Actor" award at the
Montreal World Film Festival in 1984. In 1982, he co-hosted, with
Kathryn Walker, the June 12th Anti-Nuclear Rally in Central Park, the largest peace rally in the history of the United States. This rally was the subject of the 1984 documentary film
In Our Hands by Robert Richer and Stan Warnow, in which Shea made a cameo appearance. Shea made his
Carnegie Hall debut playing "The Soldier" in
Tom O'Horgan's 1985 production of
Igor Stravinsky's ''
L'Histoire du Soldat'', with
Pinchas Zukerman and
Andre de Shields. That year, he also starred in a French language speaking role in
Lune de miel. In 1986, he made his London
West End debut starring in
Joseph Papp's production of
Larry Kramer's drama
The Normal Heart at the
Albery Theatre. In 1987
ABC contracted a network miniseries titled
Baby M, in which Shea was cast. His portrayal of William "Bill" Stern received critical acclaim and resulted in him being nominated and winning his first
Emmy Award for
Supporting Drama Actor. He starred in
Small Sacrifices alongside
Farrah Fawcett in 1989. In Grant Tinker's 1990 CBS series
WIOU, written by John Eisendrath and Kathryn Pratt, Shea led an ensemble cast briefly before the show's cancellation. In 1993, Shea was cast as
Lex Luthor in the television show,
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. His portrayal of the DC Comics supervillain received positive reviews, but he left after the first season occasionally returning in later seasons in a guest role. Shea said of the role: This villain is written as a human being, and not just a one dimensional comic villain or a two dimensional comic villain, the way he might have been portrayed in the comic books or even other films. I thought
Gene Hackman was brilliant, but it was a different kind of comic villain. His starring run of the series ended on an enjoyable note for Shea; the series finale includes a virtual reality sequence in which Luthor flies over Metropolis in a modified Superman costume. Shea recalled, "One day I read the script and I thought, 'Oh my God! I'm really going to get to do this?' And they said yes. You're going to get to fly. ... They just took me out on this boom and they flew me back and forth across the
green screen. And they had wind machines blowing and smoke machines, and, oh my God, I felt like I was reborn." After leaving
Lois & Clark, Shea starred in a new X-Men inspired series,
Mutant X, where he was cast as Adam Kane. The show aired for three seasons before being cancelled. In 1998 Shea co-wrote and directed the independent film
Southie, starring
Donnie Wahlberg,
Rose McGowan,
Amanda Peet,
Anne Meara,
Will Arnett and
Lawrence Tierney. The film won the
Seattle International Film Festival award for Best Film, represented the United States at the Montreal International Festival, and was distributed by Lions Gate Films. Shea appeared on
Sex and the City as Dominic a month later. He also starred in the independent film
The Adventures of Sebastian Cole. Shea was contracted later that year to be a reader on
Selected Shorts for
Symphony Space, broadcast nationwide on
Public Radio International. His reading of
Truman Capote's "
A Christmas Memory" won
AudioFile Magazines Earphones Award in 1999, as part of the anthology
Selected Shorts: Classic Tales, Vol. XII.
Mainstream success: 2005–2012 In 2005 he was cast as Trevor Lipton in
Law & Order: Criminal Intent. When casting for
Gossip Girl began in 2007, Shea was asked to join the recurring cast as
Harold Waldorf,
Blair Waldorf's father. His portrayal of the character garnered him increased name recognition among
millennials and contributed to his presence in
American meme and popular culture. He was cast in
Scott Dacko's 2006 political thriller
The Insurgents with
Mary Stuart Masterson. Later in 2009 he was cast as Cary Ago's father, Jeffery, a recurring character on
The Good Wife. He made his debut into
Indian cinema with the 2009
Tamil drama
Achchamundu! Achchamundu!, directed by Indo-American film director
Arun Vaidyanathan, becoming the first American actor to work in a Tamil film. The film garnered widespread praise and critical acclaim. Shea voiced the central character Sylvain in the English dub of the animated feature film
Gandahar. He was cast in the 2010 American
drama film An Invisible Sign with
Jessica Alba.
Continued work: 2012–present Shea was cast alongside
Lea Thompson in the 2012 romantic comedy
The Trouble With the Truth. In the summer of 2013 he directed a 40th anniversary production of
Edward Gorey's
Dracula. At the start of 2014, Shea appeared in
Madam Secretary as Ted Graham. Later that year, he wrote and directed
Grey Lady, a romantic thriller set on Nantucket, starring
Eric Dane,
Natalie Zea,
Adrian Lester,
Carolyn Stotesbury, Chris Meyer, and
Amy Madigan. The independent film, produced by
Beacon Pictures and shot by
Andrzej Bartkowiak, had its first charity screening in August 2015. It was released on DVD and various streaming services in the summer of 2017. In 2015, Shea joined the cast of
Agent X as Thomas Eckhart. It was announced that Shea would play Dr. Marcus Eldridge in a 2016 episode of
Bones. ==Personal life==