Meloni was a construction worker prior to getting a break becoming known in acting. He has worked as a bouncer, bartender, and personal trainer.[citation needed]
Career
Meloni worked his way up the ladder acting in commercials,[10] short-lived TV series, and bit parts in a number of films. His first noticeable role was the hotheaded son of a Mafia don in the 1996 thriller Bound. He appeared as Robbie Sinclair's friend Spike in Dinosaurs in the early 1990s. He played criminal Jimmy Liery in eight episodes of NYPD Blue during 1996-1997 and the fiancé of Julia Roberts's character in the 1999 romantic comedy Runaway Bride.
Meloni in New York City, June 2006
From 1998 to 2003, Meloni portrayed the bisexual criminal Chris Keller on the HBO series Oz. Law & Order producer Dick Wolf signed Meloni to play Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 1999. Meloni appeared on both Oz and Law & Order: SVU simultaneously until Oz was cancelled in 2003. Meloni was nominated for the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Elliot Stabler.[11] In May 2011, Meloni announced that he had been unable to agree on a contract and would not be returning for season 13 of SVU.[12] His character was written out as having put in his retirement papers. After nearly a decade, Meloni announced in March 2020 that he would be reprising his role of Stabler in the Law & Order franchise on a spin-off show titled Law & Order: Organized Crime. Meloni appeared in a crossover event during season 22 of SVU.[13]
In 2012, Meloni joined the cast of True Blood during the series' fifth season as Roman, a "powerful, 500-year-old vampire who sits at the head of the table of the Vampire Authority."[14]
Meloni starred in and executive produced the Syfy series Happy!, based on the comic book series created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Darick Robertson, which premiered in 2017.[18] The series was canceled on June 4, 2019.[19]
He appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy! on November 10, 2006, defeating fellow Law & Order stars Sam Waterston and Kathryn Erbe. Meloni split his $50,000 charity prize between the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Program and the Montefiore Advocacy Center. He also appeared on the program's Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational that aired on December 17, 2009. Although defeated by Joshua Malina and Harry Shearer, he won a $25,000 charity prize in the name of Smile Train.[citation needed]
Public image
Meloni has appeared in many public service announcements in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues.[22] In 1999, Meloni jokingly kissed Lee Tergesen (who played Tobias Beecher, Meloni's on-screen boyfriend on Oz) at an awards dinner for GLAAD. In 2006, Meloni was given the Human Rights Campaign's Equality Award, along with actor Jake Gyllenhaal and director Ang Lee, for his work on behalf of LGBT issues.[22][23] In addition, in 2011, Meloni appeared in the Human Rights Campaign's "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" video.[24]
Meloni married Doris Sherman Meloni (née Williams), a production designer, on July 1, 1995. They have two children through surrogacy, a daughter born in March 2001[25] and a son born in January 2004.[26]Mariska Hargitay, who co-starred with Meloni on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and remains close friends with him, is the godmother to his daughter.[27]
Meloni has three tattoos: a Cubist-inspired representation of the crucifixion of Christ on his upper left arm, a butterfly on his left upper thigh, and a Chinese astrological chart of his family on his right lower leg.[28] In 2007, Meloni was inducted into his high school's athletic Hall of Fame as a member of the undefeated 1978 football team, for which he was quarterback.[29]
^"Birthdays of the week". The Washington Post. pqasb.pqarchiver.com. March 27, 2005. Archived from the original on February 22, 2015. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
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