Christopher Meloni Career Retrospective | SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations

Career Q&A with Christopher Meloni. Moderated by Jenelle Riley, Variety.

Washington, D.C. native Christopher Meloni studied acting at the University of Colorado, Boulder, before graduating with a degree in History. He worked in construction and as a bouncer before breaking into acting, studying his craft in New York with legendary teacher Sanford Meisner. His television breakout role was on “NYPD Blue,” opposite Kim Delaney. That led to being cast on HBO’s gritty landmark series “Oz,” playing the psychotic, bisexual serial killer, ‘Chris Keller.’

In 1999, Meloni landed his starring role on the popular and long-running NBC series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” with the actor working in both series simultaneously until “Oz” ended its 6 year run in 2003. He continued on “Law & Order: SVU” for twelve seasons, earning an Emmy nomination for his performance as Detective Elliot Stabler. Meloni then returned to HBO in a pivotal arc as the head of the Vampire Authority, ‘Roman,’ in Alan Ball’s wildly popular drama, “True Blood;” and as Julie Louis-Dreyfus’ trainer, ‘Ray,’ in “Veep.” Meloni is currently co-starring in the Netflix limited event series, “Wet Hot American Summer” which is the prequel to the cult film in which he also co-starred.

Meloni’s other big screen credits include the August 2015 Sony Classics release, "Diary of a Teenage Girl " with Kristen Wiig; Greg Araki’s "White Bird in a Blizzard"; "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For"; "Man of Steel"; "42"; "They Came Together"; "Small Time"; the Terry Gilliam films "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "Twelve Monkeys"; the Wachowskis’ first film "Bound"; the romantic comedy blockbuster "Runaway Bride"; "Nights in Rodanthe"; and such cult favorites as "Wet Hot American Summer","Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle", and its first sequel, "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay".