Neil Flynn is an American comedian, voice actor and actor. He was born in November 13, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois, in a family with Irish ancestry that raised him as a Roman Catholic. He moved to Waukegan when he was a child, and studied at “Waukegan East High School”. In 1978 he won, together with his partner Mike Shklair, the Illinois State Championship for Humorous Duet Acting. He then attended classes at Bradley University in Peoria, where he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity and participated in all the Competitive Speech tournaments as a member of the Bradley University Speech Team. After his graduation, he came back to Chicago to continue with his acting career, and he started playing in a short time for Goodman and Steppenwolf theaters. Flynn was also nominated in 1986 for a “Joseph Jefferson Award” as an “Actor in a principal role” for “The Ballad of The Sad Café”. He also played in the “Improv Olympic” and in the “Second City Comedy Troupe”.
Flynn is known widely for the role he played as the Janitor in the medical comedy-drama of NBC “Scrubs”, but he has also played in many movies, as well as in other TV series, one of which is “The Middle”, an ABC sitcom where he plays in the role of the patriarch “Mike Heck”.
When Flynn auditioned for Scrubs, he tried to get the role of Dr. Cox, but he has been given the role of the Janitor. He was meant to play just in the first episode of the series, but he became a regular, contributing to the success of the series as the “unnamed” Janitor who uses most of his energies to menacing in a hilarious way the young Dr. John “J.D.” Dorian. It’s funny how he reveals his true name, Glenn Matthews, only in the Season 8 finale, after J.D. finally asks him about it (but since the Janitor feels almost hate for J.D., he must have told him a fake name: in fact, one of his colleagues addresses him as “Tony” shortly after this scene with J.D.).
In his role in “The Middle”, Flynn impersonates Mike Heck, the patriarch of the Heck household. He loves his kids and he loves his wife, but his parenting style is a little unorthodox and he may not always be the most sensitive of life partners for his harried and hurried wife. When he's not working long hours managing the local quarry, he's home helping around the house, even if "helping" is being brutally honest to Frankie. This is their life and it's not perfect. But, as Mike would say, "Whatta ya gonna do?". In an interview about this show Neil Flynn said “…I think that’s the strength of the show: It’s very spare, in a realistic sense. It’s sort of small, too. They live in a small city in a small-ish house; they have small problems. But that’s what everyone has.” The shows counts 191 episodes and it’s still in production.
Even if playing in “Scrubs”, and later in “The Middle”, gave him the true fame, Flynn has also played in many small roles in movies like “The Fugitive” (1993, he was a transit cop); “Baby’s Day Out” (1994, he was a cop in the park); “Magnolia” (1999, he impersonated the role of Daniel Hill); “Mean Girls” (2004, he was Chip Eron, the father of Lindsay Lohan’s character); “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (2008, he was the FBI agent Paul Smith); and many more.
| Birth Date: | 13 Nov, 1960 |
| Age: | 59 yrs |
| Citizenship: | United States of America |
| Birth Place: | Chicago |
| Education: | Bradley University |
| Gender: | Male |
| Description: | American actor |
| Net Worth 2021: | 8 million |
