Christopher Meloni

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title: "Christopher Meloni" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1961-births", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "21st-century-american-male-actors", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-television-actors", "american-male-voice-actors", "american-male-video-game-actors", "american-people-of-french-canadian-descent", "american-people-of-italian-descent", "american-lgbtq-rights-activists", "living-people", "neighborhood-playhouse-school-of-the-theatre-alumni", "male-actors-from-alexandria,-virginia", "male-actors-from-philadelphia", "university-of-colorado-boulder-alumni"] description: "American actor (born 1961)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Meloni" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actor (born 1961) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Christopher Meloni
image	ChristopherMeloni-byPhilipRomano.jpg
caption	Meloni in 2024
birth_name	Christopher Peter Meloni
birth_date
birth_place	Washington, D.C., U.S.
other_names	Chris Meloni
education	University of Colorado Boulder
Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre
occupation	Actor
years_active	1989–present
spouse
children	2
::

| name = Christopher Meloni | image = ChristopherMeloni-byPhilipRomano.jpg | caption = Meloni in 2024 | birth_name = Christopher Peter Meloni | birth_date = | birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | other_names = Chris Meloni | education = University of Colorado Boulder Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1989–present | spouse = | children = 2 Christopher Peter Meloni (; born April 2, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for portraying NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on the NBC legal drama series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–2011, 2021–present) and its spin-off Organized Crime (2021–present), for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. He also played Chris Keller on the HBO prison drama Oz (1998–2003), and starred in and executive produced the Syfy series Happy! (2017–2019).

Meloni's film credits include 12 Monkeys (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), Runaway Bride (1999), Wet Hot American Summer (2001), Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Green Lantern: First Flight (2009), 42 (2013) and Man of Steel (2013).

Early life and education

Meloni was born in Washington, D.C., the youngest of three children of Cecile (née Chagnon; 1926–2016), a homemaker, and Charles Robert Meloni (1927–2012), an endocrinologist. He has an older brother and sister. His paternal ancestry is Italian; one great-grandfather was born in Sardinia and another was born in Velva, near Genoa. His maternal ancestry is French Canadian, and he is a descendant of Matthias Farnsworth and Edmund Rice.

Meloni attended St. Stephen's School, now St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School, in Alexandria, Virginia, where he was a quarterback on the football team. After graduating he attended the University of Colorado Boulder where he took acting classes for electives. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1983. After college, he went to New York continuing to study acting. He took classes with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre as well as at the Center for the Media Arts.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Chris_Meloni_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg" caption="San Diego Comic Con]], 2012"] ::

Meloni acted in commercials, 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.

From 1998 to 2003, Meloni portrayed the bisexual criminal Chris Keller on the HBO series Oz. Law & Order producer Dick Wolf signed Meloni to portray 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. 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. 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.

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."

Meloni played Colonel Hardy, a supporting role, in the Superman reboot film Man of Steel, which was released in 2013. That year, he played Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher in the historical baseball feature 42. Meloni starred in the 2014 comedy They Came Together. He stars as John Taylor in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops III. In 2016, Meloni shot the heist film Marauders.

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. The series was canceled on June 4, 2019.

In 2018, Meloni guest starred in two episodes of the FX drama series Pose, opposite Dominique Jackson. He appeared on the third season of The Handmaid's Tale as Commander Winslow in 2019.

Philanthropy

In 2004 and 2006, respectively, Meloni competed in the fourth and the eighth series of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown; in the eighth series, he finished in second place, behind Robin Tunney, and ahead of Macy Gray, Joy Behar, and Andy Dick. He played for Feed the Children.

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.

Public image

Meloni has appeared in many public service announcements in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. 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 LGBTQ issues. In addition, in 2011, Meloni appeared in the Human Rights Campaign's "New Yorkers for Marriage Equality" video.

Meloni was included in the 2006 edition of People magazine's Sexiest Men Alive.

Personal life

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 and a son born in January 2004. 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.

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. 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.

In 2014, Meloni bought the house used in the television show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

In 2021, on an episode of PBS' Finding Your Roots, it was revealed that Meloni is a distant relative of Nancy Pelosi.

Although raised Catholic, Meloni has stated that when he was around nine to eleven years old he asked a nun for clarification on “Jesus and God and she couldn’t give an answer. I was about nine, maybe 11. I was like, ‘You know, I feel like I’m done.’”

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	When Will I Be Loved?	Ron Weston	TV film
1991	In a Child's Name	Jerry Cimarelli
1992	Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story	David
1993	Without a Kiss Goodbye	Ray Samuels	TV film; aka Falsely Accused
1994	Clean Slate	Bodyguard
Junior	Mr. Lanzarotta
1995	12 Monkeys	Lt. Halperin
A Dangerous Affair	Tommy Moretti	TV film
1996	Bound	Johnnie Marzzone
1997	Every 9 Seconds	Richard Sutherland	TV film
1998	Brown's Requiem	Sgt. Cavanah	Uncredited
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas	Sven, Clerk at Flamingo Hotel
The Souler Opposite	Barry Singer
Target Earth	Detective Samuel "Sam" Adams	TV film
1999	Carlo's Wake	Bennetto Torello
Runaway Bride	Bob Kelly
Shift	Louis	TV film
2001	Wet Hot American Summer	Gene Jenkinson
2002	Murder in Greenwich	Mark Fuhrman	TV film
That Brief Moment	Ken	Short film
2004	Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle	Freakshow
2008	Gym Teacher: The Movie	Dave Stewie	TV film
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay	Grand Wizard	Credited as "Reverend Clyde Stanky"
Nights in Rodanthe	Jack Willis
2009	Brief Interviews with Hideous Men	R / Subject #3
Carriers	Frank
2010	Green Lantern: First Flight	Hal Jordan / Green Lantern	Voice role
2011	National Lampoon's Dirty Movie	Producer Charlie LaRue
2013	Awful Nice	Jon Charbineau
Man of Steel	Colonel Nathan Hardy
42	Leo Durocher
2014	Beef	Lou
White Bird in a Blizzard	Brock Connors
Small Time	Al Klein
They Came Together	Roland
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For	Mort
2015	The Diary of a Teenage Girl	Pascal MacCorkill
2016	I Am Wrath	Dennis
Marauders	Agent Jonathan Montgomery
Almost Friends	Howard
2017	Snatched	Roger Simmons
2024	IF	Cosmo (voice)
2026			Post-production
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989–1990	1st & Ten	Vito Del Greco / Johnny Gunn	11 episodes
1990–1991	The Fanelli Boys	Frankie Fanelli	17 episodes
1991–1994	Dinosaurs	Spike	Voice; recurring role
1993	The Boys	Doug Kirkfield	6 episodes
Golden Gate	Douglas "BW" Carlino	Unsold pilot
1995	Hope and Gloria	Billy	Episode: "Love with an Improper Stranger"
Misery Loves Company	Mitch	8 episodes
1996–1997	NYPD Blue	Jimmy Liery	5 episodes
1997	The Last Don	Boz Skannet	Miniseries
Leaving L.A.	Reed Sims	6 episodes
Brooklyn South	Joe	3 episodes
1998	Homicide: Life on the Street	Bounty Hunter Dennis Knoll	2 episodes
1998–2003	Oz	Chris Keller	Recurring (season 2); starring (seasons 3–6); 38 episodes
1999–2011,
2021–2023, 2025	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Detective Elliot Stabler	Main (seasons 1–12); recurring (seasons 22–24);
guest (seasons 26–27); 285 episodes
2000–2022	Law & Order	Guest role (seasons 10, 22); 3 episodes
2003	Scrubs	Dr. Dave Norris	Episode: "My White Whale"
2004	Sesame Street	Himself	Episode: 4065
2005	Wonder Showzen	Cooties Spokesman	Episode: "Health"
Law & Order: Trial by Jury	Detective Elliot Stabler	Episode: "Day"
2009	Michael & Michael Have Issues	Himself	Episode: "Greg the Intern"
2010	Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List	Himself	Episode: "Kathy With a Z"
2011	The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Tony Bologna	Cameo
Ice Loves Coco	Himself
2012	True Blood	Roman Zimojic	5 episodes
2013	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Dr. Phillip Banhauser	Episode: "Aziz Ansari Wears a Charcoal Blazer"
2014	Veep	Ray Whelans	2 episodes
Surviving Jack	Jack Dunlevy	8 episodes (including one unaired episode in the United States)
2015	Drunk History	Othniel Marsh	Episode: "New Jersey"
The Jack and Triumph Show	Agent Ryker	Episode: "Siri"
Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp	Gene Jenkinson / Jonas Jurgenson	6 episodes
2016–2017	Underground	August Pullman	15 episodes; directed episode: "Auld Acquaintance"
2017	Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later	Gene Jenkinson	4 episodes
At Home with Amy Sedaris	Ranger Russell	Episode: "Nature"
2017–2019	Happy!	Nick Sax	18 episodes
2018	Pose	Dick Ford	2 episodes
2019	The Handmaid's Tale	Commander Winslow	4 episodes
2019–2022	American Dad!	Multiple voices	3 episodes
2019–present	Harley Quinn	Jim Gordon, Two-Face, other voices	16 episodes
2020	Family Guy	George Townshend (voice)	Episode: "Short Cuts"
Maxxx	Don Wild	6 episodes
The Twilight Zone	Robert	Episode: "A Human Face"
Helpsters	Detective Dudley	Episode: "Camper Cortez/Artist Andrew & Detective Dudley"
2020–2022	Rick and Morty	Jesus Christ	2 episodes
2021	Bless the Harts	Detective Voccola (voice)	Episode: "Betty's Birthday"
2021–present	Law & Order: Organized Crime	Detective Elliot Stabler	last=Mitovich
2022	Solar Opposites	Lonesun (voice)	Episode: “Terry and Korvo Get in a Big Screaming Fight in the
Taco Bell Parking Lot”
2023	Captain Fall	Agent Steel (voice)	10 episodes
Celebrity Jeopardy!	Himself	Contestant
::

Video games

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Call of Duty: Black Ops III	Commander John Taylor	Voice
::

Awards and nominations

::data[format=table]

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1999	OFTA Television Awards	Best Guest Actor in a Cable Series	Oz
2004	Prism Awards	Best Performance in a TV Drama Series Episode	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	rowspan="9"
2006	OFTA Television Awards	Best Actor in a Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
2008	Prism Awards	Best Performance in a TV Drama Series Episode
2009
2014	Gold Derby Awards	Best Comedy Guest Actor	Veep
2019	Best Drama Guest Actor	Pose
International Online Cinema Awards	Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series
2021	Hollywood Critics Association Television Awards	Best Actor in a Broadcast Network or Cable Series, Drama	Law & Order: Organized Crime
2022	ACCEC Awards	Favorite Television Actor
::

References

References

1. "NewsBank for DDN | www.daytondailynews.com". nl.newsbank.com.
2. (27 March 2005). "Birthdays of the week". pqasb.pqarchiver.com.
3. (August 8, 2016). "Cecile Meloni passed 3:02 today.".
4. (August 12, 2012). "Charles R. Meloni". Legacy.com.
5. Jewel, Dan. (6 September 1999). "Runaway Guy".
6. "Eric S. Atwater: Vaughan board of directors need to do the right thing".
7. Stated on ''[[Finding Your Roots]], February 9, 2021''
8. [[Henry Louis Gates]]. (June 2025). "Season 7, Episode 4-The Shirts on Their Backs". Finding Your Roots-PBS Television}}{{dead link.
9. "1978 St. Stephen's Yearbook".
10. "McDonald's Commercial".
11. "Christopher Meloni Emmy Nominated". Emmys.com.
12. Abrams, Natalie. (May 24, 2011). "Christopher Meloni Exits Law & Order: SVU". NTVB Media.
13. Andreeva, Nellie. (March 31, 2020). "Christopher Meloni As 'SVU' Character Elliot Stabler To Headline New Dick Wolf Drama Series For NBC". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
14. Ford, Rebecca. (June 15, 2012). "'True Blood': Christopher Meloni on Playing a 500-Year-Old, 'Big Old Baby' Vampire".
15. Andreeva, Nellie. (June 24, 2011). "Christopher Meloni To Co-Star In 'Man Of Steel'". [[Mail.com]].
16. Trumbore, Dave. (June 23, 2012). "Christopher Meloni Joins They Came Together".
17. Roeper, Richard. (June 30, 2016). "'Marauders': A-list actors give their all in a B-movie mystery".
18. Pedersen, Erik. (September 19, 2017). "Syfy Moves 'Happy!' Premiere Date Back A Week".
19. Andreeva, Nellie. (June 4, 2019). "'Happy!' & 'Deadly Class' Canceled By Syfy". Deadline Hollywood.
20. Hinzmann, Dennis. (June 20, 2018). "Christopher Meloni Joins This Week's 'Pose'".
21. Bradley, Laura. (July 3, 2019). "The Handmaid's Tale: How Christopher Meloni Became Gilead's Big, Bad Dad".
22. (January 17, 2006). "Jake Gyllenhaal, Ang Lee and Christopher Meloni to Accept Award at Human Rights Campaign New York Gala Dinner". HRC.
23. (2006-02-10). "Jake Gyllenhaal and Ang Lee to be honored by HRC, Feb. 11 in NYC".
24. (April 12, 2011). "Law & Order SVU Star Christopher Meloni is a New Yorker for Marriage Equality". www.hrc.org.
25. Stewart, Andrew. (2001-04-11). "Sophia Eva Pietra Meloni".
26. (February 27, 2004). "Dante Amadeo Meloni". Variety.
27. Showell, Brooke. (April 20, 2022). "A Guide to All of Hollywood's Celebrity Godparents".
28. Jeffrey Podolsky. (November 3, 2009). ""Don't Ask, Don't Tell?" Sir Ian McKellan Will Have None of That". The Wall Street Journal.
29. Argetsinger. (May 1, 2007). "'Law & Order's' Chris Meloni Goes Long, and Winds Up in 1978". Washingtonpost.com.
30. David, Mark. (December 16, 2014). "Chris Meloni Picks Up Piece of Hollywood History (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
31. Beale, Lauren. (December 17, 2014). "Chris Meloni buys Ozzie and Harriet Nelson's old haunt". Los Angeles Times.
32. (February 9, 2021). "Finding Your Roots - DNA Cousin With Nancy Pelosi". Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
33. "Cele{{!}}bitchy {{!}} Christopher Meloni on growing up Catholic: 'Going to church was close to death'".
34. Stephan, Katcy. (2025-07-14). "Chris Meloni, Ego Nwodim, Sherry Cola, Caleb Hearon and Ben Ahlers Join 'Little Brother' Netflix Comedy Feature (EXCLUSIVE)".
35. Melrose, Kevin. (October 25, 2018). "Alan Tudyk to Voice The Joker in Harley Quinn Animated Series".
36. Mitovich, Matt Webb. (August 27, 2020). "NBC Sets Fall (Yes, Fall!) Premiere Dates for ''This Is Us'', #OneChicago and More — What Shows Return in 2021?".
37. "International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA) (2019)".
38. Schneider, Michael. (2022-07-07). "'Severance,' 'Ted Lasso' Lead Streaming Nominees for 2nd Annual HCA TV Awards".
39. "ACCEC Awards (2022)".

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