Michael Rapaport

Michael David Rapaport (born March 20, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and podcast host. His film roles include Zebrahead, True Romance (1993), Higher Learning (1995), Metro (1997), Cop Land (1997), Deep Blue Sea (1999), The 6th Day (2000), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Big Fan (2009), and The Heat (2013). On television, he headlined the Fox sitcom The War at Home (2005–2007) and was a series regular on the Fox drama Boston Public (2001–2004), the fourth season of the Fox serial drama Prison Break (2008–2009), and the Netflix comedy drama Atypical (2017–2021). Rapaport held recurring roles on the NBC sitcoms Friends (1999), My Name Is Earl (2007–2008), and Justified (2014). Outside of his acting career, Rapaport directed the 2011 documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest about the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Active on several podcasts, he is the host of the I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast.

Early life and education Rapaport was born in New York City, the son of June Brody, a New York radio personality, and David Rapaport, a radio executive who was the general manager of the all-disco format at New York radio station WKTU Disco 92. He has a brother named Eric Rapaport and an older half-sister named Claudia Lonow (née Rapaport) via his father's prior marriage to JoAnne Astrow. Lonow's daughter Isabella Roland is a comedian and actress best known for her work on the American website Dropout.

Rapaport grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, near 70th Street and York Avenue. He is Ashkenazi Jewish; his family is originally from Poland and Russia.

Rapaport had a hard time in school. He attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn in the 1980s, but was expelled. He graduated from Martin Luther King High School in Manhattan.

Career In 1989, Rapaport moved to Los Angeles, California when he was 19 years old to try to become a stand-up comic. Rapaport's stepfather, comic Mark Lonow, who owned The Improv with Budd Friedman, helped him get into the stand-up world. He did that for three years.

His big break in acting was on the TV series China Beach.

Rapaport had a recurring role in My Name Is Earl as Frank, a convict Earl reunites with in prison. He played Homeland Security Agent Don Self in the fourth season of Prison Break. The film, Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest, was released in 2011 and received mostly positive reviews.

Rapaport guest starred in the fifth season of the FX series Justified as villain Daryl Crowe Jr.

On February 12, 2010, Rapaport participated in the NBA All-Star Weekend's Celebrity Game and was named the MVP because of his defense on football player Terrell Owens, the MVP of the last two Celebrity Games, despite scoring just four points and having only a single rebound.

On April 17, 2014, an ESPN 30 for 30 film he directed premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film, When the Garden Was Eden, was about the 1970s championship-winning New York Knicks led by Earl Monroe, Walt Frazier, and Willis Reed.

Rapaport is a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM, and participates in the show staff's fantasy football league.

Rapaport hosts the I Am Rapaport Stereo Podcast with childhood friend Gerald Moody. and Pardon My Take by Barstool Sports, The Adam Carolla Show, The Fighter and the Kid, Unqualified, The Bill Simmons Podcast and its predecessor, The BS Report; The Chive Podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, His & Hers Podcast, Cari Champion's Podcast, The Joey Boots Show, The Dirty Sports Podcast and more.

On June 19, 2017, Rapaport announced on Twitter that he would be joining the sports satire website Barstool Sports where he would be a correspondent for the podcast Pardon My Take. On February 18, 2018, Rapaport was fired from Barstool Sports after making a rude comment toward their fan base.

Rapaport is a reporter for Fox Sports, covering the Big3 basketball league formed by Ice Cube. He is the narrator of the WWE 365 series on WWE Network.

In 2023, Rapaport competed in season ten of The Masked Singer as the wild card contestant "Pickle". A running gag is that he would bump into Nick Cannon. Rapaport was eliminated on "2000s Night".

In 2026, Rapaport became a contestant on the reality TV show The Traitors. His comment toward fellow season 4 contestant Colton Underwood drew criticism as homophobic.

Personal life On May 18, 1997, Rapaport was arrested for harassing ex-girlfriend Lili Taylor and charged with two counts of aggravated harassment. He pleaded guilty to the charges in court and New York Supreme Court Justice Arlene Goldberg issued a protection order to keep the actor from contacting Taylor, as well as mandating that he undergo counseling sessions.

In 2000, Rapaport married writer and producer Nichole Beattie. They have two sons. They divorced in 2007.

In 2016, Rapaport married his long time girlfriend, actress Kebe Dunn.

In June 2018, while on an American Airlines flight from Houston to Los Angeles, Rapaport stopped another passenger attempting to open an emergency door mid-flight.

Political views After the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Rapaport appeared in many independent activist shorts supporting the release of hostages taken by Hamas and its affiliates. Rapaport has since become a vocal pro-Israel advocate. He has made multiple trips to Israel since late 2023, including visits to sites affected by the attacks and to Hostage Square, where he has spoken at rallies.

Rapaport has publicly criticized what he views as a lack of support for Israel within the entertainment industry and has urged Jewish people to "reclaim and proudly own the term 'Zionist'". He has said that his vocal stance has cost him acting jobs, but that he has no regrets about his advocacy.

In February 2025, the militant pro-Israel group Betar US posted a video of Rapaport on social media, in which he praised the far-right Rabbi Meir Kahane, saying that "Kahane was always right."

On December 31, 2025, Rapaport announced that he will be running for mayor of New York City in 2029.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1992 Zebrahead Zack 1993 Point of No Return Big Stan Poetic Justice Dockworker Money for Nothing Kenny Kozlowski True Romance Dick Ritchie 1994 Hand Gun Lenny The Scout Tommy Lacy The Foot Shooting Party Lizard Short 1995 Higher Learning Remy The Basketball Diaries Skinhead Kiss of Death Ronnie Gannon Mighty Aphrodite Kevin 1996 Beautiful Girls Paul Kirkwood The Pallbearer Brad Schorr 1997 Metro Kevin McCall A Brother's Kiss Stingy Kicked in the Head Stretch Cop Land Murray Babitch 1998 Illtown Dante Palmetto Donnelly Some Girl Neal The Naked Man Edward Bliss Jr. 1999 Deep Blue Sea Tom Scoggins Kiss Toledo Goodbye Kevin Gower 2000 Next Friday Mailman with Tax Notice Small Time Crooks Denny Men of Honor GM1 Snowhill Bamboozled Thomas Dunwitty Chain of Fools Hitman King of the Jungle Francis Lucky Numbers Dale The 6th Day Hank Morgan 2001 Dr. Dolittle 2 Joey the Raccoon (voice) 2002 Paper Soldiers Mike E. Triggermen Tommy O'Brian 29 Palms The Cop Comic Book Villains Norman Link Video 2003 A Good Night to Die August This Girl's Life Terry the Car Salesman 2004 The N Word Himself America Brown Daniel Brown Scrambled Eggs Drama Teacher Short 2005 Hitch Ben 2006 Special Les Franken Live Free or Die Lt. Putney Push Tommy G Grilled Bobby It Aint Easy - Video 2008 Assassination of a High School President Coach Z 2009 Big Fan Philadelphia Phil A Day in the Life Detective Grant Tom Cool - 2011 Inside Out Jack Small 2012 Should've Been Romeo Danny The Baytown Outlaws Lucky Kiss of the Damned Ben 2013 The Heat Jason Mullins Once Upon a Time in Queens Bobby DiBianco 2014 My Man Is a Loser Marty 2015 Little Boy James Busbee 2016 A Stand Up Guy Colin Chuck John Wepner Sully Pete the Bartender Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life Animation Voice (voice) 2019 100%: Julian Edelman Narrator 2020 Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story Bill Fitch 2021 Conflicted Mike2023 I'll Be Right There Marshall Glisten and the Merry Mission Grizz (voice) 2025 October 8 Himself

Television Year Title Role Notes 1990 China Beach Kravits Episode: "One Small Step" 1992 Murphy Brown Robbie Episode: "He-Ho, He-Ho, It's Off to Lamaze We Go" Middle Ages Jimmy Episode: "The Pig in the Python" & "Night Moves" 1993 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Mike Episode: "Where There's a Will, There's a Way: Part 1" NYPD Blue Jaime Dileo Episode: "Brown Appetit" 1997 Subway Stories Jake Episode: "The Listeners" 1998 ER Paul Canterna Episode: "Of Past Regret and Future Fear" Rude Awakening Johnny Episode: "Naked Again" Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Families Szarany TV movie 1999 Friends Gary Recurring cast (season 5) 2001 Weakest Link Himself Episode: "Disaster Benefit" Celebrity Adventures Himself Episode: "Belize" Night Visions Harlow Winton Episode: "Darkness" Boston Public Danny Hanson Main cast (season 2–4) 2003 Chappelle's Show Popcopy Employee Episode: "Popcopy & Clayton Bigsby" 2005–2007 The War at Home David "Dave" Gold Main cast 2006 Thugaboo: Sneaker Madness DJ (voice) TV movie 2006–2007 MadTV 2 episodes 2007–2008 My Name Is Earl Frank Stump Recurring cast (season 3) 2008–2009 Prison Break Agent Donald "Don" Self Main cast (season 4) 2009–2010 Accidentally on Purpose Sully Episode: "The Godfather" & "The Rock" 2010 30 for 30 Himself Episode: "Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks" Celebrity Ghost Stories Himself Episode: "Rebecca DeMornay/Michael Rapaport/Margaret Cho" Royal Pains Stanley Episode: "Big Whoop" The Line Steve Waxman TV movie 2010–2013 Pound Puppies Squirt (voice) Main cast 2012–2013 The Mob Doctor Paul Moretti Recurring cast 2013 The Haunting of... Himself Episode: "Michael Rapaport" 2014 Raising Hope Michael Episode: "Man's Best Friend" Justified Daryl Crowe Jr. Recurring cast (season 5) 2015 Black-ish Jay Simmons Episode: "Switch Hitting" Louie Lenny Episode: "Cop Story" Public Morals Officer Charlie Bullman Main cast The Big Bang Theory Kenny Fitzgerald Episode: "The Helium Insufficiency" 2016 Richie Caskey Episode: "Sheltered Outcasts" Dice Bobby the Mooch Episode: "Six Grand" Crisis in Six Scenes Trooper Mike Episode #1.6 2017 The $100,000 Pyramid Himself The New Edition Story Gary Evans Episode: "Part 1-3" Animals. Erik (voice) Episode: "Rats" White Famous Teddy Snow Recurring cast 2017–2018 The Guest Book Adam Recurring cast (season 1), guest (season 2) 2017–2021 Atypical Doug Gardner Main cast 2018 Hip Hop Squares Himself/Panelist Episode: "Blac Chyna vs. Jeremy Meeks" & "Yvonne Orji vs. Keith Powers" Ridiculousness Himself Episode: "Michael Rapaport" 2019–2023 The Simpsons Mike Wegman (voice) Guest cast (season 31 & 33–34) 2020 Sneakerheads Himself Episode: "The Match" Yo Mama Himself Episode: "I PAID Celebs $3,000 for YO MAMA JOKES" Cooked with Cannabis Himself Episode: "High Holidays" Tournament of Laughs Himself Episode: "The Exceptional 8" 2021–2022 The Wendy Williams Show Himself/Guest Host Recurring guest host (season 14) 2022 Celebrity Wheel of Fortune Himself/Contestant Episode: "Jaime Camil, Michael Rapaport and June Diane Raphael" Life & Beth Leonard Recurring cast Only Murders in the Building Detective Kreps Recurring cast (season 2) 2023 The Masked Singer Himself/Pickle Season 10 contestant Eretz Nehederet Albus Dumbledore; Himself Guest (season 21) 2024 Fallout Knight Titus Episode: "The Target" 2026 The Traitors Himself Season 4 contestant

Documentary Year Title Role 2011 Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest Interviewer

Video games Year Title Role 1996 Don't Quit Your Day Job Special appearance #2 2001 Grand Theft Auto III Joey Leone 2006 Saints RowTroy Bradshaw 2008 Saints Row 2 2018 NBA 2K19 Coach Darren Stackhouse

Music videos Year Artist Title 1998 Jay-Z "The City is Mine" 2002 Talib Kweli "Waiting for the DJ"2003 High & Mighty "I Wanna" Jaylib "McNasty Filth" 2004 Masta Ace "A Long Hot Summer"2006 Ludacris "Runaway Love" H2O "What Happened?"2017 Snoop Dogg "Lavender (Nightfall Remix)" Sean Price "Dead or Alive"

Music album Year Artist Title 1994 Frank Zappa Civilization Phaze III

Works and publications