Christopher Thornton | |
---|---|
Born | New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. | March 29, 1967
Education | |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1990–present |
Christopher Thornton (born March 29, 1967) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Kenny "Shammy" Shamberg in Magnum P.I. , and has had numerous other film and television roles from 1990 to the present.
Thornton was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father was an amateur opera singer who appeared in local theater. [1] Christopher appeared in several plays while majoring in theater at the University of New Orleans, but quit college after two years to relocate to Los Angeles and train at the Stella Adler Conservatory. [1]
Thornton made his first feature film appearance in the 1990 horror sequel Watchers II , playing a young man who gets his eyes gouged out by the mutant antagonist. [1] Only two years later, at age 25, Thornton suffered a tragic accident while rock climbing which fractured two vertebrae and left him paralyzed from the waist down. He returned to mostly theater roles for the remainder of the 1990s. In 2000, he was cast to play Hamlet at the Lillian Theater in Los Angeles. Believed to be the first actor to ever play the iconic Shakespeare character in a wheelchair, Thornton's performance won rave reviews. [1]
Thornton has gone on to appear in numerous film and television roles. He has recurred in TV series such as Any Day Now , Rules of Engagement and Vice Principals , and had guest roles in Curb Your Enthusiasm , Alias , Brothers & Sisters , My Name Is Earl , Grey's Anatomy and Will & Grace . Since 2018, he has played recurring character Kenny "Shammy" Shamberg, a marine veteran paralyzed during a tour of duty in Iraq, on the CBS reboot of Magnum P.I. [2]
Thornton was both writer and lead actor for the 2010 film Sympathy for Delicious , playing disc jockey "Delicious" Dean O'Dwyer. [3]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1990 | Watchers II | Boy at Motel | |
1993 | A Song for You | Donny O’Brien | Short film |
2002 | Bug | Gary – Guy Hit by Car | |
2005 | Pretty Persuasion | Emmett Friedman | |
Hitched | Gary | TV movie | |
2010 | Sympathy for Delicious | "Delicious" Dean O’Dwyer | Lead actor and writer |
2017 | Anything | Ted Sachman |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1991 | Homefront | Bartender | Episode: “Man, This Joint Is Jumping” |
2000 | Any Day Now | Marty | 3 episodes |
2001 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Cliff Cobb | Episode: “Trick or Treat” |
Alias | Nevil | 2 episodes | |
2008 | Unhitched | Darren | Episode: “Yorkshire Terrier Sucked Into the Internet” |
My Name Is Earl | Brett Hansen | Episode: "Killerball" | |
2010 | Brothers & Sisters | Aaron | Episode: "Time After Time: Part 2" |
Lie to Me | Johnny Wheels | Episode: "The Canary Song” | |
2013 | Rules of Engagement | Edward | 3 episodes |
2015 | Battle Creek | Mickey Long | Episode: “The Hand-Off” |
2016 | Grey's Anatomy | Daniel Campbell | Episode: “Falling Slowly” |
2017 | Vice Principals | Mr. Milner | 5 episodes |
2018 | Speechless | Chris | Episode: "N-o-Nominee" |
Santa Clarita Diet | Kevin | Episode: "Going Pre-med" | |
2018–2024 | Magnum P.I. | Kenny "Shammy" Shamberg | Recurring role, 27 episodes |
2020 | Will & Grace | Luke | 2 episodes |
Broke | Max Lefleur | 2 episodes | |
2022 | The Lincoln Lawyer | Sam Scales | Episode: "Chaos Theory" |
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The second season of the crime and action drama Magnum P.I. premiered on September 27, 2019, on CBS, for the 2019–20 United States network television schedule. The series is a remake of the 1980 series of the same name and centers on Thomas Magnum, a former Navy SEAL who works as a private investigator and solves mysteries with his business partner Juliet Higgins and other friends. It stars Jay Hernandez, Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, Stephen Hill, Amy Hill, and Tim Kang. The season was ordered on January 25, 2019, for a twenty episode season. Multiple Hawaii Five-0 stars appeared as their Hawaii Five-0 characters in a two-part crossover event as well as in guest roles throughout the season in minor crossover events.
The third season of the crime and action drama Magnum P.I. premiered on December 4, 2020, on CBS, for the 2020–21 United States network television schedule. The series is a remake of the 1980 series of the same name and centers on Thomas Magnum, a former Navy SEAL who works as a private investigator and solves mysteries with his business partner Juliet Higgins and other friends. It stars Jay Hernandez, Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, Stephen Hill, Amy Hill, and Tim Kang. The season was ordered on May 8, 2020. It was later revealed that the season would only consist of 16 episodes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Multiple Hawaii Five-0 stars appeared as their Hawaii Five-0 characters in minor crossover events throughout the season and a possible crossover between the series and MacGyver was discussed by the writers. Magnum P.I., Hawaii Five-0, and MacGyver are collectively referred to as the Lenkov-verse.
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The fifth and final season of the American crime and action drama Magnum P.I. premiered on February 19, 2023 and ended on January 3, 2024, on NBC. It is the only season of the series to air on NBC after it was canceled by CBS following the conclusion of the previous season.