Biography
Emmy-winning American film and TV actor Kyle Chandler found acclaim with his role as coach Eric Taylor on the high school football drama "Friday Night Lights" (NBC/The 101 Network, 2006-2011). Born in Buffalo, New York and raised in both suburban Illinois and rural Georgia, Chandler loved playing football as a kid. When his family left Lake Forest, Illinois when he was 11, and moved to a farm in Loganville, Georgia. It was while living in Georgia that Chandler started playing organized football. He went on to play for his high school team at George Walton Academy in Monroe, Georgia for two seasons. Despite that team winning the state championship in 1979, Chandler abruptly quit during his sophomore year to pursue his growing interest in the theater. Chandler participated in his high school theater program, and when it was time to enter college, he enrolled in the drama program at the University of Georgia. Chandler got a rush out of appearing on stage and quickly devoted himself to learning everything he needed to know about acting. Then, during his senior year, with only 7 credits short of earning his bachelor's degree in drama, Chandler dropped out to accept a TV contract with ABC. As part of his contract, which focused on grooming new talent for the network, Chandler began appearing in small parts in made-for-TV movies like "Unconquered" (1989) and "Home Fires Burning" (1989). His first big break came in 1990 when he joined the cast of the Vietnam War-themed drama series "Tour of Duty" (CBS, 1987-1990). Chandler appeared on 8 episodes of the series during its final season in 1990. From there he went on to nab roles in films like "The Color of Evening" (1990) and "Pure Country" (1992), and was also a cast member on the ABC's period drama "Homefront" (ABC, 1991-93). From the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s Chandler appeared almost exclusively on TV. During this period he was a castmember on "Early Edition" (CBS, 1996-2000), "What About Joan?" (ABC, 2001), and "The Lyon's Den" (NBC, 2003). In 2006 Chandler was nominated for an Emmy for his guest starring role on ABC's medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC, 2005- ). 2006 was also the year that Chandler got the break of a lifetime when he joined the cast of "Friday Night Lights" as Coach Eric Taylor. The series, which was based on a 2004 film of the same name, received overwhelmingly positive praise throughout its 5 season run, with some critics going on to call it one of the greatest television shows of all time. For his work on the series, Chandler took home his first Emmy Award. After "Friday Night Lights" ended in 2011, Chandler went on to appear in supporting roles in a number of Oscar-nominated films, most notably "Argo" (2012), "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012), "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013), "Carol" (2015), and "Manchester by the Sea" (2016). In 2015 Chandler returned to TV with a starring turn on the Netflix thriller "Bloodline" (Netflix, 2015-17), which earned him two more Emmy nominations. In 2019, with over 30 years of acting experience under his belt, Chandler appeared on the Hulu mini-series "Catch-22" (Hulu, 2019), which was based on the acclaimed novel of the same name. 2019 was also the year Chandler played the role of Dr. Mark Russell in the blockbuster monster film "Godzilla: King of the Monsters." Chandler went on to reprise his role as Dr. Mark Russell in the 2020 sequel "Godzilla v. Kong."
