Character actor Michael Shannon earned his reputation as an intense, magnetic performer on the Chicago stage before making the leap to features in the early 1990s. Once there, he captured the attention of audiences with small but significant turns in dramatic features like “Jesus’ Son” (1999) and “Vanilla Sky” (2001), while also displaying a knack for offbeat comedy in “Cecil B. Demented” (2000) and “Kangaroo Jack” (2003). His talent for emotionally and psychologically conflicted characters eventually led to larger roles in independent features like “The Woodsman” (2004) and most notably “Bug”