Chris Messina is a sharp supporting actor, particularly when a job gives his characters something to be angry about. His comedy lands hard; his quieter work needs writing that gives him more than silence.
Fi1m perspective
In Air (2023), Chris Messina has a telephone and a succession of obscenities, and he makes both count. His agent, David Falk, exists largely to be furious, but Messina does not make that feel like an inadequate assignment. We laughed at the calls because the outbursts arrive with such conviction. Ben Affleck gets something valuable from him here: comedy that does not require the character to find himself amusing.
The supporting parts came first, including Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) and Affleck's Argo (2012). Television gave him more space: he played Danny Castellano in The Mindy Project (2012–2017), alongside its creator Mindy Kaling. In Sharp Objects (2018), his detective Richard Willis called for restraint and listening. He has moved between these kinds of performance rather than simply graduating from small parts to leading ones, and the smaller assignments remain worth watching.
Clint Eastwood's Juror #2 (2024) makes good use of the quieter actor. As defence lawyer Eric Resnick, Messina is tired, decent and overworked, with none of Falk's permission to turn frustration into entertainment. We believe in the job because he makes its demands seem ordinary, rather than a special burden invented for this particular drama. Our reservations about the courtroom premise do not extend to him.
The Boogeyman (2023) shows the limit of that restraint. Rob Savage casts him as Will Harper, a father who listens to strangers for a living but cannot talk to his own children. The writing gives him withdrawal and little else, and Messina mostly leaves it there; Sophie Thatcher has to supply much of the film's feeling. We can see why he is cast as a man keeping things to himself, but here there is too little to watch. Start with Air, and do not expect Falk to mind his language.
Biography
Chris Messina is an American actor. He was born on 11 August 1974 in Northport, New York. He is best known for playing Danny Castellano in the comedy series The Mindy Project (2012–2017), for which he received two Critics' Choice Television Award nominations.
Messina's film credits include Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Julie & Julia (2009), Devil (2010), Argo (2012), Birds of Prey (2020), I Care a Lot (2021), Air (2023) as David Falk, The Boogeyman (2023) as Will Harper and Juror #2 (2024) as Eric Resnick. He wrote, executive produced and starred in Fairhaven (2012) and directed and starred in Alex of Venice (2014). On television he has appeared in Six Feet Under (2005), Damages (2011–2012), The Newsroom (2012–2014), Sharp Objects (2018), The Sinner (2020), Gaslit (2022) and Based on a True Story (2023).
