Christopher Peter Meloni is a 56-year-old American television star. He is well known for his roles in the television shows Law & Order and Oz. He has also acted in side roles in several films.

Personal Life

Christopher Meloni was born on 2nd April, 1961 Meloni to parents Cecile Meloni and Charles Robert Meloni. Cecile was a housewife while Charles was an endocrinologist by profession. His childhood was spent in Washington, D.C. Christopher has two elder siblings, a brother and a sister. His mother has French Canadian ethnicity while his father has a Sardinian background.

Christopher did his schooling at St. Stephen's School. He played soccer with the school team as a quarterback. His interest in acting led to his degree in theatric arts from the University of Colorado. Further, he completed his graduation with another degree in history in the year 1983. Thereafter, Meloni landed up in New York to continue studying alongside Sanford Meisner at Center for the Media Arts as well as the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Meloni met his wife Sherman William on the sets of an HBO show in 1989. He was instantly attracted to her but came to know that she had a boyfriend. A few years later, they started dating. Four years after they started dating, they had a beach wedding in Malibu. They are now parents to a daughter and a son named Sophia Eva Pietra Meloni and Dante Amadeo Meloni. Meloni is known to be extremely attached to his kids and they lead a very happy and fulfilling family life together.

He is also known to be very socially active and regularly tweets about social and political events from his official Twitter account.

Career

Meloni supported himself during his struggle period by doing several jobs as a construction worker, a bartender, a bouncer, and a personal trainer before finally making his foundation strong in the field of acting. He was spotted in a number of commercials and some comedy roles in two sitcoms named The Fanelli Boys and 1st & Ten. He was also seen during a number of cameos in several movies. In the year 1996, Meloni acted in a thriller called Bound.

His excellent performance as the wayward son of a Don made the industry sit up and take notice of his raw talent. However, his major breakthrough came in 1996 via Oz. It was a television show by HBO where he portrayed the very complex role of a bisexual, psychotic murderer. He portrayed this role until the year 2003. In 1997, Meloni started acting on another show called Law & Order. The show is still running. He portrays the role of a detective with tremendous ethical attributes.

In the year 1999, Meloni again appeared in movies. He was seen playing the role of Julia Roberts’s fiancé in the famous rom-com The Runaway Bride. In 2006, Meloni was nominated for an Emmy for his tremendous performance on the sets of Law & Order.His net worth is estimated to be around thirty million dollars.