Bio
Michael Emerson is an American actor best known for his roles as Zep Hindle in the 2004 horror film Saw; and as Benjamin Linus in the television series Lost, from 2006-2010.
He won an "Outstanding Guest Actor" Emmy in 2001 for his role as a serial killer on the 5th season of The Practice.
After graduating from Drake University with a major in Theatre and a minor in Art, Emerson moved to New York, forgot about acting and landed a job in magazine illustration.
He later followed a romance to Florida, where he began acting again and supported himself with a variety of occupations, including directing and teaching.
He acted professionally in the south for many years before entering the MFA Program at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (University of Alabama). After graduating, he once again moved to New York as a struggling actor and found a break in Moises Kaufman's Off-Broadway production of Gross Indecency.
On Broadway, Emerson appeared in Hedda Gabler and The Iceman Cometh.
His television credits include guest-starring roles on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Without a Trace, The X-Files and The Inside, among many others.
For his performance as William Hinks on The Practice, he was awarded the 2001 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Dramatic Series. In 2007, he was nominated for an Emmy for his role on Lost.
On the big screen he appeared in such films as Saw, The Legend of Zorro, Playing by Heart, The Imposters, Jumping Off Bridges and Straight-Jacket.
Emerson is keen on Shakespeare and the classical theatre, drawing and ghost stories. He supports off-off-Broadway theatre and theatre-community charities (BC/EFA and GMHC), as well as publicly-supported radio stations.
He has been married to actress Carrie Preston since September 1998.