Bio
Chris Messina is an American actor best known to television audiences for his role as Chris Sanchez in the final two seasons of the legal drama thriller series Damages, from 2011-2012.
He also starred as Danny Castellano, a hothead and guys' guy who has a habit of stealing Mindy's patients, in the television comedy series The Mindy Project, from 2012-2013.
Messina can be seen in Lee Kirk's directorial debut, The Giant Mechanical Man. He also co-wrote and starred in Fairhaven. Both films premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival to rave reviews.
His features include the comedy Celeste and Jesse Forever, opposite Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg; the romantic comedy Ruby Sparks, opposite Paul Dano and Deborah Ann Woll; and the thriller Argo, opposite director/star Ben Affleck, and Bryan Cranston and John Goodman.
On the small screen, he appeared on cable's The Newsroom, opposite Jeff Daniels; and Damages, opposite Glenn Close and Rose Byrne. Messina previously worked with Alan Ball in a guest-starring arc on the critically acclaimed series Six Feet Under.
Messina previously starred opposite Amy Adams and Academy Award winner Meryl Streep in Nora Ephron's Julie & Julia. The film won several awards including the 2010 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.
The native New Yorker also appeared in Sam Mendes' Away We Go, and was directed by John Krasinski in the independent feature Brief Interviews With Hideous Men.
Messina's other films include Greenberg, Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Ira and Abby, Made of Honor, Humboldt County, J.J. Abrams' telefilm Anatomy of Hope, Alan Ball's critically acclaimed Towelhead, M. Night Shyamalan's Devil, Dana Adam Shapiro's Monogamy and Marilyn Agrelo's An Invisible Sign.
Among his many stage appearances are ones in Caryl Churchill's Far Away, opposite Frances McDormand; Oscar Wilde's Salome, opposite Al Pacino and Marisa Tomei; Adam Rapp's Faster; This Thing of Darkness, for Craig Lucas; Melanie Marnich's Blur; Jessica Goldberg's Good Thing; and Frank Pugliese's Late Night, Early Morning, which premiered at the 2004 Tribeca Theatre Festival and won the Jury Award for Best Theater at the 2005 Aspen Comedy Festival.
Born and raised in New York, NY, Messina currently resides in Los Angeles.