Mutant X Cast and Crew: John Shea (Adam Kane)

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John Shea played the leader of Mutant X, Adam Kane. Click here to see what he's been up to since Mutant X.

Bio from Mutant X official website, John Shea Fans, The Superman Supersite and interviews: John Victor Shea III was born April 14, 1949 in a skiers' hospital in North Conway, New Hampshire to painter Elizabeth Mary (née Fuller) Shea and Fryeburg Academy assistant superintendent Dr. John Victor Shea Jr. Growing up in Springfield Massachusetts as the eldest of his one brother (Lawrence J.) and three sisters (Cate, Lisa, and Marysue "Mikki"), John was an altar boy who spoke Latin, painted, wrote poetry, and played the piano but also participated in varsity football, track, and baseball. The Cathedral High School student considered becoming either a writer or a priest until he discovered the wild side of life his 1965 senior year during a summer in Nantucket. Awarded debate/football scholarships to attend Maine's Bates College, freshman John was introduced to theater by a friend on the football team; playing Benedick in the school's Little Theater production of Much Ado About Nothing convinced him to switch his major from political science to theater in his sophomore year. Working as a dishwasher at Cy’s Green Coffee Pot and a plumber’s assistant, the Bates sophomore got his first Theatre Workshop of Nantucket role as "Second Furniture Removal Man" from Joseph "Mac" Dixon after wandering into a 1968 Juno and the Paycock rehearsal at the Straight Wharf Theatre. Ahough a knee injury ended his football career, John gained national recognition on the Bates debate team for a 1970 victory over Harvard. After receiving his theater BA in 1970, John began at the Yale University School of Drama as an MFA student, but disliked it enough to change to the directing department, a Yale Film School special student. June 19th, 1971, John married fine arts photographer Laura Wilson Pettibone, whom he had met the summer of his junior year at Bates while apprenticed at the Berkshire Playhouse in Stockbridge. On graduating in 1973, he was assistant director at Robert Kalfin's Chelsea Theatre and Joseph Papp's Public Theatre before launching his on-stage career by winning the 1975 Theater World Award for his Broadway debut in Yentl. He was also nominated for a 1977 Best Principal Actor Joseph Jefferson Award for Long Day's Journey Into Night. John began his long involvement with television in 1978's The Nativity, made his feature-film debut in 1980's Hussy (his first film role, as a grad student lover in Jill Clayburgh's 1980 It's My Turn, was cut from the final version), and was nominated for an Outstanding Featured Actor 1981 Drama Desk Award for American Days. He earned a 1984 Montreal Film Festival's Best Actor citation for Windy City, followed by a 1987 Chinese Golden Panda best actor award for Impossible Spy and a 1988 Emmy for Baby M. John's son Jake (now a business student at the University of Miami) was born in 1986, while John was co-writing and directing the independent drama Southie, which won 1998 Seattle International Film Festival's Best Independent Film Jury Award. John's first trip to L.A. included his first guest-starring role in the sci-fi genre, Man from Atlantis. The 1992 death of his younger brother in India inspired him to work harder, developing the Junkie Priest screenplay about the life of Jesuit Dan Egan. He continued to commute back and forth while playing the evil Lex Luthor in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, until he requested that his role in the show be diminished to make things easier for his family. John and Laura divorced in 2000, and John married artist Melissa MacCleod (daughter of author Douglas MacLeod) in August 2001, shortly after winning the 2001 John F. Kennedy Award for outstanding cultural contribution by a person of Irish-American descent. Living in New York with his new wife and their two children, a daughter Miranda (b. 2000) and a soon-to-be son Caiden (b. 2004), John was nominated for a 2002 Gemini Award for his role as Adam Kane in the Mutant X episode "Presumed Guilty." John gained his initial martial arts skills during sparring sessions with a Massachusetts friend who had a black belt in karate. He continues to practice yoga and tai chi on a regular basis. John lives in New York City, where he has been a regular reader at Bloomsday on Broadway since 1982, Symphony Space's Selected Shorts since 1994, and Food for Thought since 2000. He has also narrated quite a few audiobooks, winning three Audiofile Earphones Awards and an Audie nomination for his interpretations. When he’s not working, John spends time with his family and their abyssinian cat named Pharaoh at his home on Nantucket, where he has been artistic director of Theatre Workshop of Nantucket and a founding member of both John Wulp's Nantucket Stage Company and the annual Nantucket Film Festival.

Trivia
* John once auditioned for the role of Indiana Jones. Martin Scorsese also turned him down for Goodfellas due to his non-Italian background, encouraging him to tell his own Irish stories instead. This advice culminated in Southie.
* 2 funny anecdotes about John Shea:
Playboy's interview with actor John Candy
PLAYBOY: When was the last time you were embarrassed?
John Candy: Eugene and I were flying from L.A. to New York on the Splash junket and there was an actor who came on board whom we knew, and I thought it was Michael Ontkean, who was in Slap Shot. Toward the end of the flight, I went over and said, "Jeez, I just laughed at Slap Shot. I thought you were great in it." He said, "That was Michael Ontkean. I was in Missing. I'm John Shea." Oh. And Eugene's laughing. I could die. I was fumbling all over the place. And then I was in line with him all the way down to the baggage claim.

E! Online's Emmys Quiz
Which sitcom star agreed to accept awards for all the winners who couldn't make it to the 1988 ceremonies? A. Tony Danza B. John Ritter C. Alan Alda D. Paul Lynde
A. Danza, star of the forthcoming NBC sitcom The Tony Danza Show--and never an Emmy winner himself--regretted his decision when a large number of no-shows forced him to go to the podium again and again. When John Shea won for the TV movie Baby M, Danza apologized for not having a speech, saying, "I didn't prepare anything, because I didn't think he was gonna win."

Contact You can send fanmail to John's talent agent at Don Buchwald & Associates, 6500 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2200, Los Angeles, CA 90048

Links: Facebook page | Film Magic | House of Luthor | IBDb | IMDb | IOBDb | John Shea Fans | John Shea Photo Gallery | Joy of Lex | Krypton Site | Lois & Clark Archive | Lois and Clark Message Board | Superior Pics | Superman: Lois und Clark | Theatre Workshop of Nantucket | Wireimages

Acting/Directing Credits
The Guardian Angel (2019) .... Colonel William Donovan
Proven Innocent TV Episode "The Struggle for Stonewall" (2019) .... Sam Marshall
Boyfriend's Deceipt (2018) .... Mr. Stein
Dr. Sugar Short (2018) .... Dr. Jack Saccharine
Deception TV Episode "Escapology" (2018) .... Abe Dietrich
Grey Lady (2017) .... Chief Maguire
Love at First Glance TV Movie (2017) .... Marshall Fielding
Bones TV Episode "The Stiff in the Cliff" (2016) .... Dr. Marcus Eldridge
Anatomy of the Tide (2015) .... Davis Harriman
Agent X (2014) .... President Eckhart
Madam Secretary TV Episode "Passage" (2014) .... Ted Graham
Moby Dick Rehearsed Whaling Museum (2011-14) .... Captain Ahab
Low Grounds: The Portal (2013) .... Richard
Northern Borders (2013) .... Doc Harrison
The Good Wife 2 TV Episodes (2012-13) ... Jeffrey Agos
- "Invitation to an Inquest"; "Anatomy of a Joke"
Time Stands Still Theatre Workshop of Nantucket (2012) .... James
March Sisters at Christmas (2012) .... Mr. Lawrence
Common Law TV Episode "Pilot" (2012) .... Judge Franklin Whitaker
The Gossip Girl 6 TV Episodes (2007-12)
- "Blair Waldorf Must Pie!"; "Roman Holiday"; "The Magnificent Archibalds"; "You've Got Yale"; "Carnal Knowledge"; "G.G."
Lockdown/Campus Killer/Deadly Obsession (2012) .... Dr. Egan
Selected Shorts Symphony Space (1994-2012) .... Narrator
The Director Theatre Workshop of Nantucket (2011) .... Peter
The Trouble with the Truth (2011) .... Robert
Bloomsday on Broadway Symphony Space (1982-2011) .... Narrator
The Sorrows of Stephen Theatre Workshop of Nantucket (2010) .... Stephen
The Italian Key (2010) .... Older Alexander
51 (2010) .... San Whitaker
Julius Caesar (2010) .... Julius Caesar
An Invisible Sign of My Own (2010) .... Dad
Food for Thought (2000-10) .... Narrator
The Day Lehman Died WNYC Public Radio (2009)
Duet: 2 One-Act Plays Theatre Workshop of Nantucket (2009)
The Wyatts Save the World Screenplay (2009) ..... Writer
Achchamundu Achchamundu! (2009).... Theodore Robertson
Eleventh Hour TV Episode "Olfactus" (2009) .... Kristopher Merced
Some Like It Hot Nantucket Film Festival (2008) .... Osgood Fielding III
Framed (2008) .... David Murray
Law & Order: Criminal Intent 2 TV Episodes - "Legacy" (2008) .... Mr. Walker
- "The Good Child" (2005) .... Trevor Lipton
Law & Order 2 TV Episodes - "Betrayal" (2008) .... Dr. Isaac Waxman
- "Shrunk" (2003) .... John David Myers
Way Out Here Northport Public Library (2007) .... Doug
The Secret of Mme. Bonnard's Bath Theater Row (2007) .... Pierre Bonnard
A Broken Sole (2007) .... Bob
The Insurgents (2006) .... Robert
Pitch (2006) .... White Man
My First Time TV Episode "Action Heroes" (2006) .... Himself
The Bones of History (2005) .... Narrator
Medium TV Episode "Still Life" (2005) .... David Morrow
Godless (2005) .... Sam
Max Cat (2004) .... Max Cat
Dorian Blues (2004) .... Mr. Trolley
Mutant X 50 TV Episodes .... Adam Kane (2001-2002, 2004)
A Confederacy of Dunces Nantucket Film Festival (2003) .... Gonzales
Last Call (2002) .... Himself
Heartbreak Hospital (2002) .... Milo Derringer/Dr. Jonathan
17th Annual Gemini Awards (2002) .... Himself
The Empath (2002) .... Dr. Alfred Walker
That's Life TV Episode "Miracle at the Cucina" (2001) .... Ashley Wilkinson
Down the Garden Paths Minetta Lane Theater (2000) .... Arthur Garden
The Director Arclight Theater (2000) .... Peter
Ancestral Voices Lincoln Center Theatre (1999)
Sex and the City TV Episode "Evolution" (1999) .... Dominic
Lost & Found (1999/I) .... (Uncredited)
Catalina Trust (1999) .... Deet Offerman
Bombshell (1999)
Fatherhood USA (1998) .... Narrator
A Will of Their Own TV Episode #1.1 (1998) .... Jonathan Abbott
The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998) .... Hartley
Getting Personal (1998) .... Mr. DeMarco
Southie (1998) .... Peter Binda (Director)
Nowhere to Go (1998) .... George
How I Learned to Drive (1997) .... Uncle Peck
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman 25 TV Episodes (1993-1997) .... Lex Luthor
Robert Ludlum's The Apocalypse Watch TV Movie (1997) .... Harry Latham/Lassiter
A Weekend in the Country TV Movie (1996) .... Michael Kaye
Forgotten Sins TV Movie (1996) .... Sheriff Matthew Bradshaw
Almost Perfect TV Episode "The Ex-Files" (1995) .... Paul Sterling
See Jane Run TV Movie (1995) .... Dr. Michael Ravenson
Leslie's Folly TV Movie (1994) .... Daniel
Justice in a Small Town TV Movie (1994) .... Tommy Marchant
Backstreet Justice (1994) .... Nick Donovan
Tales from the Crypt TV Episode "As Ye Sow" (1993) .... Father John Sejac
Ladykiller TV Movie (1992) .... Jack Packard
Lincoln TV Movie (1992) .... John Barnes (voice)
Honey I Blew Up the Kid (1992) .... Dr. Charles Hendrickson
Notorious TV Movie (1992) .... Devlin
Freejack (1992) .... Morgan
WIOU 14 TV Episodes (1990) .... Hank Zaret
Small Sacrifices TV Movie (1989) .... Frank Joziak
Do You Know the Muffin Man? TV Movie (1989) .... Roger Dollison
Magic Moments TV Movie (1989) .... Troy Gardner
Rosmersholm La Mama's Annex Theatre (1988) .... Rosmer
Stealing Home (1988) .... Sam Wyatt
Baby M TV Movie (1988) .... Bill Stern
A New Life (1988) .... Doc
Gandahar (1988) .... Sylvain (voice)
The Impossible Spy TV Movie (1987) .... Eli Cohen
Ha-Holmim (1987) .... Marcus
The Hitchhiker TV Episode "Minuteman" (1987) .... Jeremy
Screen Two TV Episode "Coast to Coast" (1987) .... John Carloff
The Normal Heart Albery Theatre (1986) .... Ned Weeks
A Case of Deadly Force TV Movie (1986) .... Michael O'Donnell
Angel River (1986) .... Dee
Honeymoon (a.k.a. Lune de Miel) (1985) .... Zachary 'Zack' Freestamp
Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV Episode "The Human Interest Story" (1985) .... Brian Whitman
Hitler's S.S.: Portrait in Evil TV Movie (1985) .... Karl Hoffmann
Gilt and Almond Oil (1985) .... Narrator
Daniela Frank Williamstown Theatre Festival .... David Frank
End of the World Music Box Theater (1984) .... Michael Trent
In Our Hands (1984) .... Himself
Windy City (1984) .... Danny
The Dining Room Playwrights Horizons, TV Movie (1984) .... Client/Howard/Psychiatrist/Ted/Paul/Ben/Chris/Jim/Dick
Kennedy TV Miniseries (1983) .... Robert F. Kennedy
The Animal Kingdom Berkshire Theater Festival (1982) .... Tom Collier
Missing (1982) .... Charles 'Charlie' Horman
CBS Library TV episode "Robbers, Rooftops and Witches" (1982) .... Hondo Bill
American Days Manhattan Theatre Club (1981) .... Don Sherman
Family Reunion TV Movie (1981) .... James Cookman
Hussy (1980) .... Emory Cole
It's My Turn (1980) .... Grad student (deleted footage)
The Sorrows of Stephen Joseph Papp Public Theatre (1979) .... Stephen Hurt
The Last Convertible TV Miniseries (1979) .... Terry Garrigan
Master and Margarita Joseph Papp Public Theatre (1978) .... Christ
Safe House Manhattan Theatre Club (1978)
Man Is Man Yale Repertory Theater (1977-78) .... Uriah Shelley
The Nativity TV Movie (1978) .... Joseph
The Rock Rainbow TV movie (1978) .... Speed
The Man from Atlantis TV Episode "The Naked Montague" (1977) .... Romeo
Barnaby Jones TV Episode "Gang War" (1977) .... Max Tate (as John B. Shea)
Eight Is Enough TV Episode "Triangles" (1977) .... Jonathan Moracco
Long Day's Journey into Night Goodman Theatre (1977) .... Edmond Tyrone
Romeo and Juliet The Circle in the Square Theatre (1977) .... Paris (Romeo understudy)
Yentl Chelsea Theatre, Eugene O'Neill Theatre (1974-1975) .... Avigdor
Gorky American Place Theatre workshop (1974) .... Maxim Gorky
Battering Ram Manhattan Theatre Club (1974) .... Virgil Timmons
Dracula Cyrus Peirce School (1973) .... Butterworth
Lear Yale Repertory Theater (1973) .... Private John
The Bourgeois Gentleman Yale Repertory Theater (1972) .... Cleonte
Ivona Princess of Burgundia (1971-72) .... Prince
The White Devil Yale School of Drama (1971-72) .... Lodovico
The Trial Yale School of Drama (1970-71) .... Joseph K
Juno and the Paycock Straight Wharf Theatre (1968) .... Furniture removal man
Much Ado About Nothing Little Theater (1967) .... Benedick


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