Michael Shannon grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and began his professional stage career in Chicago. His first acting role was in Winterset at the Illinois Theatre Center. Over the next several years, he continued working on the stage with such companies as Steppenwolf, The Next Lab and the Red Orchid Theatre. He subsequently relocated to London for a year, and performed on stage in London's West End in such productions as Woyzeck, Killer Joe and Bug.

While in Chicago, Shannon also kept busy in front of movie and television cameras, most notably in the big screen project Chicago Cab, based on the long-running stage play, Hellcab. Kangaroo Jack marks the third Bruckheimer production in which Shannon has appeared. He will soon be seen in the upcoming Bad Boys II, directed by Michael Bay and starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and in Grand Theft Parsons, with Johnny Knoxville and Christina Applegate.

Shannon appeared in Pearl Harbor, directed by Michael Bay. His film credits also include Curtis Hanson's 8 Mile; Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky, with Tom Cruise; Carl Franklin's High Crimes, with Morgan Freeman; John Waters' Cecil B. DeMented, and in Joel Schumacher's war drama Tigerland.