Elias Koteas

Elias Koteas Headshot

Actor

Birth Date: March 11, 1961

Age: 63 years old

Birth Place: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

A handsome Canadian supporting player of Greek parentage, Elias Koteas began his career on stage appearing in NYC productions of "Holy Ghosts," "The Changing Room," "Life Class" and "The Lady's Not for Burning" at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and "Terry Neal's Future" and "Rainbow Dancing" at the Actors Studio. Producer Fred Roos spotted the intense young actor at the latter and quickly cast him in the Disney holiday film "One Magic Christmas" (1985). Since then, Koteas has become a recurring face on screen, while still remaining loyal to his theater roots (i.e., performing in the 1988 Yale Repertory Company's dramatic adaptation of "Kiss of the Spider Woman").

Koteas' acting teacher Peter Masterson believed in his pupil, directing him in "Full Moon in Blue Water," in which he was convincing as an emotionally disturbed handyman, and the bomb "Blood Red" (both 1988). For Roos and Francis Ford Coppola, he appeared in "Gardens of Stone" (1987) and "Tucker: A Man and His Dream" (1988), in the latter as an earnest young car designer. His dark Mediterranean good looks helped secure the role of young Ari in the ABC miniseries "The Richest Man in the World: The Aristotle Onassis Story" (1988), and Koteas has performed in two of fellow Canadian Atom Egoyan's films, "The Adjuster" (1992), as the amoral title character, and "Exotica" (1994), as a disc jockey in a strip club romancing one of the dancers. Koteas portrayed Casey Jones, man among terrapins, in the 1990 surprise blockbuster "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and returned for the aptly named third installment "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III" (1993) prior to the release of David Cronenberg's controversial "Crash" (1996). Koteas' unique and off-beat persona readily lent itself to the pivotal role of Vaughn, whose unhealthy fascination with post-crash wounds had him presiding over a loosely knit group of auto accident fetishists recreating notorious crack-ups. He also acted in two Danny De Vito-produced vehicles, the sci-fi "Gattaca" (1997, Andrew Niccol's directing debut), seen briefly in the opening sequences as the father of Ethan Hawke's character, and "Living Out Loud" (1998), an adaptation from the Chekhov canon, in which he appeared in a particularly vivid scene as a stranger who kisses Holly Hunter. Terrence Malick offered Koteas one of his finest screen opportunities to date as the conscience-afflicted captain of "The Thin Red Line" (also 1998), adapted by Malick from the Guadalcanal novel by James Jones. Playing a thoughtful lawyer and decent officer of Charlie Company whose desire to protect his men puts him at odds with the superior (Nick Nolte) who sees soldiers simply as cannon fodder on the road to personal glory, Koteas provided one of the few well-rounded characters in the director's much-anticipated return to filmmaking. He also turned up earlier that year as a demonic serial killer in "Fallen" and shared the screen with Ian McKellen as a mysterious bum in Bryan Singer's "Apt Pupil," based on the Stephen King novella. Koteas followed by supporting Winona Ryder and Ben Chaplin in cinematographer Janusz Kaminski's thriller "Lost Souls" (2000).

In 2002, Koteas was cast in the dram-edy feature "Simone," which co-starred Al Pacino and Catherine Keener, and then went on to portray the character Ali in the drama feature "Ararat."

Credits

The Baker

Actor
Vic
Movie
2022

Chicago JusticeStream

Guest Star
Detective Alvin Olinsky
Series
2017
73%

My Days of Mercy

Actor
Simon
Movie
2017

Chicago MedStream

Guest Star
Alvin Olinsky
Series
2015

Chicago P.D.Stream

Actor
Detective Alvin Olinsky
Series
2014

Chicago P.D.: Extras

Actor
Det. Alvin Olinsky:
Show
2013

The Last Days on Mars

Actor
Charles Brunel
Movie
2013

Devil's Knot

Actor
Jerry Driver
Movie
2013

Jake Squared

Actor
Jake Klein
Movie
2013

Jake Squared

Producer
Movie
2013

Chicago FireStream

Guest Star
Alvin Olinsky
Series
2012

UnforgettableStream

Guest Star
Sam Rhodes
Series
2011

Combat Hospital

Actor
Col. Xavier Marks
Show
2011

The KillingStream

Actor
James Skinner
Series
2011
68%

Dream House

Actor
Boyce
Movie
2011

A Very Harold & Kumar ChristmasStream

Actor
Sergei Katsov
Movie
2011
68%

Die

Actor
Mark Murdock
Movie
2011

Winnie

Actor
Movie
2011

Let Me InStream

Actor
Policeman
Movie
2010
88%

Shutter IslandStream

Actor
Laeddis
Movie
2010
69%

The Killer Inside Me

Actor
Joe Rothman
Movie
2010

3 Backyards

Actor
John
Movie
2010

My Own Love Song

Actor
Dean
Movie
2010

The Haunting in ConnecticutStream

Actor
Rev. Popescu
Movie
2009
17%

The Fourth Kind

Actor
Dr. Abel Campos
Movie
2009

Defendor

Actor
Chuck Dooney
Movie
2009

The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonStream

Actor
Monsieur Devereaux
Movie
2008
71%

Two Lovers

Actor
Ronald Blatt
Movie
2008

Dark Streets

Actor
Lieutenant
Movie
2008

I Come With the Rain

Actor
Hasford
Movie
2008

ZodiacStream

Actor
Jack Mulanax
Movie
2007
90%

ShooterStream

Actor
Jack Payne
Movie
2007
48%

Prisoner

Actor
Jailer
Movie
2007

The Girl in the Park

Actor
Raymond
Movie
2007

Skinwalkers

Actor
Jonas
Movie
2006

American DadStream

Guest Voice
Jim
Series
2005

The Greatest Game Ever PlayedStream

Actor
Arthur Ouimet
Movie
2005
63%

HouseStream

Guest Star
Jack Moriarty
Series
2004
90%

CSI: NYStream

Guest Star
Joe / Douglas Anderson
Series
2004

Traffic

Actor
Show
2004

Collateral Damage

Actor
Agent Brandt
Movie
2002

Ararat

Actor
Ali
Movie
2002

Shot in the Heart

Actor
Gary Gilmore
Movie
2001

Novocaine

Actor
Harlan Sangster
Movie
2001

Kwiaty Harrisona

Actor
Yeager Pollack
Movie
2000

Lost Souls

Actor
John Townsend
Movie
2000

Harrison's Flowers

Actor
Yeager
Movie
2000

Dancing at the Blue Iguana

Actor
Sully
Movie
2000

The SopranosStream

Guest Star
Dominic Palladino
Series
1999
92%

Fallen

Actor
Edgar Reese
Movie
1998

Apt Pupil

Actor
Archie
Movie
1998

Living Out LoudStream

Actor
The Kisser
Movie
1998
60%

The Thin Red LineStream

Actor
Capt. Staros
Movie
1998
80%

Divorce: A Contemporary Western

Actor
Movie
1998

GattacaStream

Actor
Antonio Freeman
Movie
1997
82%

Crash

Actor
Vaughan
Movie
1996
63%

Hit Me

Actor
Sonny Rose
Movie
1996

El Poder de Ley

Actor
Movie
1995

Power of Attorney

Actor
Paul Dellacroce
Movie
1995

Sugartime

Actor
Butch Blasi
Movie
1995

God's Army

Actor
Thomas Dagget
Movie
1995

ExoticaStream

Actor
Eric
Movie
1994
95%

Camilla

Actor
Vincent Lopez
Movie
1994

Chain of Desire

Actor
Jesus
Movie
1993

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III

Actor
Casey Jones/Whit
Movie
1993

Cyborg 2

Actor
Colson "Colt" Ricks
Movie
1993

The Adjuster

Actor
Noah
Movie
1991

Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesStream

Actor
Casey Jones
Movie
1990
42%

Desperate HoursStream

Actor
Wally Bosworth
Movie
1990
29%

Almost an Angel

Actor
Steve Garner
Movie
1990

Look Who's Talking Too

Actor
Stuart
Movie
1990

Malarek

Actor
Victor Malarek
Movie
1989

Friends, Lovers and Lunatics

Actor
Davey
Movie
1989

Blood Red

Actor
Silvio
Movie
1989

Tucker: The Man and His DreamStream

Actor
Alex Tremulis
Movie
1988
81%

Full Moon in Blue Water

Actor
Jimmy
Movie
1988

Some Kind of WonderfulStream

Actor
Duncan
Movie
1987
76%

One Magic Christmas

Actor
Eddie
Movie
1985

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