Trivia

Did not start acting professionally until he was 32 years old.

Worked as a freelance illustrator for publications like The Boston Globe and The New York Times.

Michael Emerson met his now-wife, Carrie Preston, during the mid-1990s, when they both appeared in a production of "Hamlet" at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Preston played "Ophelia" and Emerson played "Guildenstern" in the production.

Worked as a Drama teacher before acting and briefly considered staying with it.

Did not have his first starring role in a play until he was 43 years old.

In 1995, he graduated from the prestigious Professional Actor Training M. F. A. program run jointly by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and The University of Alabama Department of Theater and Dance. He turned 40 while in the program, which made him about 15 years older than the typical theater graduate student.

On Lost (2004), he played Ben Linus, the son of Roger Linus, played by Jon Gries, who is actually 3 years the junior of Emerson. The age difference is explicable because Roger is first seen in flashbacks to Ben's birth and childhood. Ben's mother was played by Carrie Preston, who in addition to being (like Gries) somewhat younger than Emerson, is also his real-life wife.

Close friends with Terry O'Quinn.

Worked as a freelance illustrator and in retail before his acting career started.

He and the cast were awarded the 1998 Back Stage Garland Award for Ensemble for "Gross Indecency' The Trials of Oscar Wilde at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Graduate of Drake University, where he earned a degree in Theater Arts.

Is a stage actor who makes occasional films.

He was awarded the 1998 Back Stage Garland Award for Performance for "Gross Indecency' The Trials of Oscar Wilde at the Mark Taper Forum Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Emerson graduated from South Tama County High School in Tama, Iowa.

His father was of German, Irish, and English descent. His mother's ancestry is half Norwegian and half Czech.

Born on exactly the same date as Corbin Bernsen (of *L.A. Law* fame), and as Doug Bradley ("Pinhead" in the *Hellraiser* movies).