Michael Shapiro (actor)

Shapiro was born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1965, and later moved to Seattle, where he worked for many years in the 1980s and '90s. In 1987, Shapiro helped launch the Annex Theatre in Seattle and performed in many of their productions.^[1] In the 1990s, he also did some acting work for Microsoft, including as the voice of McZee in 3D Movie Maker in 1995, and as the host of the MSN Preview in 1996.^[5] Shapiro moved to Brooklyn, New York in 2000.^[1]

Shapiro is most famous for voicing the G-Man and Barney Calhoun in all of the characters' appearances in the Half-Life series. Other video games in which he is credited as "Mike Shapiro" are Blood II: The Chosen, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Torin's Passage. Shapiro has also voiced many radio and TV commercials. Shapiro is a director of television shows and theater productions, with some of his shows being shown on Strike.TV. In 2007, Shapiro co-directed a TV pilot, Family Values, starring Rob Riggle; the pilot was screened at the New York Television Festival.^[6] Shapiro has also acted in recurring roles in television shows, including as Dr. Isaac Haimes in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in the 2024–2025 season.^[7]