Shameless US Cast Then And Now
By Aaron Love
11 months ago
William H. Macy (Frank Gallagher) Then
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Frank Gallagher was the main character (ish) in the Shameless series, and the father to the rest of the Gallaghers you'll see in this list. Throughout the show we find he's an addict and also somewhat careless and narcisstic. He was often seen spending a lot of the money that the family had (which wasn't alot).William H. Macy (Frank Gallagher) Now
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Macy began his career working in and around Broadway during the early 80's and even appeared in the first ever episode of Law & Order. His big break came in a leading role in Fargo, and since then he has appeared in ER, The Conners and he also made 5 appearances in the popular Hulu series The Dropout.Emmy Rossum (Fiona Gallagher) Then
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Thanks to her father's erratic behaviour, Fiona had to take on much of the child support. This often caused her a number of issues as she wanted to do things for herself but could be caught between that and looking after herself. Ultimately, she's pretty much the glue that manages to keep the Gallagher's together.Emmy Rossum (Fiona Gallagher) Now
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Rossum's breakthrough in the industry came at just 13 years old as she appeared in the film Songcatcher, and then 3 years later she worked alongside Sean Penn in Mystic River. Since 2019 she has worked both on screen and off screen alongside her husband, Sam Esmail, on the Peacock show Angelyne.Jeremy Allen White (Phillip Gallagher) Then
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Lip was by far the most academic of the Gallagher children, and used his smarts to make money on occasion, like taking the sats for other students. However, he wasn't known for having the best judgement having a juvenile prison record, smoking a lot of weed and having too much unprotected sex. He's also known to get in to unstable relationships.Jeremy Allen White (Phillip Gallagher) Now
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Shameless was really White's breakout role within the industry, and he really didn't take much work during his run as Lip. One role he did take was as Shrier in one season of Homecoming. However, in 2022 his role as Carmen in FX's The Bear has earned him critical acclaim with Critics' Choice and Golden Globe awards going his way.Cameron Monaghan (Ian Gallagher) Then
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Ian is always seen to be quite erratic in his behaviour, and this might be down to him being Bipolar but not taking his medication. To list all of his crazy moments would be a stretch but he did try to steal an army helicopter! He became a cult religious character towards the end of the show and ended up in jail; he also married Mickey Milkovich who was originally introduced as a local thug.Cameron Monaghan (Ian Gallagher) Now
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Emma Kenney (Debbie Gallagher) Then
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Although Debbie is originally seen to be very mature and aware of what's going on in her family at a young age, she struggles to act as children her own age do. And as she grows older it seems like her father's erratic behaviour begins rubbing off on, including getting pregnant after lying about being on the pill.Emma Kenney (Debbie Gallagher) Now
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Just like Allen White, Kenney hasn't really appeared on our screens that often during or since Shameless. She had appeared in some smaller appearances including a guest role in Boardwalk Empire. However since 2018 she has taken a main role in the final season of Roseanne and its subsequent spinoff The Conners as Harris.Ethan Cutkosky (Carl Gallagher) Then
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Although Carl seems like a pretty normal child we see his life turn upside down as his dysfunctional family takes its effects on him. He turns to selling drugs, drinking and finding an attraction to weapons. He ends up killing someone alongside his friend Nick which turns him; realising he needs to change his ways he joins the military.Ethan Cutkosky (Carl Gallagher) Now
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Cutkosky made his first appearance on our screens in 2007's Fred Claus opposite Vince Vaughn and then didn't really appear again until Shameless. And since then, he still hasn't widened his scope much, only appearing in some guest roles on Law & Order, Power and one episode alongside Shameless cast-mate Emma Kenney in The ConnersShanola Hampton (Veronica Fisher) Then
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Veronica is one of the closest friends and neighbours of the Gallagher family; and is married to Kevin Ball. One of the weirdest storylines come when she gets her mum to have sex with Kevin in order for them to conceive a child because she can't herself, or so she thought, later having twins.Shanola Hampton (Veronica Fisher) Now
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Shanola's career began in 2001 with guest appearances in Reba and Electra Woman, and she went on to have more guest roles in shows like Criminal Minds and Scrubs during the 2000's. She was also the model for a character in cult classic video game Left 4 Dead 2! She hasn't pushed past her shameless fame yet though.Christian Isaiah (Liam Gallagher) Then
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Liam is probably the closest of the Gallagher's to Frank, thanks to Frank (kind of) cleaning up his act as Liam grew up. He nearly dies in season four after taking drugs left around by Fiona and he actually kills Terry Milkovich accidentally shooting him. He manages to avoid most of the Gallagher's issues though.Christian Isaiah (Liam Gallagher) Now
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Prior to Shameless, Christian had began appearing as a child in a number of shows like Married and Young Lincoln. He secured a role in the film 21 Bridges as a flashback to Andre and since Shameless came to its end in 2021 he has only appeared once in All American: Homecoming.Steve Howey (Kevin Ball) Then
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Kevin is the aforementioned husband to Veronica and he also owns the bar 'The Alibi Room' that Frank frequently visits. He's another character that accidentally killed someone, although he was generally seen to have a good heart. Despite some hatred towards Frank, it's seen that the two mostly respect one another.Steve Howey (Kevin Ball) Now
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Howey's initial starring role came in 2001 in the sitcom Reba where he played Van Montgomery for 6 years and he also featured in the 2009 movie Bride Wars. Besides this you might recognise him for guest/recurring roles in shows like New Girl, Sons of Anarchy and SEAL team. He began appearing regularly in True Lies as of earlier this year.Joan Cusack (Sheila Jackson) Then
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Sheila is the main love interest to Frank in the opening 5 seasons before her exit; she is seen to be scared of the outside in the opening season, suffering from agoraphobia. She later feigns being Frank's ex-wife, Monica, in order to get the kids back in to control of the Gallagher's from the CPS. She follows her dreams at the end of season 5.Joan Cusack (Sheila Jackson) Now
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That surname means exactly what you think, as she is related to John! She has had an illustrious career with roles in Addams Family Values, School of Rock, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and she also voiced Jessie in the Toy Story films. Following her exit from Shameless she has featured in Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events and Let It Snow.Justin Chatwin (Jimmy Lishman) Then
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Jimmy develops an instant connection with Fiona at the start of season one, although he's going by the name Steve. Something she has to find out herself. He gets himself in to trouble later in the show after marrying a Brazilian drug lords daughter and not treating her right and having to settle to his (sometimes dark) plans.Justin Chatwin (Jimmy Lishman) Now
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Chatwin's breakout role came in 2005's War of the Worlds and then appeared in a recurring role for Showtime's Weeds. He has also appeared in roles in: Orphan Black, Doctor Who and The Doomsday Project. He was recently cast as the father of Ronald Reagan, Jack, in the upcoming movie Biopic of the same character.Michael Patrick McGill (Tommy) Then
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Tommy is typically only seen to be in The Alibi Room and is usually doing his best to get under the skin of Frank. He regularly makes jokes regarding Frank's sexulity, much like a child might. Despite this, he always seems to be seen partaking in activities that are being done in order to help Frank.Michael Patrick McGill (Tommy) Now
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Even including his role in Shameless, much of McGill's work has come in bit part or guest roles. Something he's done since his career began in 2001. Some roles include appearances in: Malcom in the Middle, ER, Passions, Boston Legal, The Office, Bones and Dexter. He also appeared in Grey's Anatomy and it's spinoff Station 19.Jim Hoffmaster (Kermit) Then
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Kermit hates being referred to the his name sharer, Kermit the Frog and is often seen listening to Frank's rants at The Alibi Room. He also officiates the wedding of Frank and Sheila during season four. Him and Tommy have a really odd homosexual experience after eating weed brownies causing their friendship to become awkward.Jim Hoffmaster (Kermit) Now
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Just like McGill, most of Hoffmaster's roles have come in singular episode guest roles in a number of shows you might have seen during the years. Some of these shows include: House, Gilmore Girls, Mad Men, Parks and Rec and True Blood. He most recently appeared in one episode of American Gigolo.Noel Fisher (Mickey Milkovich) Then
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Mickey is the older brother to Mandy Malkovich and is regularly seen to be a very violent and aggressive thug from around the community. He first appears, terrorising Ian after Mandy accused him of assaulting her. Ironically, they later fall in love and get married as the series go on.Noel Fisher (Mickey Malkovich) Now
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The first role Fisher portrayed that began to gain him some attention was as Cael in FX's The Riches. Other popular shows Fisher has appeared in include: The Conners, The Red Line, Castle Rock and he also played Vladimir in The Twilight Saga. He most recently appeared in a recurring role for the show The Calling.Emma Greenwell (Mandy Malkovich) Then
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Mandy is introduced in season one to have an attraction to Ian, although after he rebuffs her she accuses him of assault. She later engages in a relationship with Lip which ends sourly. She (purposely) killed a man in defence and confesses to the police in order to avoid a conviction.Emma Greenwell (Mandy Milkovich) Now
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Greenwell hasn't actually appeared on our screens much since Shameless, in fact, this was her first professional acting role! She had a main role in the The Path as Mary Cox and then the title role in The Rook for it's one series run in 2019. She hasn't appeared on our screens since!Surprising facts about Shameless US you didn't know: it was originally going to be set in a trailer park
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It would have been a very obvious choice to have the show set in a trailer park in the south of the US, but the showrunner immediately vetoed that idea when it was suggested because he thought that sort of setting had been overdone and a bit of a cliche! He's not wrong. Instead he wanted to go with the Gallachers living in a house in a neighborhood.Emmy Rossum refused to take no for an answer
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Not only was Emmy Rossum never considered for the role, but she also wasn't even allowed to audition! The showrunners gave a very firm no before she even had chance to prove herself, because they thought her previous performances in things like Phantom of the Opera made her too "pretty" and too "clean"! Emmy didn't take no for an answer and sent them an audition tape anyway.You can actually visit the Gallagher house!
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The house where the Gallaghers live is not only a real building, but a real home with someone living there! The owners aren't averse to tourists, and they're happy for anyone to take photos (but they also appreciate donations!). The house is indeed located in a real life Chicago neighborhood, but apart from the house itself, there's nothing else 'touristy' about the area!Woody Harrelson was the first choice for the lead role
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As these things go, you often can't imagine any other actors playing the lead role in shows like this due to its success, but surprisingly William H. Macy wasn't the very first choice. That went to actor Woody Harrelson, who apparently turned it down because he was too much of a fan of the UK version and didn't think he'd be able to compete with the original actor's performance! Apparently Macy had no such reservations.Jimmy/Steve wasn't supposed to return
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One of the storylines of the first few seasons of the show was the relationship between Fiona and Jimmy/Steve/Jack, but his role was supposed to end at the third season. He went on to have guest appearances to return for in the fourth and fifth seasons, which was never originally planned! This is because people didn't think his 'wrap up' at the end of the third season was a satisfying conclusion!The issue with all the smoking
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Of all the bad habits shown on the show, we know that smoking is a huge one - but the issue was that the actors behind the characters definitely weren't smokers! In the first couple of seasons, Fiona and Ian smoked a whole lot more than they do later on in the show, and that's because their actors didn't smoke in real life and there were concerns they might not be smoking convincingly enough! So they decided their characters were going to smoke less.Liam was played by five different actors!
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When you have a show with a child character that's going to be included for many seasons, you're bound to have a lot of actors play the role for different ages - such was the case with Liam! Baby Liam was played by a set of twin actors, and then a different set of acting twins took over when he was a little older. By season eight, actor Christian Isaiah took over.Mickey was only supposed to show up for a few episodes
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One of the most memorable storylines from the show was that of the relationship between Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich. Because of the emotional impact of their journey, it's strange to think that Mickey wasn't actually supposed to be such a long-term character. Mickey was only supposed to appear in a couple of episodes, but his role was made bigger because of his chemistry with Ian's actor.The Veronica pregnancy storyline was because the actress got pregnant
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One thing TV shows have to contend with is actor's falling pregnant - either by killing off their character so they can go on maternity leave, or writing in a pregnancy for the character themselves! The latter is what happened with Veronica, but it was tricky seeing as they'd already done a storyline that Veronica wasn't able to conceive... it just ended up being a miracle pregnancy!There was a strict NO SCRIPTS ON SET policy!
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Most TV shows and movies have scripts on set and on hand so that actors can take a quick peek if they forget a line, or just to go over the details during filming. But with Shameless, the showrunner had a very strict no-script policy, so that no scripts were allowed on set at all. This meant the actors had to fully memorize the entire day's worth of lines to give a more natural performance.The actor who played Carl wanted to leave the show
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A lot of the characters on the show were written out naturally in line with the storylines and emotional impact, but for the actor who played Carl Gallagher, he wanted to be written out simply because he wanted out! He was only 12 years old when he started on the show, and when he reached high school age, he wanted a 'normal' non-acting life. The writers then had the character go to military school for the duration of the actor completing high school!Real life injuries were written into the show
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With so many actors on a show because of the huge amount of characters, real-life injuries are inevitable - and you're then faced with actors needing to be in casts or having visible difficulties! On Shameless, Kevin Ball had a broken leg because his actor had injured his Achilles tendon in real life. Carl also had a broken leg because his actor broke his leg dancing.Allison Janney actually filmed the pilot - then changed her mind
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Actress Allison Janney was the first choice to play Sheila on the show, and she got so far as accepting the role and even filming the pilot before she changed her mind! The role of Sheila was going to be extended and Janney couldn't commit because of filming another TV show, and the role was instead taken by Joan Cusack - and we can't imagine anyone else, to be honest!There were lots of pranks on set
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There's no doubt the biggest TV shows were a close-knit cast are the ones most likely to have a lot of pranks on set. The cast of Shameless were no different, and in particular Emmy Rossum and Justin Chatwin would constantly prank each other. This included Justin eating a lot of smelly tuna right before filming a makeout scene with Emmy... nice.They switched Mandy's actress in the second season
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You might have got a vibe that something was off with Mandy in the second season of the show compared to the first but couldn't put your finger on it. Or maybe you could tell right away it was a completely different actress! The actress who played Mandy in the first season was offered a role on Suburgatory instead so Emma Greenwell took over.Patsy's is based on a real place
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There is actually a real 'Patsy's' based in Chicago in the US, contrary to many TV shows making up restaurants and bars for the show! It's true that the show is set in a real Chicago neighborhood but most of the businesses around town are made up - apart from Patsy's! It's inspired by the real life café in Chicago called Patsy's Place, but the exterior shots are from somewhere different.Emmy Rossum had to fight for higher pay
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It's nothing new to learn that a female cast member has to fight to get paid as much as her male co-star, such was the case with Emmy Rossum on the show! Both her character and William H. Macy's character had equal leading roles on the show, so when she found out she was getting paid less than Macy, she demanded their salaries be made equal - with Macy's full support - and it was agreed!Some of the acting cast have written and directed episodes
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A lot of long-running TV shows give the talented cast members opportunities to work behind the camera for writing and directing certain episodes. Emmy Rossum got to be director for one episode in later seasons, "I Am a Storm", while William H. Macy co-wrote an episode in season two, while directing an episode from three seasons in! Multi-talented cast.Most of the indoor scenes are filmed in LA, not Chicago!
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The outside shots of the Gallagher home are shot in Chicago - as we mentioned that was a real home you could visit! - but the interior shots weren't show in the house, and nor were they shot in a set based in Chicago. They were actually shot on sets in studios around Los Angeles! The actors would spend about two weeks a year in Chicago to do all the exterior shots.The connection to Castle Rock
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The Stephen King horror series on Hulu, Castle Rock, actually has some connection to Shameless US, too. Jane Levy, the actress who originally played Mandy Milkovich on Shameless, appears in Castle Rock as Diane 'Jackie' Torrence. Not only that, Noel Fisher who played her brother on Shameless, Mickey Malkovich, plays the prison guard Dennis Zalewski on Castle Rock.What To Read Next
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