Neil Richard Flynn is an American actor, comedian, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles as Janitor on Scrubs and Mike Heck in the ABC comedy series The Middle. He has had notable appearances in television series, such as That '70s Show, Seinfeld, , and Smallville and the television films It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie and . His film career includes appearances in The Fugitive, Home Alone 3, Mean Girls, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Resurrection of Gavin Stone. His voice-over work extends to films such as Cloudy With a Chance Of Meatballs, TV shows including Bob's Burgers, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Clone High, King of the Hill and the Ratchet & Clank video games. In 2015, he starred in the DC Comics web series Vixen, set in the Arrowverse. In 2019, he starred alongside Natalie Morales in the NBC sitcom Abby's.
In Chicago, he acted with the renowned Goodman and Steppenwolf theaters. Flynn was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award. He also performed at the Improv Olympic and the Second City Comedy Troupe. In 1998, he founded the improv team Beer Shark Mice with David Koechner, which was still active as of 2015. Although his role on Scrubs had been to that point the most visible, he had other small roles in a variety of different TV shows and movies, including That '70s Show, Baby's Day Out, ', My Boys, Seinfeld, and Smallville. In The Fugitive, he plays a Chicago police officer who is killed by the one-armed man, Frederick Sykes while he is fighting Dr. Richard Kimble, prompting Chicago Police Department detectives to hunt Ford's character. This role was used in a subplot of the Scrubs episode "My Friend the Doctor" when J.D. notices Flynn's character in the film and believes that Flynn's Janitor character is the actor in the film. In 2008, he worked with Harrison Ford again, playing a suspicious law enforcement official as FBI agent Smith in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Flynn had a minor role in Mean Girls as the father of Lindsay Lohan's character. He then played the part of an anonymous police officer in '; this scene was cut out of the final version of the film, though it can be viewed in the straight-to-DVD spin-off film , and in the deleted scenes of the Anchorman DVD. He had a minor role in Major League as a longshoreman and fan of the Cleveland Indians. Flynn had a role on Phil Hendrie's animated pilot that was not picked up by FOX. He was also the first baseman in the movie Rookie of the Year. Flynn once appeared in an episode of The Drew Carey Show, playing the fake husband of future Scrubs co-star Christa Miller. He appeared on an episode of Seinfeld, playing a police officer.
''Scrubs''
For Scrubs, Flynn auditioned for the role of Dr. Cox, but was given the role of Janitor, instead. Flynn was originally only cast for the first episode, but he became a regular, playing a character known only as the Janitor, who devotes much of his energy to menacing young Dr. John "J.D." Dorian. His name is not revealed in the series until the season 8 finale when, upon J.D.'s first time asking about it, he simply says his name is Glenn Matthews. This is also speculated to be false for two reasons: first, after J.D. leaves the shot, an orderly addresses the Janitor as "Tommy"; and second, while watching The Fugitive with Carla and Danni in the season 3 episode 'My Friend The Doctor', J.D. notices the real-life Flynn's character in the train scene. When the Janitor confirms he was in the movie at the end of the episode, some speculated the Janitor's real name in Scrubs is actually Neil Flynn. Flynn was a series regular with Scrubs through the first eight seasons. When Scrubs was cancelled by NBC and subsequently picked up by ABC, he signed a second position one-year deal for Scrubs season 9, which would have allowed him to continue on Scrubs if his pilot The Middle was not picked up. The Middle was picked up, although he did guest star in the season 9 premiere of Scrubs.
''The Middle''
Flynn's long-running role, Mike Heck, was on ABC's The Middle. The character had three children and worked at the Orson Limestone Quarry. The Heck Family was a middle-class family in Indiana. In 2017, the series celebrated 200 episodes.
Voice-over work
He has also done voice acting for the animated seriesBuzz Lightyear of Star Command, though he is better known for voicing the popular characters Skidd McMarx and the Plumber in the first three Ratchet & Clank games for the PlayStation 2. He also made a guest appearance in Kim Possible. Flynn voiced the character Max Flush on the FOXTV showBob's Burgers in the episode "". As of 2015, he is providing the voice of Chuck, the foster father of the title character in the DC Comics animated web seriesVixen.
