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Franklin Shea Whigham, Jr. (born January 5, 1969), best known as Shea Whigham, is an American actor notably starring as Elias "Eli" Thompson on the HBO dramatic series Boardwalk Empire. Whigham was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1969 to attorney Frank and school librarian Beth, moving to Lake Mary when he was five years old. He attended Tyler Junior College (Tyler, Texas) and after completing studies there, transferred to the State University of New York at Purchase, where he was part of a small acting program with only 31 students and a graduating class of eight seniors. After... MORE

Franklin Shea Whigham, Jr. (born January 5, 1969), best known as Shea Whigham, is an American actor notably starring as Elias "Eli" Thompson on the HBO dramatic series Boardwalk Empire. Whigham was born in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1969 to attorney Frank and school librarian Beth, moving to Lake Mary when he was five years old. He attended Tyler Junior College (Tyler, Texas) and after completing studies there, transferred to the State University of New York at Purchase, where he was part of a small acting program with only 31 students and a graduating class of eight seniors. After graduating, he co-founded New York City theatre troupe The Rorschach Group with his college roommate Kirk Acevedo; he was actor and artistic director with the troupe for three years. Whigham appeared in one 1997 episode of the television series Ghost Stories before he received a starring role in the 2000 film Tigerland, alongside Colin Farrell and future Boardwalk Empire co-star Michael Shannon. He went on to appear in the television movies Submerged, R.U.S./H. and Paradise before acting in the 2003 film All the Real Girls. Between 2004 and 2006, he was credited in the Japanese film Out of This World, the LESS