30 Interesting Facts About Clark Gregg - The Fan Favorite Agent Phil Coulson Every Fan Should Know

3 April 2019, 3:20 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Clark Gregg, famous for his portrayal of Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is the actor with the longest screen time in the MCU, with his first appearance in the 2008 movie "Iron Man." Here are a few things to know about the American actor:

Gregg was born on April 02, 1962 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States as Robert Clark Gregg. He is son of Mary Layne and Robert Clark Gregg Sr., an Episcopal priest and University professor.
As his father was a clergyman and academic, his family was constantly being relocated, Gregg spent his childhood in seven cities by the age of seventeen.
He did his schooling in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and joined Ohio Western University for two years before dropping out and moved to Manhattan in the early 80s in search of punk rock and good theatre. He later enrolled at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied drama and English, and graduated in 1986.
He worked various jobs to support himself such as being bar back at Sardi’s, a security guard at the Guggenheim Museum, and a parking valet at the Water Club restaurant.
Gregg was one of the 30 acting students from New York University along with David Mamet and William H. Macy,who founded an Off-Broadway non-profit ‘Atlantic Theatre Company’ in 1985.He laterbecame its artistic director and remains involved till this day.
He made his theatrical feature film debut with 1988 ‘Things Change’ in which he portrays the stage manager and followed it up similar role in a TV Movie ‘Lip Service,’ which was a directorial debut for William H. Macy.
In the 1989 biography drama history movie ‘Fat Man and Little Boy,’ he plays the character Douglas Panton and went on to appear in number of TV series namely ‘Law & Order,’ as Patrick Dunne, in ‘Shannon’s Deal,’ as Mercer, and in ‘A Women Named Jackie,’ as Ken O’Donnell, in 1991.
He had substantial role in the 1991 drama ‘Lana in Love’ as Marty, along with Susan Eyton-Jones and Michael Gillis. Gregg makes an impressive screen presence as the plumber Marty who arrives at the wrong address.
In 1994 Gregg had four credit to his name in the ‘I Love Trouble,’ ‘Clear and Present Danger,’ and ‘Ride Me,’ apart from a TV series ‘The George Carlin Show.’ In 1995 in the film‘The Usual Suspects,’ he was cast as Dr. Walters in the crime mystery thriller,though initially he was offered the role of Kujan.
Gregg has also been featured in number of supporting roles in films, such as ‘Lovely & Amazing,’ ‘The Human Stain,’ ‘and ‘In Good Company.’ In the comedy drama TV series, ‘Sports Night,’ Gregg was offered one of the lead roles. He had to turn it down because he was working on the pre-production of What Lies Beneath. He ended up playing the recurring role of the Stranger.

He was also presented in number of guest spots on TV series, such as ‘Will & Grace,’ ‘Sex and the City,’ and ‘The West Wing.’
Gregg has also 3 credits in screenplay and story starting with Robert Zemeckis’s fantasy horror film ‘What Lies Beneath.’ The DreamWorks commissioned a rewrite from Gregg and he was forced to decline Aaron Sorkin’s offer to read for a major role in Sports Night.
After a string of mostly one-off appearances, Gregg landed multi-episode runs on ‘Sports Night,’ in 2000, ‘The West Wing’ in 2001, ‘The Shield’ in 2004, and ‘The New Adventure of Old Christine’ from 2006 to 2010. He said the best stuff that happened for me since I turned 40.
Gregg made his feature film directional debut with comedy drama ‘Choke’ in which he also acted and wrote the screenplay. The film is adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s book Fight Club and Gregg worked on the book for five years, trying to adapt it to screenplay.
After spending a year with the book in writing assignment he threw the book in a drawer and decided to write his own personal version of the story, one that Chuck would probably have me removed. To his surprise the adaptation started to work and Chuck was extremely supportive of its departures.
He found the film Choke to be more complex due to its extremely dramatic moments and absurdly silly ones. The film was premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Prize for a dramatic work by an ensemble cast.
Gregg consulted his father, a retired religion professor at Stanford, for the quotation from Saint Paul’s letter to the Galatians which he used in Choke. Gregg’s father is also the former chaplain at Stanford Memorial Church.
In 2008, Gregg appeared in the scientific adventure film ‘Iron Man’ as S.H.I.L.D. agent Phil Coulson. In 2010, Gregg reprised his role as Agent Coulson for ‘Iron Man 2.’
When director and neighbor Jon Favreau offered Gregg the small nameless role of ‘Agent’ in the star-studded Iron Man film. Initially Gregg was uninterested for based on his experience the scene make get cut down in the final print. Fortunately his wife encouraged him to accept the part because of his lifelong love for comic books.
Gregg’s on-screen chemistry with Robert Downey Jr. resulted in Favreau adding scenes for ‘Agent’ and soon Coulson was born. The character evolved in the film’s sequel and even further in ‘Thor.’

He noted being part of the expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe as being very exciting. Though ‘Agent Coulson’ wasn’t really in the comic book, I was just very lucky that they choose to expand and he reprised his role in ‘The Avengers,’ and in a series of Marvel Short films.
Gregg was cast as Phil Coulson, as a part of multi-picture deal with Marvel and his role expanded in ‘The Avengers.’ At the 39th Saturn Award, Gregg won the Best Supporting Actor Award and the film won the Best Scientific Fiction Film.
In October 2010, Gregg was part of the cast of a staged reading of Larry Kramer’s ‘The Normal Heart,’ when it was presented in Los Angeles on the occasion of the play’s 25th anniversary preceding the play’s 2011 Broadways premiere. The reading was directed by his father-in-law, Joel Grey.
Gregg has portrayed Agent Coulson in the ABC television series ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. since 2013, set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, alongside Ming-na-Wen and Chloe Bennet. He went on to direct episodes in season five and six.
In 2013, he starred, wrote and directed a comedy drama ‘Trust Me,’ which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film received limited release in the United States in June 2014.
In the animated action adventure TV series ‘Ultimate Spider-Man,’ Gregg provided the voice for S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson, the same character Gregg played in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. It was decided in the 2011 San Diego Comic-con International.
Gregg is married to actress Jennifer Grey, his co-star in the Lifetime TV movie ‘Road to Christmas,’ since July 21, 2001. The couples have a daughter Stella, born on December 03, 2001. He describes himself as a member of a Jewish family.
He and his wife were part of the demonstrations at the 2017 Women’s March held on January 21, 2017 in Washington, D.C. He is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
In 2000, he won Best Acting by an Ensemble shared with other cast for ‘State and Main’ from National Board Review Award. He also won the Online Film Critics Society Award and Florida Film Critics Circle Award in 2001.
He is the only actor who has appeared in productions, film or TV, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since its launch from Iron Man, continuously without ever taking a leap year.