Stage and Screen Debuts
After a directing apprenticeship at both the Chelsea Theatre under Robert Kalfin) and the Public Theatre with Joseph Papp, he made his Broadway debut at the age of 26 in Kalfin's production of Isaac B. Singer's "Yentl" opposite Tovah Feldshuh, for which he received the Theatre World Award.
After guest starring roles in such TV series as Eight Is Enough and Man from Atlantis, Shea made his television film debut playing Joseph in The Nativity (1978) opposite Madeleine Stowe as Mary, a biblical epic shot in Spain. His feature film debut came in Matthew Chapman's English film noir Hussy (1980) alongside Helen Mirren. His American film debut was in Constantin Costa-Gavras's Academy Award-winning Missing (1982) with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. Based on a true story retold in the book The Execution Of Charles Horman, Shea impersonated Horman, an American journalist who was kidnapped, tortured, and executed by the Pinochet regime during the military coup that over threw the Allende government in Chile. The film, shot on locations in Mexico, also won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and helped launch Shea's international acting career. Costa-Gavras cast Shea without an audition after seeing his performance in Steven Poliakoff's play American Days at the Manhattan Theatre Club.
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