Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Season 1 e.tv (*194) 20:30 Sci-fi

Playing Agent Phil Coulson in Marvel’s comic book films (starting with 2008’s Iron Man) and reprising his role in sci-fi series Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-current) has earned Clark Gregg a cult following. But the 54-year-old says that he’s still recognised on streets more for his single-episode appearance on sitcom Sex & The City (1998-2004) in 2000. “It’s crazy – that was one episode way back when!” he laughs.

1 He considers himself a “sober alcoholic” – “I was a booze guy to get myself to a place where I could rationalise drugs. It’s a miracle that acting ever happened,” he says of his early days as a drug addict and alcoholic.

2 While Clark is gainfully employed these days, he’s had his fair share of bad jobs. He was a parking valet at a lunch club, a busboy at a bar and he also worked as a security guard at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

3 The actor credits his success to two things in his life: religion and his wife. He was born into an Episcopalian family but converted to Judaism when he married Jennifer Grey in 2001. She’s most famous for playing Frances Houseman in 1987’s Dirty Dancing. They have one daughter – 15-year-old Stella.

4 Clark’s character may come across as nerdy sometimes but Coulson can handle a gun with deadly skill. Clark hates guns but that doesn’t mean he can’t protect himself – he’s a black belt in marital artform Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

5 He has two other hobbies besides jiu-jitsu – collecting basketball sneakers and doing plays at the Atlantic Theater Company, which he co-founded in 1983 while studying his Bachelors in Drama at New York’s Tisch School Of The Arts – he graduated in 1986.