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If you\u2019re an actor who\u2019s signed on to share scenes with Michael Shannon, you\u2019ve got yourself a bit of a dilemma. On one hand, you can count on people watching; on the other, you can be pretty certain they won\u2019t be watching you. To be fair, nothing could be further from Shannon\u2019s intent; co-stars and directors routinely praise his generosity and dedication to the success of any project he\u2019s in. It\u2019s just that the guy is \u2013 inherently, chronically and helplessly \u2013 riveting.\n\nEvidence of this seemingly hypnotic power came to light most publicly with his fairly small role in Revolutionary Road. Variety wrote, \u201cThe pic\u2019s startling supporting turn comes from Michael Shannon, who\u2019s mesmerizing as the clinically insane son of local realtor and busybody\u2026 When Shannon is onscreen, it\u2019s impossible to watch anyone else.\u201d In that instance, \u201canyone else\u201d included Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Or take 99 Homes, which Time magazine called \u201ca showcase for Shannon, who magnetizes all eyes, like a cobra in the corner.\u201d\n\nThose are just two in a canon of some of the most consistently beaming reviews an actor could ever hope to paste in his scrapbook, though Shannon doesn\u2019t seem like the kind of guy to keep one. If he did, it would be encyclopedic, as he\u2019s piled up over 50 award nominations and an impressive number of wins over a career that comprises at least 100 film, TV and stage credits. So why is he not a household name? Hard to say, unless actors have to become \u201cstars\u201d to claim any permanency in our memory banks.\n\nWhat\u2019s more confounding is that Shannon never planned to be an actor. He was a troubled, late-blooming kid who floundered in school and only defaulted to drama to get out of sports. He left school at 16 and with no formal training, was on stage in a year, TV the year after, and in Groundhog Day the year after that. Shannon tried working with an acting coach only once in his career, and said it was the worst audition he ever had.\n\nWith fate apparently having done the heavy lifting, an impressive range of directors were quick to capitalize, including Michael Bay, Cameron Crowe, Oliver Stone, Peter Bogdanovich, Sydney Lumet, and even Tom Ford. As did HBO, casting him as Boardwalk Empire\u2019s repressed G-man Nelson Van Alden. But no one has taken better advantage of Shannon\u2019s facile embodiment of complex characters than Jeff Nichols, who directed him in Take Shelter, Midnight Special, and Shotgun Stories. Nichols has said, \u201cShannon makes me a better writer. He certainly makes me a better director. I wanted [Midnight Special] to be a very lean screenplay in terms of narrative and exposition, and if you\u2019re writing that part for Mike, he\u2019s going to be able to fill those spaces with all the subtext that you don\u2019t want to have to write about. He can carry all of that on his face, and that makes him a very powerful tool for a writer/director like me.\u201d\n\nWhat more directors need to take advantage of is Shannon\u2019s range, which seems to be hiding in plain sight. He\u2019s known for playing menacing, angry, possibly crazy guys whose ability to keep it all just beneath the surface keeps us in their thrall \u2013 quiet bears you do not want to poke. While he plays them subtly and brilliantly, he also made a surprisingly good low-key romantic lead in Frank & Lola. His comic chops are most evident on the stage, where he still spends as much time as possible. Look no further than his portrayal of showbiz huckster Felix Artifex in the comedy Mistakes Were Made, a role he\u2019s reprised several times to wildly enthusiastic crowds and ticket sales. The New York Times theater critic Charles Isherwood said Shannon shouldered the part \u201cwith a full arsenal of gifts: a subdued but strong natural presence, a voice rich in grit and capable of imbuing Felix\u2019s wheedling and needling with a variety of emotional colors, a keen understanding of how pathos can feed comedy and vice versa.\u201d Roger Ebert put it more succinctly: \u201cHis performance in Mistakes Were Made was one of the most amazing I have ever seen.\u201d Given that it\u2019s a one-man play, it may also be the only performance in which Shannon risked being upstaged.\n\nFor all the taut wiring that sparks below his surface, Shannon says he\u2019s learned to relax a bit more these days, and that approach has made him a better actor. Besides begging the question whether it\u2019s possible for him to be any better, it also demonstrates a broad interpretation of the word \u201crelax\u201d. He already has eight projects in the works for next year, including Horse Soldiers, a Special Forces drama with Chris Hemsworth, and Signature Move, which he\u2019s executive producing. He admits he may have a small problem turning down a great script. All the better for us. Maybe Shannon wasn\u2019t looking to become an actor, but sometimes fate just gets things right.