Why The Actor In The United Super Bowl Commercial Looks So Familiar

In the pre-commercial for United's big Super Bowl commercial, an actor addresses the audience by speaking directly to the camera about the power of believing in your dreams. Specifically, he tells said audience that even though their teams might not be playing in this year's big game — which is between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers — they should consider booking their flights for next year's Super Bowl, even though nobody knows yet where it will be or which teams will be competing for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Disastrously irresponsible financial and travel advice aside, who is the actor telling the viewer to go buy airline tickets with absolutely zero information about where they're headed? That would be Kyle Chandler, a staple of the big and small screen who has appeared in over 50 projects since getting his start in 1988. From beloved network dramas to prestige films to studio comedies and franchise fare, here's where you've seen Chandler before.

Even after all these years, Kyle Chandler's best-known performance is probably as Coach Eric Taylor on the beloved network drama "Friday Night Lights," which ran on NBC from 2006 to 2011. Based on both the book by H.G. Bissinger and its film adaptation in 2004 — helmed by Peter Berg, who also created the series — "Friday Night Lights" focuses on Coach Taylor, his wife Tami (Connie Britton), and their daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden) as they settle in Dillon, Texas. Coach Taylor leads the high-ranking high school football team, the Dillon Panthers, and they have quite a legacy. Luckily, he's up for the challenge.

With a supporting cast that includes future stars like Jesse Plemons, Michael B. Jordan, Minka Kelly, Jurnee Smollett, and Zach Gilford, "Friday Night Lights" is still as popular as ever, providing an emotional yet comforting watch or re-watch for fans. A large part of this is due to Chandler's stabilizing central performance; Coach Taylor is tough when he needs to be, but he cares deeply about his community and invites the viewer to join him in that.

Yes, Kyle Chandler only appears on "Grey's Anatomy" for a grand total of four episodes ... and he's a ghost in two of them. Still, his appearance on the long-running medical drama is the stuff of legend — specifically, during the two-part Season 2 epic "It's The End Of the World" and "As We Know It."

Chandler shows up as Dylan Young, a bomb squad expert who has to deal with the latest disaster at Seattle Grace Hospital — namely, an unexploded bazooka inside of a man's body cavity. (The owner of said body cavity shot himself with it; the less said about the plot specifics, the better.) Dylan immediately clashes with Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who happens to be steadying the ammunition with her hand inside of the patient's chest, but he does everything that he can to help keep her safe while figuring out the best way to remove the bomb from the body. 

Dylan manages to get it out and leave Meredith in the OR but blows up in the process, which is how he later returns to the show as a ghost in Season 3. (Meredith is temporarily dead, and ... again, it's not really worth discussing.) It's only a small role for Chandler on "Grey's Anatomy," but he definitely makes an impression.

The main character of Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" — Jordan Belfort, played with delicious exuberance by Leonardo DiCaprio — is a villain in his own right, but the movie still needs an antagonist. Enter Kyle Chandler, who arrives during Jordan's ascension and would stop at nothing to bring him down. Because Jordan is aware he's committing near-constant fraud through his stockbroking firm Stratton Oakmont, he knows someone from the FBI would eventually come after him, and that person just so happens to be Agent Patrick Denham.

As Jordan lives excessively and continues to infuriate his long-suffering second wife, Naomi Belfort (Margot Robbie), Denham is constantly tracking him ... and when Jordan is finally arrested by the bureau, it's Denham who shows up with the warrant and talks Jordan into wearing a wire to expose his best friend and collaborator Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill). Chandler definitely plays a supporting role in this sprawling film, but he's pivotal in bringing Jordan to justice.

In 2018, audiences were gifted with one of the last great studio ensemble comedies in recent memory: "Game Night," written by Mark Perez and co-directed by Jonathan Goldstein ("Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves") and John Francis Daley (the "Freaks & Geeks" and "Bones" star turned filmmaker). Centered around husband and wife Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams), who love hosting game nights for their friends, the film shows what can happen when the evening goes horribly, horribly awry. When Max's successful and intimidating older brother Brooks — played by Kyle Chandler — unexpectedly shows up to join in, the core game-playing group thinks he's just playing a prank when he's kidnapped by a group of masked men. Brooks most certainly is not playing a prank.

Chandler rarely gets to be as bombastic as he is as Brooks, and he certainly has a lot of fun with the role. Though his disappearance is the movie's major inciting incident and it means he's not in as much of the movie as his co-stars, Chandler is extremely funny as Brooks, and anyone who hasn't seen "Game Night" yet is in for a pleasant surprise.

In 2019 and 2021, Kyle Chandler took on a huge franchise project when he joined the MonsterVerse as Dr. Mark Russell. His first appearance was in "Godzilla: King of the Monsters," a sequel to the 2014 version of "Godzilla," and as Mark, he's asked to help with a mysterious project after his ex-wife Emma (Vera Farmiga) and their daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) are kidnapped from a research base by eco-terrorists. Mark has already lost family to the monster known as Godzilla, but faced with the possible loss of his daughter, he agrees to help to protect his loved ones. In the end, they successfully escape by protecting Godzilla in favor of defeating an alien called King Ghidorah.

Chandler then reprised the role in 2021's "Godzilla vs. Kong" — as did Brown, playing his daughter once again — but he's no longer the main character and only shows up toward the end of the movie. Still, an actor as good as Chandler can always elevate huge franchise flicks like "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" and "Godzilla vs. Kong."

Fans must have been excited when it was announced that Kyle Chandler was set to join Marvel star Jeremy Renner in the Paramount+ original "Mayor of Kingstown," created by "Yellowstone" head honcho Taylor Sheridan. Unfortunately, they were set up to be disappointed ... because the death of Chandler's character is what sets the entire show in motion.

At the beginning of "Mayor of Kingstown," Chandler plays Mitch McLusky, who's prepared to take over as the titular mayor in the fictional and troubled hamlet of Kingstown. Traditionally, the McLuskys have been a go-between that works with both law enforcement and Kingstown's most powerful crime families (and the members of those families who may or may not be in prison) so it's a dangerous role — a fact Mitch discovers personally when he's shot and killed. 

This is how and why Renner's Mike, Mitch's younger brother, takes over as the "mayor" — which kickstarts the entire narrative. Yes, Chandler had to die for "Mayor of Kingstown" to really get going, but it was still a tough loss for audiences.