How that works is our first season was the year we had a threatened writers' strike, so what we did was that instead of doing 22 episodes, we did 30. We put 10 in the bank.

He has also worked as a bouncer bartender and personal trainer. Charles R. Meloni worked his way up the acting ladder with commercials short-lived TV series and bit parts in a number of films.

He is best known for his television roles as NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and as inmate Chris Keller on the HBO prison drama Oz. Christopher Peter Meloni (born April 2 1961) is an American actor.