Noel Roeim Fisher[2][3] (born March 13, 1984[4]) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his portrayal of Mickey Milkovich on the Showtime series Shameless, as well as his portrayal of Cael Malloy on the FX series The Riches. He played Ellison "Cotton Top" Mounts in the Emmy Award-winning miniseries Hatfields & McCoys as well as bully Troy McGinty in Max Keeble's Big Move, Vladimir, a 1,500-year-old vampire in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 (2012), and Michelangelo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016). Fisher has also acted in shows such as Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior, Lie to Me, and Bones.
Fisher was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He began his acting career at the age of 14 in the television film The Sheldon Kennedy Story.[5] During his time as a young actor in Vancouver, he was encouraged to "take many different classes" and "fell in love" with piano, which he studied for eight years.[6]
Fisher began his acting career at age 14. He debuted in 1999 with The Sheldon Kennedy Story, a sports drama film about ice hockey player Sheldon Kennedy. He also starred as Freddie in Season 1 of Two and a Half Men in 2004. His performance landed Fisher his first Gemini Awards nomination. He gained a second nomination with the TV series Godiva's in 2005.[7] He played Brian Gibbons in Final Destination 2 in 2003, one of his first roles in an American film. From 2007, Fisher became more known by the public due to the FX series The Riches, portraying Cael, the conniving and clever son of parents played by Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver.
Fisher has received critical acclaim for playing Mickey Milkovich, a gay thug character on Shameless from 2011 to 2021.[7] In 2014 Vanity Fair named his relationship with Cameron Monaghan's Ian Gallagher the best-written gay couple on television.[8] Though Fisher is straight, his sexuality is often questioned in interviews. He has responded to the controversy:[9]
I don't look at Mickey as a gay character. I look at him as a person, who happens to be gay. I think it's weird how we, as a society, try to put the LGBT community in a box, when in fact, they are just people. They have the same complexities as you and me. That's how I look at Mickey, as a complex person.
In 2017 Fisher starred in the National Geographic docu-series The Long Road Home. He played Pfc. Tomas Young, the Iraq war veteran who famously became a war protester after being paralyzed during an ambush only days after being sent to fight overseas.[10] Fisher told creator Mikko Allanne he would not accept the part unless he could meet with Young's family; "That's how committed he was to doing it right".[11]
Fisher played Ellison "Cotton Top" Mounts in the award-winning miniseries Hatfields & McCoys (miniseries) as well as Vladimir, a 1.500-year old vampire in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and Michelangelo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. In May 2020, he starred opposite Tom Hardy in the Al Capone biopic Capone as Junior, Capone's son.[12] He starred in the limited CBS series The Red Line and had a recurring role in the Hulu series Castle Rock.[13][14] He also had roles in: Bones, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Fear the Walking Dead, and The Conners.
Since November 2004, Fisher has been in a relationship with actress Layla Alizada. The couple was engaged in 2014, and on July 15, 2017, were married.[15]