Michael Rooker (born April 6, 1955) is an American actor, known for his roles as Henry in "" (1986), Chick Gandil in "Eight Men Out" (1988), Terry Cruger in "Sea of Love" (1989), Rowdy Burns in "Days of Thunder" (1990), Bill Broussard in "JFK" (1991), Hal Tucker in "Cliffhanger" (1993), Jared Svenning in "Mallrats" (1995), Detective Howard Cheney in "The Bone Collector" (1999), Grant Grant in "Slither" (2006), Merle Dixon in AMC's "The Walking Dead" (2010–2013) and Yondu Udonta in "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014) and its sequel, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (2017).