After several years of sporadic bit parts and stage work outside the major centers, Mike McGlone got his big break as the helplessly and hopelessly romantic middle-brother Patrick in Edward Burns' hit independent film "The Brothers McMullen" (1995). McGlone had previously done day work on the soap operas "All My Children" and "As the World Turns" and appeared in small roles in "The Giving" (1992, as a jogger) and Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway" (1994). His stage work has included playing John Dillinger in a production of "Goodnight, Vienna" at the Ensemble Studio Theatre's Octoberfest in 1995.
After "The Brothers McMullen", he co-starred as Oliver Barnett, a teammate of "Ed", an unsuccessful 1996 spring comedy starring Matt LeBlanc. McGlone reteamed with actor-writer-director Burns in "She's the One" (also 1996). In the latter, he was a smug Wall Street executive who cheats on his wife with his brother's ex-fiancee. The actor had his best role (to date) as a mobster who counts among his childhood friends a policeman in "One Tough Cop" (1998).