He began his professional acting career with a small role in the 1994 film Quiz Show directed by Robert Redford and a guest-starring role on Law & Order, his first of seven appearances throughout the run of the show.[4] He also began working in theatre, portraying Louis Ironson in Tony Kushner's play Angels in America at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater.[5] While still at New York University, Shenkman played the role of Roy Cohn in a workshop production of the play. He would reprise the role of Louis seven years after playing the role at ACT in the HBO miniseries adaptation, earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
Throughout the 1990s, Shenkman combined work in off-Broadway productions in New York with small roles in films such as Eraser (1996), The Siege (1998), π (1998), and Jesus' Son (1999), Chasing Sleep (2000), and Requiem for a Dream (2000). In 2000, Shenkman gained success in the theatre, co-starring with Mary-Louise Parker in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Proof, for which he received a 2001 Tony nomination. After the release of HBO's Angels in America miniseries, he returned to Manhattan Theatre club in 2004 in Sight Unseen opposite Laura Linney.[6]
In 2012, he joined USA network's Royal Pains as the recurring character Dr. Jeremiah Sacani, and was promoted to series regular the following season, the show's fifth. In the fall of 2015, the series wrapped production of its final season, which aired in the summer of 2016. In 2015, Shenkman also was on Broadway opposite Larry David, and later Jason Alexander, in David's hit comedy Fish in the Dark, which had a sold-out six-month limited run at the Cort Theater.[citation needed]
Since 2016 Shenkman has played the recurring role of Ira Schirmer on the Showtime series Billions. That year also saw him as Desk Sgt. Klein in the acclaimed HBO limited series The Night Of. The following year, 2017, he was cast as a series regular in the Shondaland drama For the People, which aired for two seasons on ABC until 2019. In 2020, in addition to Billions' fifth season, he is featured in a recurring role on Season 10 of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, and as defense counsel Leonard Weinglass in Aaron Sorkin's film The Trial of the Chicago 7.
