He’s New York born and bred, and Hollywood in many of his entertainment business dealings. But Michael Rapaport also holds a nearly lifelong affinity for Detroit.

And with good reason.

As a kid it was a rooting interest in the Bad Boys era Detroit Pistons. “I love those teams — Isiah Thomas, Rick Mahorn, those guys,” Rapaport, 54 — who brings his “Rapaport in the D!” stand-up comedy act to Emagine Royal Oak this week — says by phone during a recent visit to Israel. “The Pistons were my team back then. I just loved them.”

A 21-year-old Rapaport, meanwhile, found himself in Detroit for his first film role in “Zebrahead,” Anthony Drazen’s provocative 1992 drama about race relations in the city. He had a lead role as Zack, an aspiring rapper and DJ who begins a relationship with an inter-racial relationship with the cousin of his best friend and navigates the polarized reaction in the community.

“I just remember how excited I was,” Rapaport says, “ how kind of naive I was in terms of what show business was about, how to make a movie, what being an actor was, all of that…

“I was a kid, y’know? I had hopes and dreams. Some of them I’ve accomplished, some I have yet to accomplish. But I’m still rockin’ and rollin’, that’s the most important thing.”

Rapaport’s career has certainly been multi-faceted. The son of a radio personality mother and a radio executive father, he was raised on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and “wanted to be a basketball player, to be honest with you.” He was more suited to humor than hoops, however, and when he was 19 Rapaport moved to Los Angeles and began a stand-up career with the help of his stepfather, Mark Lonow, who co-owned The Improv there.

“I love doing stand-up,” he says. “I started acting from stand-up comedy, and I realized very quickly, ‘This is what I’m good at. This is what comes easiest to me and this is what I’m gonna do. It made the most sense out of anything I had done before that.”

Rapaport’s big acting break came during 1990 in an episode of the ABC TV drama “China Beach.” That led to myriad TV roles — “Murphy Brown,” “NYPD Blue,” “E.R.,” “My Name is Earl,” “Justified” and, currently, Hulu’s “Lie & Beth” among them. “Zebrahead,” meanwhile, opened a door that’s kept him working nearly every year since, most recently in the comedy “I’ll Be Right There” and as a voice in the animated “Glisten and the Merry Mission.”

Rapaport has also appeared in video games and music videos, and directed the 2011 documentary “Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest” and an ESPN “30 for 30” episode about the New York Knicks’ 1970 NBA championship. He hosts a podcast, “I Am Rapaport” and in 2017 published ??, “This Book Has Balls.”

And last year he competed as the Pickle on Fox TV’s “The Masked Singer.”

“I don’t take any opportunity that I’ve had for granted,” explains Rapaport, who’s currently developing a TV project that he’s not ready to talk about. “I’ve been fortunate to do so many different things for so many years, and I’m very proud of all the things I’ve gotten to do.”

But, he adds, “There are still so many films I want to do, so many different kinds of performances I want to do, still so many…just a lot of creativity. I want to continue acting and I want to continue directing and I want to continue creating. That’s what I get off on the most.”

Michael Rapaport performs “Rapaport in the D1” comedy shows at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, April 18-19, and 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday, April 20 at Emagine Royal Oak, 200 N. Main St. 248-414-1000 or emagine-entertainment.com. Tickets can be purchased via eventbrite.com.