The dark-haired, thick-browed Corrigan harbored show business aspirations early. When asked to play Jesus in a church production in his native Bronx, the nine-year old aspiring actor made his own crown of thorns and wore it to be ready for the role only to discover he was to portray an already deceased Christ. Undaunted he continued with his goal and by age 17 had an original play, "The Boiler Room", produced at the Young Playwrights Festival of Manhattan's prestigious Playwrights Horizons Theatre.

By the late 1980s, Corrigan had begun an acting career, which has been threaded with relationships built with the likes of actor Michael Rappaport, actor-director Steve Buscemi and director Matthew Harrison. His first screen appearance was in a bit role as a security guard in "Cocoon: The Return" (1988). Corrigan went on to portray a gang member in Hugh Hudson's "Lost Angels" (1989), an altar boy in "William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist III" (1990) and Henry Hill's wheelchair-bound younger brother Michael in Martin Scorsese's "GoodFellas" (both 1990). He registered in the larger role of Michael Rappaport's friend in "Zebrahead" (1992), but small roles followed in "True Romance" and "The Saint of Fort Washington" (both 1993). Corrigan was a music bootlegger in Matthew Harrison's "Rhythm Thief" and the assistant cameraperson in Tom DiCillo's comedy short "Scene Six, Take One" (both 1994). The latter was expanded into "Living in Oblivion" the following year. Also in 1995, Corrigan appeared in the first short film by Jake Paltrow, "An Eviction Notice". Corrigan's roles in 1996 ran the gamut: he was briefly seen carrying the casket alongside David Schwimmer in "The Pallbearer" and garnered much acclaim as the weird video store jockey in Nicole Holofcener's "Walking and Talking". He also played a key role in "Trees Lounge" (1996) Steve Buscemi's directorial debut. Corrigan scripted and co-starred in the Harrison-directed short "I'll Make You Eat Roses" (1996) and with Harrison co-wrote the 1997 feature "Kicked in the Head", in which he also starred. Later that year, he was a spaced-out musician with an up-and-coming rock group in the delightful independent film "Bandwagon".

On TV, Corrigan began as a guest in episodes of such series as "In the Heat of the Night," and had small roles in "Flour Babies", a 1990 "CBS Schoolbreak Special", and "Rising Son" (TNT, 1990). He was also featured in "Drunks" (Showtime, 1996; later released theatrically), as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.