Chris O'Donnell

Christopher Eugene O'Donnell (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor and former model. He played Charlie Simms in Scent of a Woman, D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, Jack Foley in the drama film Circle of Friends, Dick Grayson/Robin in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Jason Brown in Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune, and Peter Garrett in Vertical Limit. O'Donnell currently stars as special Agent G. Callen on the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles, a spin-off of NCIS.
== Early life ==
Christopher O'Donnell was born in Winnetka, Illinois, the son of William Charles O'Donnell, Sr., a general manager of WBBM-AM, and Julie Ann Rohs von Brecht.[2][3] He is the youngest of seven children, with four sisters and two brothers, and is of German and Irish descent.[4][5] He was raised in a Roman Catholic family and attended Roman Catholic schools,[6] including Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois for high school, graduating in 1988. He attended Boston College and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in marketing. He began modeling at the age of 13, and was featured in several commercials.
== Career ==
O'Donnell was discovered when he was cast in a McDonald's commercial, in which he served Michael Jordan. His first television role was an appearance on the series Jack and Mike in 1986. At the age of 17, he landed a role in the movie Men Don't Leave, with Jessica Lange. In the early 1990s, he was in many successful movies including Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), School Ties (1992) and Scent of a Woman (1992) with Al Pacino (receiving a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he lost to Gene Hackmanfor Unforgiven). He was named one of the 12 Promising New Actors of 1992 in John Willis's Screen World, Vol. 44.
After the success of Blue Sky (1994) and Circle of Friends (1995), O'Donnell co-starred with Drew Barrymore in the movie Mad Love (1995), then went on to play Dick Grayson/Robin in Batman Forever, in which Drew Barrymore also made an appearance. He reportedly was part of a field of candidates that included Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Ewan McGregor, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Toby Stephens, and Scott Speedman.[citation needed] Producers narrowed their choices to DiCaprio and O'Donnell. At a comic book convention, they asked a group of 11-year-old boys, the target audience, which actor could win a fistfight. After the boys overwhelmingly declared O'Donnell the winner,[citation needed] he was ultimately given the role. O'Donnell was said to be 20th Century Fox's favorite choice to play Jack Dawson in Titanic, but DiCaprio ended up with the role.[7]
O'Donnell followed with a starring role in 1996's The Chamber, based on the John Grisham novel. He subsequently reprised his role as Robin in 1997's Batman & Robin. Although a box office success, the movie was critically panned and O'Donnell himself called it a low point in his career.[8] He was considered for the lead role in Spider-Man, when the project was in development with James Cameron directing in 1996. Tobey Maguire was ultimately cast.[citation needed]
O'Donnell did not appear in another movie for two years. He was the producers' original choice for the role of James Darrell Edwards III/Agent J in Men in Black(1997), but, after turning it down because he thought the character would be too similar to his role in Batman Forever, the role went to Will Smith.[9][citation needed]The Robert Altman film Cookie's Fortune, The Bachelor (1999) and Vertical Limit(2000) were only moderately successful. Following Vertical Limit, a four-year hiatus led some to believe Batman & Robin had damaged O'Donnell's career. However, he came back in 2004 with the widely praised Kinsey. He also appeared in the 2004 episode of Two and a Half Men entitled "An Old Flame With A New Wick." O'Donnell took a lead role in the Fox Network television series Head Cases in 2005. The show was the first of the fall 2005 season to be canceled, and only two episodes were aired. He was subsequently cast as veterinarian Finn Dandridge on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy.
O'Donnell featured prominently in the TNT miniseries The Company as CIA case officer Jack McAuliffe, a character who progressed from spoonfed Yale elitist to jaded, post-Cold War cynic. In 2008 he appeared in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl as the titular character's father Jack Kittredge, and in Max Payne as Jason Colvin.
Since 2009, O'Donnell has starred in NCIS: Los Angeles, a spinoff of NCIS, as G. Callen,[10] an NCIS Special Agent in charge of the Office of Special Projects Team stationed in Los Angeles. CBS describes Callen as "a chameleon who transforms himself into whomever he needs to be to infiltrate the criminal underworld."[11]
In 2010, O'Donnell appeared in the sequel to the 2001 movie Cats & Dogs, The Revenge of Kitty Galore.
== Personal life ==
O'Donnell is married to Caroline Fentress. They have five children.[12][13]
O'Donnell is a practicing Roman Catholic.[14] O'Donnell's brother, John, founded the clothing company johnnie-O.[15]
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1990	Men Don't Leave 	Chris Macauley 	
1991	Fried Green Tomatoes 	Buddy Threadgoode 	
1992	School Ties 	Chris Reece 	
1992	Scent of a Woman 	Charlie Simms 	Nominated – Golden Globe Awardfor Best Supporting Actor
1993	The Three Musketeers 	D'Artagnan 	Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
1994	Blue Sky 	Glenn Johnson 	
1995	Circle of Friends 	Jack Foley 	
1995	Mad Love 	Matt Leland 	
1995	Batman Forever 	Dick Grayson/Robin 	
1996	The Chamber 	Adam Hall 	
1996	In Love and War 	Ernest 'Ernie' Hemingway	
1997	Batman & Robin 	Dick Grayson/Robin 	Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor
Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Screen Couple (with George Clooney)
1999	Cookie's Fortune 	Jason Brown 	
1999	The Bachelor 	Jimmie Shannon 	
2000	Vertical Limit 	Peter Garrett 	
2002	29 Palms 	The Hitman 	
2004	Kinsey 	Wardell Pomeroy 	
2005	The Sisters 	David Turzin 	
2008	Kit Kittredge: An American Girl 	Jack Kittredge 	
2008	Max Payne 	Jason Colvin 	
2010	Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore	Shane 	
2010	A Little Help 	Bob 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1986 	Jack and Mike 	Evan 	Episode: Cry Uncle
2003 	The Practice 	Brad Stanfield 	4 episodes
2004 	Two and a Half Men 	Jill/Bill 	Episode: An Old Flame with a New Wick
2005 	Head Cases 	Jason Payne 	2 episodes
2005–06 	Grey's Anatomy 	Dr. Finn "McVet" Dandridge	9 episodes
2005–06 	The Company 	Jack McAuliffe 	TV miniseries, 6 episodes
2009 	NCIS 	G. Callen 	2 pilot episodes: "Legend"
2009–present	NCIS: Los Angeles 	G. Callen 	216 episodes
Nominated – People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Crime Drama Actor (2017)[16]
2012 	Hawaii Five-0 	G. Callen 	Crossover episode: "Pa Make Loa"
2013 	Who Do You Think You Are?	Himself 	Episode:
2017 	The Price Is Right 	Himself 	February 24, 2017: Celebrity Charity Week
2017 	American Dad! 	G. Callen 	
Category:American male film actors