Ed O'Neill

American actor and comedianTemplate:SHORTDESC:American actor and comedian[[Category:**Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Pagetype/config' not found.**s with short description]]

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**Edward Leonard O'Neill** (born April 12, 1946) is an American actor and comedian. His roles include Al Bundy on the Fox Network sitcom *Married... with Children*, for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes, and Jay Pritchett on the award-winning ABC sitcom *Modern Family*, a role for which he has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and won four Screen Actors Guild Awards, all for being part of a best Ensemble in a Comedy Series. He has also appeared in the *Wayne's World* film series, *Little Giants*, *Prefontaine*, *The Bone Collector* and *Sun Dogs*, and has done voice-work for the *Wreck It Ralph* franchise and *Finding Dory*.

## Early life

O'Neill was born into an Irish-American Catholic family in Youngstown, Ohio. His mother, Ruth Ann (née Quinlan), was a homemaker and social worker, and his father, Edward Phillip O'Neill, was a steel mill worker and truck driver. O'Neill attended Ursuline High School before transferring to Worthington High School and winning a state championship, earning the name Ed O'Winner and winning a football scholarship to Ohio University, where he majored in history, also joining the Mu chapter of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. O'Neill left Ohio after his sophomore year; he spent more time playing sports and partying than studying, and also feuded with his coach.

He transferred to Youngstown State University, where he was a defensive lineman. While an undergraduate, O'Neill pledged Delta Sigma Phi and was initiated into the Delta Sigma chapter there. Rumors abound that he was an avid partier. O'Neill was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969 but was cut in training camp. Later, on *Married... with Children*, O'Neill played a former high-school football star who had failed to make it big and constantly reminisced about his "glory days" at Polk High ("I once scored four touchdowns in a single game"). As part of this theme, former Pittsburgh Steelers great and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw also made two guest appearances on the show. Bradshaw also made an appearance in O'Neill's Modern Family. O'Neill worked as a substitute social studies teacher at Ursuline High School before becoming an actor.

## Career

 File:Ed O'Neill.jpg
O'Neill re-enrolled at Youngstown State after being cut by the Steelers and was one of the first students at the school's then-new theater program. In 1979, he played a boxer opposite Danny Aiello in the Broadway play *Knockout*. It was there that he was seen by director William Friedkin and landed his first movie role, as a police detective in *Cruising*, starring Al Pacino.

In 1985, O'Neill appeared alongside Jeff Kinsland in a Red Lobster commercial and made a brief guest appearance in *The Equalizer*. In 1986, he was cast as NYPD detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle for the planned television series *Popeye Doyle*. The character had originally appeared in the motion picture *The French Connection* (played by Gene Hackman). The two-hour made-for-television movie/pilot was filmed and shown on network television. O'Neill received good reviews for his performance, and the pilot received good ratings, but the series was not picked up for production.

In 1986, while playing the role of Lennie in a stage production of John Steinbeck's *Of Mice and Men* at the Hartford Theater in Hartford, Connecticut, he was seen by a casting agent from the Fox television network and was asked to audition for the role of Al Bundy in *Married... with Children*, a proposed sitcom about a dysfunctional family living in Chicago. It was the series that led off the first night of Fox's primetime lineup on April 5, 1987, concluding after 11 seasons on June 9, 1997.

During and following the success of *Married... with Children*, O'Neill starred in several films, including *Dutch* and *Little Giants*. He also had small parts in *The Bone Collector*, *Wayne's World* and *Wayne's World 2*, and appeared as Relish the Troll King in *The 10th Kingdom*. O'Neill made a brief appearance on the comedy variety show *In Living Color*, playing the "Dirty Dozens" champion who defeats the challenger, played by Jamie Foxx. He also made a cameo on the sitcom *8 Simple Rules* as the ex-boyfriend of Cate S. Hennessy (played by Katey Sagal, who portrayed O'Neill's wife Peg Bundy on *Married... with Children*). He appeared in the movie *The Adventures of Ford Fairlane* with Andrew Dice Clay and in *Cruising* with Al Pacino. During the mid-1990s, he had a string of appearances in commercials for 1-800-COLLECT.

*Law & Order* franchise creator Dick Wolf cast O'Neill as Sgt. Joe Friday in his 2003 remake of Jack Webb's classic TV crime series *Dragnet*. The series was canceled by ABC in its second season. O'Neill went on to appear as Governor Eric Baker, a recurring character on NBC's *The West Wing*. O'Neill also played Bill on HBO's television series *John from Cincinnati*.

In 2008, O'Neill appeared in an advertisement for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama as "Al the Shoesalesman".

In January 2009, O'Neill reunited with David Faustino (Bud Bundy from *Married... with Children*) for two episodes of Faustino's show *Star-ving*. O'Neill also appeared with the entire cast of *Married... with Children* again when they were honored at the 7th Annual *TV Land Award* show in 2009.

From 2009 to 2020, O'Neill played the role of Jay Pritchett on the ABC sitcom *Modern Family*, a role that earned him three Primetime Emmy Award nominations—in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Since 2012, O'Neill has done voice-overs in TV advertisements for the over-the-counter form of Zyrtec, along with Walmart's store-branded mobile phone service, Straight Talk.

In 2016, O'Neill starred as Hank the Octopus in the highly successful Pixar animated film *Finding Dory*. According to O'Neill, he didn't realize at first that he had a starring role in the film. As his voice recording sessions continued and most of his interactions turned out to be with Dory, he began to suspect that Hank was a major character in the film.

## Personal life

O'Neill is married to actress Catherine Rusoff. As of 2016[update]Template:Dated maintenance category they live in Los Angeles with their two daughters.

After being introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by his friend writer/director John Milius, O'Neill has trained for 22 years under the mentoring of Rorion Gracie. In December 2007, O'Neill received his black belt. In the 2012 TV documentary *I Am Bruce Lee*, O'Neill states that he considers getting his black belt "the greatest achievement of my life, apart from my children."

## Awards and nominations

O'Neill received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 30, 2011.

## See also

* List of Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners

## References

1. ↑ "Ed O'Neill | Television Academy Interviews" (in en). October 22, 2017. https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/ed-oneill. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
2. ↑ Romero, Frances (September 16, 2011). "Ed O'Neill: From Al Bundy to Jay Pritchett". Retrieved on March 16, 2012.
3. ↑ "Ed O'Neill | TV Guide" (in en). https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/ed-oneill/bio/148365. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
4. ↑ Template:Cite book
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Ed O'Neill: Biography". http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/ed-oneill/bio/148365. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Ed O'Neill - Biography". *Biography.com*. A&E Television Networks. http://www.biography.com/people/ed-oneill-575134. Retrieved January 21, 2011.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Stated on *Inside the Actors Studio*, 2011
8. ↑ "It's Evening in America". *Vanity Fair*. May 2012. Page 156.
9. ↑ "Red Lobster Commercial with Ed O'Neil". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJpNoSOh2No. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
10. ↑ "Interview with Ed O'Neil". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGD83M4e0vc?t=1155. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
11. ↑ Template:Youtube
12. ↑ Template:Cite video
13. ↑ "Ed O'Neill". Emmys.com. http://www.emmys.com/celebrities/ed-oneill. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
14. ↑ Pond, Steve (July 14, 2011). "Snubs, surprises and favorites for Emmy gold". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/14/us-emmys-snubs-idUSTRE76D4RS20110714. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
15. ↑ O'Neil, Tom (September 14, 2011). "Finally, Emmy jackpot for Ed O'Neill?". http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/awards/2011/09/finally-emmy-redemption-for-ed-oneill.html. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
16. ↑ Other works for Ed O'Neill (I). imdb.com
17. ↑ Snetiker, Mark (June 17, 2016). "Finding Dory: Ed O’Neill didn’t know he was a lead". Retrieved on August 5, 2016.
18. ↑ "Ed O'Neill". *Biography.com*. A&E Television Networks. April 18, 2016. https://www.biography.com/people/ed-oneill-575134. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
19. ↑ Template:Youtube
20. ↑ "Ed O’Neill Practices Jiu-Jitsu With Billy Bush!". Access Hollywood. http://www.accesshollywood.com/julie-bowen/ed-oneill-practices-jiu-jitsu-with-billy-bush\_video\_1370401. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
21. ↑ Greenfest, Sara. "13 celebrities who fight fat with martial arts". http://www.mensfitness.com/life/entertainment/13-celebrities-who-fight-fat-with-martial-arts/slide/11. ""the greatest achievement of my life, apart from my children.""
22. ↑ Hipes, Patrick (June 1, 2016). "Michael Angarano & Melissa Benoist To Star In Jennifer Morrison’s ‘Sun Dogs’". http://deadline.com/2016/06/sun-dogs-movie-melissa-benoist-michael-angarano-jennifer-morrison-anthony-tambakis-1201765191/.
23. ↑ Nededog, Jethro (August 30, 2011). "'Modern Family's' Ed O'Neill Gets Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame". *The Hollywood Reporter*. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/modern-familys-ed-oneill-gets-229505. Retrieved March 16, 2012.
24. ↑ Oldenburg, Ann (August 30, 2011). "Ed O'Neill gets Walk of Fame star". http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2011/08/ed-oneills-tv-family-celebrates-walk-of-fame-star/1. Retrieved March 16, 2012.

## External links

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