Chris O'Donnell

For the Delaware Republican senatorial candidate, see Christine O'Donnell.
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**Christopher Eugene O'Donnell** (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor and former model. He played Charlie Simms in *Scent of a Woman*, Chris Reece in *School Ties*, 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*, Peter Garrett in *Vertical Limit*, and Wardell Pomeroy in *Kinsey*. 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

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. He is the youngest of seven children, with four sisters and two brothers, and is of German and Irish descent. He was raised in a Catholic family and attended Catholic schools, 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 Hackman for *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.Template: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,Template: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.

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. 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.Template: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.Template: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*.

 File:Mark Harmon and Chris ODonnell (8 March 2009) 6.jpg
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, 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."

In 2010, O'Donnell appeared in the sequel to the 2001 movie *Cats & Dogs*, *The Revenge of Kitty Galore*.

## Personal life

O'Donnell married Caroline Fentress in April 1997 at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington, D.C. They have five children.

O'Donnell is a practicing Roman Catholic. O'Donnell's brother, John, founded the clothing company johnnie-O.

It was also stated in *Rolling Stone* that he has acrophobia.

## References

1. ↑ I Am Happy! | Live Happy Magazine Retrieved 2017-04-27.
2. ↑ "Chris O'Donnell Biography – Yahoo! Movies". Movies.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110209123324/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019490/bio. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
3. ↑ Kessler, Mike (2010-12-08). "William C. O'Donnell dies at 88 — Winnetka & Northfield news, photos and events —". Triblocal.com. http://triblocal.com/winnetka-northfield/community/stories/2010/12/william-c-odonnell-dies-at-88/. Retrieved 2013-01-18.
4. ↑ "Express-News Archives : MySA.com".
5. ↑ "Actor's roles range from the birds & the bees to just a bird – Robin.(Originated from The Virginian-Pilot)", *Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service* (April 13, 1995).
6. ↑ Chris O'Donnell's Personal High : Rolling Stone Template:Webarchive
7. ↑ "'Titanic' Casting: What Other Stars Were Considered For James Cameron's Masterpiece?". June 22, 2012. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/titanic-casting-james-cameron-christian-bale\_n\_1619006. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
8. ↑ [1] Template:Webarchive
9. ↑ "Trivia for *Men in Black*". at the Internet Movie Database. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119654/trivia. Retrieved October 21, 2007.
10. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (February 27, 2009). "O'Donnell nabs lead role in "NCIS" spin-off", Reuters. Retrieved on February 27, 2009.
11. ↑ "NCIS Los Angeles". CBS. http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis\_los\_angeles/about/. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Smith, Russel Scott; Smith, Russel Scott (2000-12-08). "Chris O'Donnell's Personal High" (in en-US). https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/chris-odonnells-personal-high-170746/.
13. ↑ Chiu, Alexis (December 18, 2007). "Chris O'Donnell and Wife Have Fifth Baby". *People*. https://people.com/parents/chris-odonnell-and-wife-have-fifth-baby/. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
14. ↑ Template:Citenews
15. ↑ Donahue, Wendy (November 25, 2014). "Johnnie-O label finds sweet spot between East and West Coast prep". https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/sc-fash-1201-johnnie-o-mens-style-20141125-story.html. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
16. ↑ "Chris O'Donnell Interview - Sarah's Backstage Pass". http://sarahsbackstagepass.com/chris-odonnell-interview.
17. ↑ Gardner, Chris (January 7, 2015). "Designers Dish: Johnnie-O Founder John O'Donnell", *The Hollywood Reporter*.
18. ↑ https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/sc-fash-1201-johnnie-o-mens-style-20141125-story.html
19. ↑ "People's Choice Awards 2017: Full List Of Winners". 19 January 2017. http://blog.peopleschoice.com/2017/01/18/peoples-choice-awards-2017-winners/. Retrieved 19 January 2017.

## External links

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* Feature article on O'Donnell in June 2008 issue of *Men's Vogue*

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