Keir O'Donnell
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| Keir O'Donnell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 November 1978 Sydney, NSW, Australia |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Keir O'Donnell (born 8 November 1978) is an Australian American actor best known for his roles in the comedy films Wedding Crashers and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. He also had guest appearances in episodes of the television series Lost, CSI, and The Closer.
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[edit] Early life
O'Donnell was born on 8 November 1978, in Sydney, Australia to an Australian father of Irish descent and an English mother. He grew up in the suburb of St. Ives, outside of Sydney. When he was eight years old he and his family moved to Harvard, Massachusetts, United States. He has one sibling, a brother, Patrick, who is eighteen months older.[citation needed]
[edit] Early career
O'Donnell attended high school at The Bromfield School in Harvard, Massachusetts. The Bromfield School has a renowned drama department, and he was involved in numerous productions both on the festival circuit and in community theater.[1] In 1996 he was awarded a Massachusetts High School Drama Guild Acting Scholarship. Upon graduation he joined the first class of the newly created four-year classical theatre acting conservatory at The Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut. The Hartt School of Theatre was established by Malcolm Morrison and Alan Rust (North Carolina School of the Arts). At the Hartt School he performed in numerous plays including Three Sisters, Lysistrata, Twelfth Night, Philadelphia Here I Come, and played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet opposite Hannah Mello, founder of B.Mello Productions. He graduated in 2000 and was promptly accepted into the prestigious Hartford Stage Co. Regional Theatre under the tutelage of Michael Wilson. While there he appeared in Macbeth and A Christmas Carol.[citation needed]
At the beginning of 2001 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue work in film and television. In the fall of 2001 he was cast as a lead in the US premiere of The Man Who Never Yet Saw Woman's Nakedness by Moritz Rinke, at The Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles. The performances were produced in cooperation with The Goethe Institute. It was well received and became a "Pick of the Week" in LA Weekly.
[edit] Feature films
After several student and independent films, O'Donnell landed the role of Todd Cleary in New Line Cinema's Wedding Crashers. The film went on to become the highest grossing R-Rated comedy of all time. Not long after Crashers, Vince Vaughn invited O'Donnell to join him on the road for his Wild West Comedy Tour, a tour that hit 30 cities in 30 days across the country.[citation needed]
O'Donnell would appear on stage with Vaughn as a special guest doing improv skits. The tour was filmed and can be seen as the documentary: Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show. In 2002, he played the role of Todd Jarvis in the movie Splat! He was a troubled teen who played paintball to help him succeed. Later he re-teamed with Vince Vaughn for Universal Pictures' The Break-Up, also starring Jennifer Aniston. O'Donnell costarred in the indie comedy Flakes with Aaron Stanford and Zooey Deschanel. It was premiered at the 2007 South By Southwest Film Festival. O'Donnell plays a car thief who shows Tim Robbins how to disable car alarms in director/writer Henry Bean's second film Noise. The film was featured at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival.[citation needed]
He appeared as "Veck Simms" in the 2009 film Paul Blart: Mall Cop alongside Kevin James. O'Donnell plays Veck Simms, a security guard trainee, who turns out to be a bad guy and attempts to take over the mall. He appeared in the 2010 romantic comedy When in Rome, with Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. The same year he had a cameo in The Mother of Invention.
[edit] Television work
O'Donnell has also been in numerous television projects including the hit ABC show Lost (episode 10), an episode of the CBS show CSI (episode "Up in Smoke"), and ab episode of The Closer ("No Good Deed"). He has made several appearances on the first season of the FX series Sons of Anarchy. He appeared in an episode of the FX TV show, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia in the episode "Mac and Charlie Die pt. 2", which aired on 2 October 2008.
O'Donnell was part of the main cast of the ABC documentary-style dramedy television series My Generation, which premiered in Fall 2010, and was canceled after two episodes.[2]
In 2011, he had a recurring role on the Showtime series United States of Tara, appearing for the second half of the third season as Evan, Kate's love interest.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Disconnected | Son | |
| In Your Face | Todd Jarvis | ||
| 2004 | 8 Simple Rules | Derek | Episode: "Mall in the Family" |
| Starkweather | Bob Von Buch | ||
| Lost | Thomas | Episode: "Raised by Another" | |
| 2005 | Wedding Crashers | Todd Cleary | |
| Killer Instinct | Chester | Episode: "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" | |
| 2006 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Ken Richmond | Episode: "Up in Smoke" |
| The Break-Up | Date (Paul) | ||
| The Closer | Gerald Curtis | Episode: "No Good Deed" | |
| Introducing Lennie Rose | Harper | TV movie | |
| 2007 | After Sex | David | |
| Flakes | Stuart | ||
| What We Do Is Secret | Chris Ashford | ||
| It's a Mall World | Dennis | TV mini-series | |
| Noise | Experienced Car Thief | ||
| Deadbox | Tucker | ||
| 2008 | Bar Starz | Dick | |
| Pathology | Ben Stravinsky | ||
| It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia | Jan | Episode: "America's Next Top Paddy's Billboard Model Contest" Episode: "Mac & Charlie Die: Part 2" |
|
| Amusement | The Laugh | ||
| Sons of Anarchy | Lowell Harland | 4 episodes | |
| 2009 | Paul Blart: Mall Cop | Veck Sims | |
| FlashForward | Ned Ned | Episode: "Black Swan" | |
| Civil | Higgins | ||
| Taking Chances | Digger Morris | ||
| 2010 | The Runaways | Rodney Bingenheimer | |
| When in Rome | Priest (Father Dino) | ||
| Complacent | Thomas | ||
| Ghosts/Aliens | Mike Stevens | TV movie | |
| Miss Nobody | Lj | Post Production | |
| The Mother of Invention | Tears of a Child Villain | Also Associate Producer | |
| My Generation | Kenneth Finley | ||
| 2011 | United States of Tara | Evan | Episode: "The Road to Hell Is Paved with Breast Intentions" Episode: "The Electrifying & Magnanimous Return of Beaverlamp" Episode: "Chicken 'n' Corn" Episode: "Bryce Will Play" Episode: "Train Wreck" Episode: "Crunchy Ice" Episode: "The Good Parts" |
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.harvardtheatre.org/96celestial.html
- ^ "ABC Unveils 2010–11 Primetime Schedule". The Futon Critic. 18 May 2010. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/05/18/abc-unveils-2010-11-primetime-schedule/20100518abc01/. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
[edit] External links
- 1978 births
- Living people
- Actors from Massachusetts
- Australian film actors
- Australian television actors
- American film actors
- American television actors
- American people of Australian descent
- Australian people of Irish descent
- Australian people of English descent
- People from Sydney
- The Hartt School alumni
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- People from Worcester County, Massachusetts
- American People of English descent
