Chris O'Dowd
O'Dowd at the British Comedy Awards in 2013
Born
Christopher O'Dowd

(1979-10-09) 9 October 1979
Boyle, Ireland
EducationUniversity College Dublin (no degree)
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (no degree)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
Years active2003–present
Spouse
​
(m. 2012)​
Children2
Signature

Christopher O'Dowd (born 9 October 1979)[1][2] is an Irish actor and comedian. He received wide attention as Roy Trenneman, one of the lead characters in the Channel 4 comedy The IT Crowd, which ran for four series between 2006 and 2010. He has also starred in several films, Gulliver's Travels (2010), Bridesmaids, Friends with Kids (both 2011), Cuban Fury (2014), Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) and The Cloverfield Paradox (2018). He created and starred in the Sky 1 television series Moone Boy, which aired between 2012 and 2015 and brought him Irish Film and Television Award nominations in acting, writing, and directing.

Since 2017, he has appeared as Miles Daly in the Epix comedy series Get Shorty. He had a recurring role on the comedy-drama series Girls. His performance in the British comedy TV series State of the Union won him a Primetime Emmy Award. He made his Broadway debut in the play adaptation of Of Mice and Men in 2014, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2020, he was listed at number 39 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.[3]

Early life

O'Dowd was born and raised in Boyle, in County Roscommon on 9 October 1979. His father, Seán, is a sign designer, and his mother, Denise, a counsellor and psychotherapist.[4][5][6] He is the youngest of five siblings.[7]

He represented Roscommon in Gaelic football at under-16, minor and under-21 levels, the highlight being his performance as a goalkeeper in the 1997 Connacht Minor Football Championship final against Mayo, a game which RTÉ Sport covered and aired as part of its The Sunday Game highlights programme.[8]

He studied politics and sociology at University College Dublin (UCD), and subsequently attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (leaving before graduating after 18 months).[9] He told the UCD student newspaper the College Tribune: "I didn't finish my degree. The politics part of it was fine, but I was doing sociology as well and I could never bring myself to find an interest in it."[10] He contributed to The University Observer and was active in UCD Dramsoc and the Literary and Historical Society.[10]

Career

O'Dowd at Lingerie London in 2012

O'Dowd starred in the United Kingdom in Channel 4's comedy The IT Crowd, BBC Two's Roman's Empire, Red Cap, and the award-winning documentary-drama The Year London Blew Up. He has also appeared on Irish television, having starred in the RTÉ One drama The Clinic and the drama Showbands alongside Kerry Katona.

He has appeared in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People in a minor role. He has also had roles in a number of films, including the 2005 film Festival where he played stand-up comedian Tommy O'Dwyer, a role for which he won a Scottish BAFTA award, and a small role in Vera Drake. He appears in Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, a comedy sci-fiction film with Marc Wootton, Dean Lennox Kelly, and Anna Faris. He played Liam in the 2007 German film Hotel Very Welcome.

He starred in the 2009 film The Boat That Rocked, inspired by the story of offshore pirate broadcasters Radio Caroline, which was released in Canada and the U.S. as Pirate Radio. O'Dowd plays Simon, the station's breakfast DJ. "The breakfast jock on Radio Caroline at the time was Tony Blackburn, so there's definitely an element of him in it,"[11] O'Dowd says of his character. "And then I called in different Irish DJs that would have been contemporaries of Tony Blackburn at the time, a guy called Larry Gogan and a couple of other people."[11]

O'Dowd starred opposite Sienna Miller in the film Hippie Hippie Shake, about the groundbreaking '60s magazine Oz, the precursor to a whole generation of lad mags. O'Dowd plays Felix Dennis, who later became the publisher of Maxim, and his landmark indecency trial. In preparation for the role, O'Dowd met with Dennis, and said, "He was an incredibly charismatic man."[11]

In April 2009, it was announced that O'Dowd was cast in a remake of Gulliver's Travels as General Edward Edwardian. "It's shooting in Pinewood from the end of April", he said, shortly after his participation was announced. "I'm just going back to England to learn how to ride a horse... I'm a general in the army, so there's going to be a little bit of horse riding. I think it's going to be really fun though, we're all kind of learning together."[11]

O'Dowd appeared in the 2010 film Dinner for Schmucks, an American version of the French farce Le Dîner de Cons.[12] He also appeared on panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks (season 21, episode 11), and starred in an ITV2 comedy series entitled FM. In 2010, he took part in Little Crackers, writing and directing a short film loosely based on his own childhood and Christmas in his family home from 1984 to 1988. In April 2011, he starred in the BBC adaptation of The Crimson Petal and the White as William Rackham, and in the May 2011 release Bridesmaids as Officer Nathan Rhodes.

O'Dowd had a supporting role in This Is 40.[13][14][15] He described "fighting over Megan Fox in a pool" during filming as "one of the most fun things I've ever done".[16]

He played Dave in Wayne Blair's 2012 debut feature Australian musical The Sapphires.[17] Based on a popular stage show, it was shot across Australia and Vietnam and produced by Goalpost Australia.[18][19] He is to write and executive produce a new American comedy series called Big Men,[20] after NBC won the bidding war for it.[21]

He co-wrote Moone Boy, a series based on his childhood, for Sky 1.[22] It was filmed in his hometown of Boyle. Segments of it ran from 2012 to 2015. O'Dowd has also co-written some books based on the series: Moone Boy: The Blunder Years (published May 2015), Moone Boy: The Fish Detective (October 2015), Moone Boy: The Notion Potion (September 2017), and an activity book, Moone Boy: The Marvellous Activity Manual (May 2017).

From April to July 2014, O'Dowd starred in the Broadway revival of Of Mice and Men, directed by Anna D. Shapiro and co-starring James Franco and Leighton Meester,[23] for which O'Dowd was nominated for a Drama Desk and Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He starred as a Catholic school teacher in the 2014 film St. Vincent with Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy. He was also the narrator for the 2014 RTÉ documentary Man on Bridge.

From 2017 to 2019, O'Dowd played the lead role in three seasons of the MGM+ television show Get Shorty, created by Davey Holmes and co-starring Ray Romano,[24] for which O'Dowd received a nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role from the 2018 IFTA Film & Drama Awards.[25]

In 2022 Chris played Philip in the Netflix film Slumberland alongside Jason Momoa, Kyle Chandler and young actress Marlow Barkley.[26]

Personal life

O'Dowd married British writer, director, and television presenter Dawn Porter in 2012. After their wedding, Dawn changed her surname to O'Porter.[27] On 1 February 2015, it was announced on Twitter that O'Porter had given birth to their son, Art O'Porter, a week earlier.[28] On 1 July 2017, O'Porter gave birth to their second son, Valentine. The family divide their time between homes in Los Angeles, California,[29] Bermondsey in London,[30] and Margate in Kent.[31]

O'Dowd says he has developed an antitheist philosophy, and believes religion is "going to be like racism" in terms of social unacceptability and condemnation.[32]

In April 2014, he presented at the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition with Leighton Meester and James Franco, after raising donations for their Broadway show Of Mice and Men.[33]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Conspiracy of Silence James Matthews
2004 Vera Drake Sid's Customer
2005 Festival Tommy O'Dwyer BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor in a Scottish Film
2007 Hotel Very Welcome Liam
2008 How to Lose Friends & Alienate People Post Modern Review staff
2009 The Boat That Rocked "Simple" Simon Swafford AKA Pirate Radio
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel Ray
2010 Hippie Hippie Shake Felix Dennis
Dinner for Schmucks Marco
Gulliver's Travels General Edward Edwardian
2011 Bridesmaids Officer Rhodes IFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Acting Ensemble
Nominated—Phoenix Award for Best Ensemble Acting
Friends with Kids Alex
2012 3,2,1... Frankie Go Boom Bruce
The Sapphires Dave AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
This Is 40 Ronnie
2013 Epic Grub (voice)
The Double Nurse Cameo
Thor: The Dark World Richard
2014 Calvary Jack Brennan
Cuban Fury Drew
St. Vincent Brother Geraghty
2015 The Program David Walsh
2016 Mascots Tommy 'Zook' Zucarello
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Franklin Portman
2017 The Incredible Jessica James Boone
Love After Love Nicholas
Loving Vincent Postman Roulin Voice and reference footage for animation
Molly's Game Douglas Downey
2018 Juliet, Naked Duncan Thomson
The Cloverfield Paradox Mundy
Mary Poppins Returns Shamus the Coachman Dog (voice)
2019 How to Build a Girl Alan Wilko Wilkinson
2021 The Starling Jack Maynard
2022 My Father's Dragon Kwan the Macaque (voice)
2022 Slumberland Philip

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Red Cap Bernie Maddox Episode: "Crush"
2003–2005 The Clinic Brendan Davenport 18 episodes
Nominated—IFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor in Television (2005)
2005 The Year London Blew Up: 1974 Dowd Television film
2006 Showbands II Mervin Mooney Television film
Nominated—IFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor in Television (2007)
8 out of 10 Cats Himself
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard Headmaster 2 episodes
Doc Martin Jonathan Crozier Episode: "On the Edge"
2006–2010,
2013		 The IT Crowd Roy Trenneman 25 episodes
2007 Roman's Empire Jase 5 episodes
2009 FM Lindsay 6 episodes
2010 Little Crackers Himself / Santa Claus Episode: "Chris O'Dowd's Little Cracker: Capturing Santa"
2011 The Crimson Petal and the White William Rackham 4 episodes
Nominated—IFTA Award for Best Actor in Television (2012)
2011–2012 Family Guy Butler, Contestant, Guard (voices) 2 episodes
2012–2013 Girls Thomas John 5 episodes
2012–2015 Moone Boy Sean Murphy 18 episodes; also creator, writer, director and executive producer
International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series (2013)
IFTA Award for Best Entertainment Programme (2013–2014)
Nominated—Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Multichannel Programme (2013)
Nominated—IFTA Award for Best Script Drama
Nominated—IFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor in Television (2013)
Nominated—IFTA Award for Best Actor in Television (2014)
2013–2014 Monsters vs. Aliens Dr. Herbert Cockroach (voice) 26 episodes
2013 Family Tree Tom Chadwick 8 episodes
2015–2016 Puffin Rock Narrator (voice) 78 episodes
2016 Travel Man Himself Episode: "48 Hours in Vienna"
2017–2019 Get Shorty Miles Daly 27 episodes
2019 State of the Union Tom 10 episodes
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series
The Twilight Zone Jeff Storck Episode: "The Blue Scorpion"
2021 The Simpsons Seamus (voice) Episode: "A Serious Flanders"
2022-2023 Human Resources Flanny O'Lympic (voice)
2022–present Big Mouth
2023 The Big Door Prize Dusty
TBA Small Town, Big Story — Filming; creator, writer, producer, director[34]

Stage

Year Title Role Notes
2014 Of Mice and Men Lennie Small Longacre Theatre
Nominated—Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
Nominated—Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play

Books

  • Moone Boy: The Blunder Years, Chris O'Dowd and Nick V. Murphy (2014)
  • Moone Boy: The Fish Detective, Chris O'Dowd and Nick V. Murphy (2015)
  • Moone Boy: The Notion Potion, Chris O'Dowd and Nick V. Murphy (2017)

References

  1. ↑ "Chris O'Dowd". TV.com. Archived from the original on 1 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Chris O'Dowd biography and filmography". Tribute. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  3. ↑ Clarke, Donald; Brady, Tara (13 June 2020). "The 50 greatest Irish film actors of all time – in order". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  4. ↑ Barton, Laura (16 June 2011). "Chris O'Dowd: From cult IT geek to Hollywood antihero". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  5. ↑ Stuart Husband (20 June 2011). "Chris O'Dowd Interview". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Boyle: Boyle actor in television debut". The Sligo Champion. 8 January 2003.
  7. ↑ Hadley Freeman (18 May 2012). "Chris O'Dowd: from The IT Crowd to Hollywood". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "Farm - Farming - Roscommon's IT guy". Farmersjournal.ie. Archived from the original on 12 April 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  9. ↑ https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/chris-o-dowd-from-cult-it-geek-to-hollywood-antihero-6412084.html
  10. 1 2 Donie O'Sullivan (4 April 2012). "Standing out from the Crowd". College Tribune. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Nicole Powers (9 May 2009). "Chris O'Dowd: The IT Man From The IT Crowd". SuicideGirls. Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  12. ↑ "Chris O'Dowd Interview". Sky TV. Archived from the original on 18 December 2010.
  13. ↑ "Chris O'Dowd for Knocked Up sequel". RTÉ Ten. 8 June 2011.
  14. ↑ "'IT Crowd' star to join 'Knocked Up' spin-off". NME. 8 June 2011.
  15. ↑ "O'Dowd joins Knocked Up spin-off". The Belfast Telegraph. 8 June 2011.
  16. ↑ "O'Dowd's Foxy flirting fun in pool". Irish Independent. 21 September 2011. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  17. ↑ "Chris O'Dowd Joins Aussie Musical 'The Sapphires'". IFTN. 16 August 2011.
  18. ↑ "On location and finally acting the part". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 October 2011.
  19. ↑ "O'Dowd heads to Vietnam for new movie". RTÉ Ten. 16 August 2011.
  20. ↑ "O'Dowd set for US comedy series". RTÉ Ten. 27 October 2011.
  21. ↑ Daniel Frankel (26 October 2011). "NBC Wins Bidding War for Chris O'Dowd Comedy 'Big Men'". Reuters.
  22. ↑ Caroline Crawford (26 November 2011). "O'Dowd hunts twins for his new TV series". Evening Herald.
  23. ↑ Of Mice and Men Archived 23 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine, playbill.com; accessed 25 April 2014.
  24. ↑ Get Shorty
  25. ↑ "These are the nominations for this year's IFTA awards". The Journal. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  26. ↑ Noraas, Dana (17 November 2022). "'Slumberland' Cast and Character Guide". Collider. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  27. ↑ "January baby! Chris O'Dowd's father reveals his baby with Dawn O'Porter is due early next year". evoke.ie. 22 October 2014. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  28. ↑ "'It's a boy!' Chris O'Dowd and Dawn O'Porter announce birth of son Art and joke 'I think we'll keep him'". evoke.ie. 2 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  29. ↑ "Chris O'Dowd Drops $2.15 Million for Vintage 1930s Spanish Home in Los Angeles". 19 March 2019.
  30. ↑ "Chris O'Dowd's My London". 29 June 2012.
  31. ↑ "Chris O'Dowd Video of Him Jumping into Freezing Cold Sea is All of Us". 5 December 2018.
  32. ↑ "Actor Chris O'Dowd says religion is 'unacceptable'". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 March 2014.
  33. ↑ "Bryan Cranston, James Franco, Idina Menzel, and More in Highlights From the 2014 Easter Bonnet Competition". TheaterMania.com. 23 April 2014.
  34. ↑ Goldbart, Max (7 September 2023). "Chris O'Dowd Penning Sky TV Series About Hollywood Production In Ireland Starring Christina Hendricks & Paddy Considine". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
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