Chris O'Dowd

Christopher O'Dowd (born 9 October 1979)[1][2] is an Irish actor and comedian. He has appeared in a range of television shows, films, and plays, mostly in the United Kingdom and United States.

Chris O'Dowd
O'Dowd at the British Comedy Awards, December 2013
Born	Christopher O'Dowd 9 October 1979 Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2003–present
Spouse(s)	Dawn O'Porter ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	2

O'Dowd was born and raised in Boyle, County Roscommon. After failing to complete a degree in politics and sociology at University College Dublin, he relocated to England to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He came to broad attention as Roy Trenneman, one of the leading characters in the Channel 4 comedy The IT Crowd, which ran for four series between 2006 and 2010. Moving into film, he appeared in Bridesmaids (2011), This Is 40 (2012), The Sapphires (2012), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Calvary (2014), and St. Vincent (2014). O'Dowd created and starred in the Sky 1 television series Moone Boy, which aired between 2012 and 2015, earning O'Dowd 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, County Roscommon. His father, Seán, is a sign designer, and his mother, Denise, is 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. O'Dowd did not obtain a degree from UCD, telling 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."[9] He contributed to The University Observer and was active in UCD Dramsoc and the Literary and Historical Society.[9]

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.

O'Dowd has appeared in How to Lose Friends & Alienate People in a minor role. O'Dowd 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. O'Dowd 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, released in Canada and the U.S. as Pirate Radio. The film was inspired by the story of offshore pirate broadcasters Radio Caroline. 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,"[10] says O'Dowd 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."[10]

O'Dowd starred opposite Sienna Miller in the film Hippie Hippie Shake, which is about the groundbreaking '60s magazine, Oz. The publication was the precursor to a whole generation of lad mags. O'Dowd plays Felix Dennis, who would later become the publisher of Maxim. The story centres on the landmark indecency trial. In preparation for the role, O'Dowd met with Dennis, stating "He was an incredibly charismatic man."[10]

In April 2009 it was announced that O'Dowd had been cast in a remake of Gulliver's Travels as General Edward. "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."[10]

O'Dowd appeared in the 2010 film Dinner for Schmucks, an American version of the French farce, Le Dîner de Cons.[11] 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 1984–88. In April 2011, he starred in the BBC adaptation of The Crimson Petal and the White as William Rackham and appeared in the May 2011 release Bridesmaids as Officer Nathan Rhodes.

O'Dowd had a supporting role in This Is 40.[12][13][14] He described "fighting over Megan Fox in a pool" during filming as "one of the most fun things I've ever done".

O'Dowd played Dave in Wayne Blair's 2012 debut feature Australian musical The Sapphires.[15] Based on a popular stage show, it was shot across Australia and Vietnam and produced by Goalpost Australia.[16][17] He is to write and executive produce a new American comedy series called Big Men,[18] after NBC won the bidding war for it.[19]

He co-wrote a series based on his childhood called Moone Boy for Sky 1.[20] Segments of the series, which ran from 2012 to 2015, were filmed in his hometown, Boyle. A book based on the series and also co-written by O'Dowd, Moone Boy: The Blunder Years, was published in May 2015. Subsequent releases include Moone Boy: The Fish Detective, published in October 2015, Moone Boy: The Notion Potion, published in September 2017, as well as an activity book, Moone Boy: The Marvellous Activity Manual, published in 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.[21] For this, he 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. O'Dowd was the narrator for the 2014 RTÉ documentary Man on Bridge.

Personal life

O'Dowd married British writer, director, and television presenter Dawn Porter in 2012. After their marriage, Dawn changed her surname to O'Porter.[22]

Despite being raised in a Roman Catholic family, O'Dowd has been a lifelong atheist, and has developed an antitheist philosophy as he has aged. He has stated that religion is "going to be like racism" in terms of condemnation.[23]

In April 2014, O'Dowd presented at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition with Leighton Meester and James Franco, after raising donations at his Broadway show Of Mice and Men.[24]

On 1 February 2015, it was announced on Twitter that O'Porter gave birth to a son they named Art O'Porter a week earlier.[25] On 1 July 2017, O'Porter gave birth to their second son, Valentine.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Conspiracy of Silence	James Matthews
2004	Vera Drake	Sid's Customer
2005	The Year London Blew Up[26]	Dowd
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 (The Fist)
	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
TBA	The Starling	Jack Maynard	Post-production

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)
	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. Cockroach (voice)	26 episodes
2013	Family Tree	Tom Chadwick	8 episodes
2015–2016	Puffin Rock	Narrator (voice)	78 episodes
2017–present	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"

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 (2015)
• Moone Boy: The Fish Detective, Chris O'Dowd and Nick V. Murphy (2016)
• Moone Boy: The Notion Potion, Chris O'Dowd and Nick V. Murphy (2017)

References

1. "Chris O'Dowd". TV.com. 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.https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/the-50-greatest-irish-film-actors-of-all-time-in-order-1.4271988
4. Laura Barton (16 June 2011). "Chris O'Dowd: From cult IT geek to Hollywood antihero". London Evening Standard.
5. Stuart Husband (20 June 2011). "Chris O'Dowd Interview". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
6. "Boyle: Boyle actor in television debut". The Sligo Champion. 8 January 2003.
7. Hadley Freeman. "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. Donie O'Sullivan (4 April 2012). "Standing out from the Crowd". College Tribune. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
10. 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.
11. "Chris O'Dowd Interview". Sky TV. Archived from the original on 18 December 2010.
12. "Chris O'Dowd for Knocked Up sequel". RTÉ Ten. 8 June 2011.
13. "'IT Crowd' star to join 'Knocked Up' spin-off". NME. 8 June 2011.
14. "O'Dowd joins Knocked Up spin-off". The Belfast Telegraph. 8 June 2011.
15. "Chris O'Dowd Joins Aussie Musical 'The Sapphires'". IFTN. 16 August 2011.
16. "On location and finally acting the part". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 October 2011.
17. "O'Dowd heads to Vietnam for new movie". RTÉ Ten. 16 August 2011.
18. "O'Dowd set for US comedy series". RTÉ Ten. 27 October 2011.
19. Daniel Frankel (26 October 2011). "NBC Wins Bidding War for Chris O'Dowd Comedy 'Big Men'". Reuters.
20. Caroline Crawford (26 November 2011). "O'Dowd hunts twins for his new TV series". Evening Herald.
21. Of Mice and Men Archived 23 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine, playbill.com; accessed 25 April 2014.
22. "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.
23. "Actor Chris O'Dowd says religion is 'unacceptable'". The Sydney Morning Herald.
24. "Bryan Cranston, James Franco, Idina Menzel, and More in Highlights From the 2014 Easter Bonnet Competition". TheaterMania.com. 23 April 2014.
25. "'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.
26. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0441045/

External links

• Chris O'Dowd at IMDb
• Chris O'Dowd on Twitter
• Chris O'Dowd at British Comedy Guide