By playing G. Callen in NCIS Los Angeles, Chris O’Donnell rose to fame .The native of Chicago has been a cast member since the program’s debut and is currently in season 13.
O’Donnell had a successful career despite the fact that the Hollywood celebrity press hates the 51-year-old despite the fact that he has settled down.
Why? Scroll down to find out all you need to know about Chris!
Chris O’Donnell was born in Winnetka, Illinois on June 26, 1970, around 30 kilometers from Chicago. The youngest of seven siblings, he was raised in a large, Catholic family.
According to O’Donnell, having a big family has been really beneficial. He undoubtedly internalized his “altar-boy” principles, and his upbringing in religion appears to have benefited him later in life.
Chis astonished his family at the age of 13 by revealing his plans. He believed that modeling would be easy money, so he wanted to pursue it.
“So one day, I literally took the Yellow Pages and started calling talent agencies,” he told Rolling Stone.
Now, the calls didn’t work, but O’Donnell had a chance when his sister met an agent at a wedding. O’Donnell entered the agent’s Chicago office, and she adored him!
Soon after, Chris was posing for Sears and Montgomery Ward while sporting pajamas. He soon transitioned to advertisements. He played a cashier in a 1987 McDonald’s commercial that featured none other than Michael Jordan.
“I was in the McDonald’s polyester outfit and served him his breakfast,” Chris O’Donnell recalled in an interview with NBC.
“It was a crazy day because it rained 10 inches that day, so Jordan was six hours late for the shoot. So I was waiting around for six hours in a McDonald’s for Jordan to arrive, and then he came, and it was awesome.”
Chris’s eagerness while serving Michael Jordan’s burgers even then made it clear that he could act. O’Donnell attended school prior to trying his luck in Hollywood. In 1988, he earned his diploma from the Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, and went on to Boston College to major in marketing.
O’Donnell was a traditionalist who mainly followed his study schedule. He had already secured his first gigs before to enrolling in college by that point. He came to the realization that acting was what he wanted to pursue after graduating from Boston College.
Early in the 1990s, he appeared in his first feature films, including Fried Green Tomatoes and Men Don’t Leave. He had a raw talent, that much was obvious.
Nobody thought O’Donnell was going to be a star when he was a student in Boston. When you consider that he studied marketing instead of drama, that isn’t that odd. But his roommate and other people in his circle soon realized how much of a genius he was.
O’Donnell was slated to play Barbara Streisand’s son in the 1991 movie Prince of Tides. He found out that she had ultimately decided not to give him the part when she left a message for his roommate.
“It was sophomore year, and I was living with some random people I didn’t know very well, and I hadn’t told anyone I had been making films because I wanted to know everybody without being the guy who made the films,” O’Donnell recalled on Watch What Happens Live.
“So I’m at the library, and I come home, and my roommate goes, ‘Oh hey, D, uh, Barbra Streisand called you,’” O’Donnell added. “I go, ‘Okay man, thanks.’ He goes, ‘What’s up with that?’ And I go, ‘What’d they say?’ ‘She’s calling back tomorrow at 1 o’clock.’ And so the entire hall was waiting to answer the phone.”
Barbara, however, never returned his call. Chris may have thought this was a major setback at the time. But he had a great breakthrough when he appeared in Scent of a Woman with Al Pacino in 1992. The Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture was awarded to O’Donnell afterwards. Pacino, though, received an Oscar.
Working with the legendary Al Pacino was not only a delight for O’Donnell, but he also gained a lot of acting knowledge. He thought the experience had improved his acting.
“It doesn’t get much better than Al. He’s one of the greats of his generation, maybe of all time. To have spent five or six months one on one for the majority of those scenes was incredible,” O’Donnell said.
“And I would, I would just listen. He’s just a creative genius. He could do 15 takes of one scene. Every take was completely different. And at the end of those 15 takes, he knew which ones he liked, specifically.”
O’Donnell learned a valuable lesson from the renowned Scarface actor Al Pacino in addition to acting tips.
“It was just the most nerve-wracking experience of my life, and being that nervous around Al Pacino for the majority of the film as well,” O’Donnell commeted.
“I knew at the time I was doing it that this is going to be the greatest single-acting experience of my life that I’ll ever have.”
“He always told me don’t ever marry an actress,” he recalled. “He said you’ll always be second in their life.”
O’Donnell, who briefly dated Reese Witherspoon in 1992, was plainly an Al Pacino fan. He never wed an actress. Instead, he fell in love after meeting the younger sister of a roommate from college. The gifted actor began dating Carolina Fentress in 1993 after they first met.
They initially had a distance relationship because O’Donnell was constantly on the go filming movies. Because Carolina intended to complete her sociology degree at Florida’s Rollins College, she was “forced” to remain in the country. In her home city of Washington, D.C., she also held a position as a kindergarten teacher.
In 1997, Chris O’Donnell and Carolina Fentress exchanged vows. On Thanksgiving in 1996, the actor got down on one knee and requested the future bride’s father for his blessing.
“That’s how we do things in my family,” he said.
In front of 250 people, the ceremony took place in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Sandra Bullock, O’Donnell’s co-star in the motion picture In Love and War, attended the event.
“I knew when I got into this business I couldn’t have it both ways: I could live the playboy lifestyle, which is not a bad thing to do, or have a traditional family life, which is how I grew up. And that was more important to me,” he remarked.
O’Donnell, who is a practicing Catholic, also shared how he and Carolina have managed to stay together for 25 years.
“Our families have the same values and traditions, and I think that goes a long way, because when the excitement and heat of romance wears off, those are the things you fall back on.”
His wife, Carolina, added: “He plays a vital role in our children’s lives, and that’s a big turn-on. The first time I met him, I watched him with his nieces and nephews and thought, ‘He’s going to be a great dad.’ It’s what drew me to him in the beginning.”
Together, Chris and Carolina have five beautiful children: Lily Anne, Maeve Frances, Charles McHugh, Charles McHugh, and Christopher.
When Chris O’Donnell was filming Vertical Limit in New Zealand in 1999, their first child, Lily Anne, was born. Chris had to fly in a chopper to the Christchurch hospital where Carolina gave delivery. For the actor, the birth of their first child took on a tragic quality. Chris “hit the deck” as he saw his daughter’s forehead appear.
“The next thing I knew, they got me up and put scissors in my hand so I could cut the umbilical cord,” he explains.
Chris has stated that he has always thought of himself as a family man and that he has always wanted to have five kids. But he reasoned that perhaps that was enough after having three kids.
However, he and Caroline would eventually have five gorgeous children. In order to try to live “normal” lives away from the spotlight, the actor makes an effort to keep the kids away from the paparazzi. At the same time, Chris frequently shares photos of his kids, and many of his admirers have remarked on how much his sons resemble their father.
Christopher O’Donnell, his oldest son, is frequently contrasted with his father. Christopher, who was born in 2000, was given his renowned father’s name. He will reportedly feature in “NCIS: Los Angeles,” but it is unclear whether he will emulate his father’s career.
Several of Chris’ children have actually guest-starred in” NCIS”. In two episodes, Chris’ son Finley, born in 2006, played 5-year-old Callen, his father’s character in NCIS. Finley appeared in two episodes.
Chris’ youngest child, Charles McHugh O’Donnell, has also acted in “NCIS: Los Angeles” as a younger version of his father’s character.
In 1995, O’Donnell was cast as Robin in Batman Forever, and two years later in Batman & Robin. Sadly, the two movies were both criticized and fare well at the box office. Even so, O’Donnell remained upbeat. He continued to appear on screen, starring in several films and television shows.
He has always maintained a great attitude towards his work and colleagues. In fact, his reputation in Hollywood precedes itself; the NCIS Los Angeles star is well-known for being an exceptionally kind person.
“Chris has every friend he’s made since the delivery room,” Batman Forever director Joel Schumacher told the Chicago Tribune.
“From the doctor who slapped his bottom to the person he met yesterday; When you work with him, you become part of his extended family.”
It turns out that Chris O’Donnell is among the most modest celebrities in Hollywood. Nothing else matters to him besides being a wonderful boss, a caring husband, and a wonderful father.
He has evidently been unfairly criticized as a result in some circles. According to a 1997 Chicago Tribune article about O’Donnell, he received “some of the worst press in the history of celebrity journalism.”
Because of his exemplary persona, the actor earned the nicknames “The Last Boy Scout,” “Mr. Squeaky Clean,” and “The Safe-Sex Symbol of the ’90s.” Of course, he wasn’t harmed by those nicknames at all. Instead, he laughed at them.
“They take it as a challenge to unearth some dark secret about me,” O’Donnell said. “It frustrates them that I have this clean-cut image. It’s not normal for an actor to be like this, I guess. But I’m not trying to create an image. I’m just being myself.”
O’Donnell’s “unassuming” inclination is to be sociable and avoid acting like a “star,” according to producer Frank Price, who co-wrote the screenplay for the movie Circle of Friends with O’Donnell.
“He was just wonderful in a situation that could’ve turned out quite differently,” Price told the Los Angeles Times in 1995.
“Here’s this young actor, a budding American star, who comes into a picture that is cast totally with Europeans. Clearly, he’s getting paid more; he’s the star. That can create resentment. What was terrific about it was how unassuming he is and was, how friendly. He wasn’t doing the star thing. Everyone liked him. He’s thoughtful, considerate, just a very decent guy.”
“He was able to do this in a way that you still cared very much for him,” Price added. “It’s impressive to find a guy with that kind of good grounding and instincts.”
O’Donnell has developed into more than just a familiar face that crew members adore. He became a great star today as a result of his work on NCIS Los Angeles.
O’Donnell has appeared in 287 episodes of the program, which also stars Linda Hunt as Henrietta Lange in various roles. Chris O’Donnell has a net worth of $25 million, claims Celebrity Net Worth. While he’s been on the show, his kids have grown up, and he considers his job to be a “great gift.”
“It’s been amazing,” he mentions. “It seems like it’s gone by very fast, but I know when I look at my kids how young they were when we started. I still had kids in diapers, and they’re all, you know — some of them are adults now.
“It’s been amazing, but I think that from an acting standpoint, it’s been fantastic because of the development of these characters and the richness to the storylines. You know, it does raise the stakes, and it does lead to more emotion and that sort of thing.”
“But purely from a personal life, it’s been unbelievable,” he added. “As an actor, you know… you’re a gypsy. You’re moving around, and you’re living in different parts of the world, and you’re looking for your next job. To have a steady bit of work here while my kids are in their formative years, it’s been a great gift.
“I know I’m very grateful, and I think most of our cast has been as well to have, you know, to park ourselves here for a while and work on this amazing show.”
Chris O’Donnell is a great actor, and we are so happy to learn that he’s also very appreciated among his colleagues. It’s rare to find one of these people in Hollywood, but we think it’s amazing.
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