Date of Birth
17 February 1974, New York City, New York, USA
Birth Name
Jeremiah O'Connell
Height
6' 2" (1.88 m)
Jeremiah "Jerry" O'Connell (born February 17, 1974) is an American actor, best known for his roles in the TV series Sliders, Vern Tessio in the film Stand by Me, Charlie Carbone in Kangaroo Jack, and Detective Woody Hoyt on the drama Crossing Jordan.
O'Connell was born in New York City, the son of Linda (n?e Witkowski), an art teacher, and Michael O'Connell, an advertising agency art director. His maternal grandfather, Charles S. Witkowski, was the mayor of Jersey City, NJ. O'Connell is of Irish descent on his father's side and Polish ancestry on his mother's. O'Connell was raised in Manhattan with a younger brother Charlie O'Connell, also an actor. O'Connell began his acting career at a young age. As a child, he did commercial work for Duncan Hines cookies. Shortly after at the age of eleven, he landed his first feature film role as the character Vern Tessio in Rob Reiner's Stand by Me. As a teenager, he starred in the Canadian TV series My Secret Identity from 198891, and attended Manhattan's Professional Children's School.
O'Connell attended New York University (NYU) from 1991 to 1994, majoring in film. While there, he studied screen writing and competed on the NYUfencing team, serving a stint as captain of the sabre squad. However, he left NYU several credits short of graduation in 1999.
O'Connell starred in the sci-fi sitcom My Secret Identity from 1988-1991 as the teen hero who develops superhuman traits. During a summer break from NYU, Jerry starred in the feature film Calendar Girl alongside Jason Priestley and Gabriel Olds. He also appeared in the short-lived ABC sitcom, Camp Wilder withJay Mohr and Hilary Swank in 1992. In his Junior year, O'Connell auditioned for the TV pilot Sliders. He was offered the role of Quinn Mallory in the series, which ran for three seasons on Fox and two seasons on the Sci-Fi Channel. He served as producer during his fourth and final season, and is credited with writing and directing several episodes.
O'Connell has since gone on to star in such movies as Jerry Maguire, Body Shots, Mission to Mars, Tomcats, Scream 2, and Kangaroo Jack. O'Connell has also tried his hand at screenwriting and sold his first screenplay, for First Daughter, to New Regency in 1999. The film was released in 2004 by 20th Century Fox-based Davis Entertainment. O'Connell served as executive producer on the film, which starred Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton.
O'Connell starred as Detective Woody Hoyt on the NBC crime drama Crossing Jordan (2001) until its cancellation, and was engaged to TV personality Giuliana DePandi. He starred opposite her in theUgly Betty episode "Derailed". O'Connell has also starred as Hoyt in several episodes of Las Vegas. In 2004, he wore a diaper on Last Call with Carson Daly, during a mock commercial skit for theGoodNites bedwetting product. The National Enquirer caught him filming the skit and printed a photo of him in his diaper.
In 2005, O'Connell guest-starred in one episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. In the episode, entitled "The Clash", he played Captain Marvel.
His younger brother Charlie O'Connell, an alumnus of NYU who was most recently seen as The Bachelor, is also an actor who has appeared with Jerry in several productions, usually playing the brother of Jerry's character, such as in Sliders and Crossing Jordan.
In 2007-08 Jerry O'Connell starred in ABC's Carpoolers, which ran from October 2, 2007 to March 4, 2008. Although it has not appeared in the Fall '08 lineup, it could come back in the future seasons on ABC.
In early 2008, O'Connell acted in a widely circulated Internet video parody of the leaked Tom Cruise video on Scientology. He also co-wrote and appeared in a video parody called "Young Hillary Clinton," satirizing Hillary Clinton's 2008 primary campaign. On February 2, 2008, O'Connell hosted VH1's Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Bash, which aired the night before Super Bowl XLII and featured musical guests Maroon 5 and Mary J. Blige. On April 28, 2008, O'Connell appeared as a guest star on ABC's Samantha Who?.
In the fall of 2008 O'Connell starred in Fox's Do Not Disturb, costarring Niecy Nash, but Fox cancelled the show after only three episodes.
Most recently, he appeared in the 2009 thriller film Obsessed as "Ben", the best friend and co-worker of the film's protagonist Derek Charles (Idris Elba).
Jerry will appear in Eastwick on ABC, alongside his wife who stars in the series. Jerry will play a good man hiding a horrible secret. His character is a single father, a widower, with a young son who is a part of this secret. Kat will be drawn to him, and she will be put in danger as a result.
O'Connell portrayed Derrick Jones in Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3-D, which also stars Elizabeth Shue.
It has been announced that O'connell will co-star with David Tennant in the new NBC legal drama Rex Is Not Your Lawyer.
On July 14, 2007, O'Connell married actress and former model Rebecca Romijn near Los Angeles in Calabasas, California.
A self-proclaimed "Super Super Fan" of The Howard Stern Show, O'Connell placed last in the "Celebrity" version of the "Super Fan Contest" that took place on May 13, 2008. His opponents were Jimmy Kimmel and Jeff Probst. Kimmel ultimately won the contest by a large margin.
After weeks of officially stating that the couple was "trying" to get pregnant, a publicist for the pair confirmed that Romijn was pregnant with twin girls. When talking about having children, O'Connell said "I am excited I am having girls. I know guys are supposed to say, 'I want a boy. I want to play baseball,' but I think I'm going to be good raising girls...I can't wait. They're going to be tough chicks. They're only having sex when I'm dead. If they don't date boys at all and just want to be infatuated with their father, that's what I'm really going for. The nunnery!" O'Connell and Romijn welcomed their twin girls, Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip, on December 28, 2008. O'Connell enrolled in Southwestern Law School in the fall of 2009.
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