Ed O'Neill Biography

Edward Leonard "Ed" O'Neill (born April 12, 1946) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the Fox TV Network sitcom Married... with Children, for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes. Since 2009, O'Neill has been playing patriarch Jay Pritchett on the award-winning ABC sitcom Modern Family, a role for which he was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and won three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Early life

O'Neill was born into an Irish Catholic family in Youngstown, Ohio. His mother, Ruth Ann (née Quinlan), was a homemaker and social worker, and his father, Edward Phillip O'Neill, was a steel mill worker and truck driver. O'Neill attended Ursuline High School and won a football scholarship to Ohio University, where he majored in history. O'Neill left Ohio after his sophomore year: he spent more time playing sports and partying than studying and also feuded with his coach. He transferred to Youngstown State University, where he was a defensive lineman. O'Neill was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969, but was cut in training camp. Later, on Married... with Children, O'Neill played a former high-school football star who had failed to make it big and constantly reminisced about his "glory days" at Polk High ("I once scored four touchdowns in a single game"). As part of this theme, former Pittsburgh Steelers great and hall of fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw also made two guest appearances on the show. O'Neill was also a social studies teacher at Ursuline High School, before becoming an actor.

Career

O'Neill reenrolled at YSU after being cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers and was one of the first students at the school's then new theatre program. He played Lennie in a stage production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1985, O'Neill appeared alongside Jeff Kinsland in a Red Lobster commercial eating fish and made a brief guest appearance in The Equalizer. In 1986, he was cast as the character of NYPD Police Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle for the planned television series Popeye Doyle. The Popeye Doyle character originally appeared in the motion picture The French Connection (played by Gene Hackman). The two-hour made-for-television movie/pilot was filmed and shown on network television. O'Neill received good reviews for his performance, and the pilot received good ratings, but the series was not picked up for production.

O'Neill is primarily known for playing the lead role of Al Bundy in Married... with Children, a long-running American sitcom about a dysfunctional family living in Chicago. It was the first primetime television series to air on the Fox Network as a midseason replacement, debuting on April 5, 1987 and concluding June 9, 1997.

During and following the success of Married... with Children, O'Neill appeared in several movies, including The Bone Collector, Little Giants, and Dutch. He also had small parts in Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2, and appeared as Relish the Troll King in The 10th Kingdom. O'Neill made a brief appearance on the comedy variety show In Living Color, playing the "Dirty Dozens" champion who defeats the challenger, played by Jamie Foxx. He also made a cameo on the sitcom 8 Simple Rules where he was the ex-boyfriend of Cate S. Hennessy (played by Katey Sagal, who portrayed O'Neill's TV wife Peg Bundy on Married with Children). He also appeared in the movie The Adventures of Ford Fairlane with Andrew Dice Clay and in Cruising with Al Pacino. During the mid-1990s, he had a long string of appearances in commercials for 1-800-COLLECT.

Law & Order franchise creator Dick Wolf cast O'Neill as Sgt. Joe Friday in his 2003 remake of Jack Webb's classic TV crime series Dragnet. The series was canceled by ABC in its second season. O'Neill went on to appear as Governor Eric Baker (D-PA), a recurring character on NBC's The West Wing. Baker, a strong candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, assumed the office of the Vice President under Matt Santos at the end of the series.

O'Neill also played Bill on HBO's television series John From Cincinnati.

In 2008, O'Neill appeared in an advertisement for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama as "Al the Shoesalesman".

In January 2009, O'Neill reunited with David Faustino (Bud Bundy from Married with Children) for two episodes of Faustino's show Star-ving. O'Neill also appeared with the entire cast of Married with Children again when they were honored at the 7th Annual TV Land Award show in 2009.

Since 2009, O'Neill has played the role of Jay Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family, a role that earned him three Primetime Emmy Award nominations in 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Starting in winter 2012, O'Neill has lent his voice to TV advertisements for allergy pill Zyrtec.

Personal life

Since 1986 O'Neill has been married to actress Catherine Rusoff, who appeared in two episodes of Married... with Children. In 1989, the couple separated but reconciled in 1993. They have two daughters: Claire, born in 1996, and Sophia, born in 1999.

After being introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by his friend writer/director John Milius, O'Neill has trained in the martial art for 22 years under the mentoring of Rorion Gracie. In December 2007, O'Neill received his black belt. In the 2011 TV documentary I Am Bruce Lee, O'Neill states that he considers getting his black belt "the greatest achievement of my life, apart from my children."

Awards

O'Neill received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 30, 2011.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	Cruising	Detective Schreiber
1980	The Dogs of War	Terry
1980	The Day the Women Got Even	Ed
1982	Farrell for the People	Detective Jay Brennan
1983	When Your Lover Leaves	Mack Sher
1986	A Winner Never Quits	Whitey Wyshner
1986	Popeye Doyle	Popeye Doyle
1987	Right to Die
1988	Police Story: Gladiator School	Sergeant Stanley Bivens
1990	A Very Retail Christmas	Max Crandall
1989	Disorganized Crime	George Denver
1989	K-9	Sergeant Brannigan
1990	The Adventures of Ford Fairlane	Lieutenant Amos
1990	Sibling Rivalry	Wilbur Meany
1991	Dutch	Dutch Dooley
1991	The Whereabouts of Jenny	Jimmy O'Meara
1992	Wayne's World	Glen
1993	Wayne's World 2	Glen
1993	Nick's Game	Ron Hawthorne
1994	Blue Chips	Ed
1994	Little Giants	Kevin O'Shea
1995	W.E.I.R.D. World	Dr. Monochian
1997	Prefontaine	Bill Dellinger
1997	The Spanish Prisoner	FBI team leader
1999	The Bone Collector	Detective Paulie Sellitto
2000	Lucky Numbers	Dick Simmons
2001	Nobody's Baby	Norman Pinkney
2004	Spartan	Burch
2005	Steel Valley	Congressman Cardone	Short film
2008	Redbelt	Hollywood producer
2012	Wreck-It Ralph	Mr. Litwak	Voice only

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	All My Children		Unknown episodes
1984	Miami Vice	Arthur Lawson / Artie Rollins	Episode: "Heart of Darkness"
1985	Hunter	Dan Colson	Episode: "The Garbage Man"
1985	Braker	Danny Buckner
1985	The Equalizer	Doctor	Episode: "The Children's Song"
1985	Spenser: For Hire	Buddy Almeida	Episode: "Widow's Walk"
1987"1997	Married... with Children	Al Bundy	259 Episodes
1988	Midnight Caller	Hank	Episode: "Twelve Gauge"
1990	Saturday Night Live	Guest host	January 13, 1990
1990	The Earth Day Special	Al Bundy
1991	Top of the Heap	Al Bundy	Episode: "Top of the Heap"
1994	In Living Color	Himself	Episode: "The Dirty Dozens Tournament of Champions"
2000	The 10th Kingdom	Relish the Troll King
2001	Big Apple	Detective Michael Mooney	8 episodes
2003"2004	L.A. Dragnet	Lieutenant Joe Friday	22 episodes
2004	In the Game	Buzz
2004	The West Wing	Governor Eric Baker
2005	8 Simple Rules	Matt	Episode: "Old Flame"
2005	In the Game	Buzz
2005	The West Wing	Governor Eric Baker
2006	Inseparable	Alan
2006	Twenty Good Years	Brock Manley	Episode: "Between Brock and a Hard Place"
2006	The Unit	William Partch	Episode: "Silver Star"
2007	John from Cincinnati	Bill Jacks	10 episodes
2009"present	Modern Family	Jay Pritchett
2011	Handy Manny	Mayor Thompson	Episode: "Great Garage Rescue"
2011	Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil	Grandpa	Episode: "Truth or Daredevil"
2012	The Penguins of Madagascar	Hunter's father	Episode: "Operation: Antarctica"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
1992	Golden Globe Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series " Comedy/Musical	Married...with Children
1993	Golden Globe Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series " Comedy/Musical	Married...with Children
2009	TV Land Award	Innovator Award	Married...with Children
2010	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Modern Family
2011	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series	Modern Family
2011	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Modern Family
2011	Golden Nymph	Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series	Modern Family
2011	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Modern Family
2011	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Modern Family
2012	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Modern Family
2012	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Modern Family
2013	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	Modern Family
2013	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Modern Family

See also

• List of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners