Mike O'Malley Biography

Michael Edward "Mike" O'Malley (born October 31, 1966) is an American actor and writer who has appeared in films and television series. Nominated for an Emmy for his role as ?Burt Hummel' in Fox's hit series Glee, O'Malley is also a writer on Showtime's hit drama Shameless. Born in Boston and raised in New Hampshire, O'Malley moved to Los Angeles in the late 90's to star in a series for NBC, called The Mike O'Malley Show. He then spent the next six years playing ?Jimmy Hughes' on the CBS hit series Yes, Dear. He has guest starred in series such as My Name Is Earl, Parenthood, and Parks and Recreation, and continues to work in films such as 28 Days, Deep Impact, Pushing Tin, Cedar Rapids, Leatherheads, The Perfect Man, Eat, Pray, Love, So Undercover, and R.I.P.D.. Mike is a published playwright of plays such as Three Years From Thirty and Diverting Devotion. He adapted another play, Searching for Certainty, for Peter Askin's film Certainty, which premiered at the Boston Film Festival in 2011. O'Malley resides in Los Angeles with his wife Lisa and their three children, Fiona, Seamus and Declan.

Career

Television

His first role came as the host of Nickelodeon children's game shows Get the Picture and Nickelodeon GUTS (later Global GUTS). O'Malley starred in Life with Roger, a series which aired from 1996 to 1997. In 1999, two episodes of The Mike O'Malley Show aired before the show was canceled; thirteen episodes were filmed. During the 1990s, he also appeared as "The Rick", a popular character in a series of ads for the ESPN network.

Beginning in 2000, O'Malley starred as Jimmy Hughes on the CBS Comedy Yes, Dear. The show ran until 2006. Along with Yes, Dear costar Anthony Clark, O'Malley appeared in the Alan Jackson music video "The Talkin' Song Repair Blues". From 2000 to 2002, O'Malley also provided a voice for The WB's Baby Blues.

In 2006, O'Malley made a guest appearance on My Name Is Earl, as a police officer with bowling aspirations, and made several more guest appearances on the show. O'Malley has a recurring role in ESPN commercials in which he plays "The Rick", a rabid Boston sports fan. In 2008, O'Malley appeared in the NBC drama My Own Worst Enemy.

In 2008, O'Malley became the spokesman for Time Warner Cable's digital cable. In 2009, O'Malley began playing the recurring character Burt Hummel, the father of a gay student, on Glee. It is a role which has pleasantly surprised him and lead to Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack to say, "If Mike O'Malley doesn't win an Emmy for playing Burt Hummel, I will be sorely disappointed." Chris Colfer, who plays Burt's son Kurt, has credited his off-screen relationship with O'Malley with improving the quality of their scenes together.

Beginning in 2010, O'Malley portrays a recurring character on Parenthood. He hosted The World's Funniest Office Commercials, also in 2010. On July 8, 2010, O'Malley received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor " Comedy Series for playing Burt Hummel on Glee. Prior to its second season, O'Malley was made a series regular on Glee. On August 8, 2010, O'Malley won the Teen Choice Awards for Parental Unit. He returned to recurring guest star status for the show's third season.

Film

O'Malley made his movie debut in the 1998 film Deep Impact, playing Elijah Wood's astronomy teacher. He followed that with a supporting role in the John Cusack/Billy Bob Thornton film about air traffic controllers called Pushing Tin. In 2000, he portrayed Oliver, a Drug Addict, in the Sandra Bullock rehab film 28 Days. In 2005, O'Malley starred in the Heather Locklear/Hilary Duff film The Perfect Man. In 2007, he had supporting roles in the George Clooney film Leatherheads and the Eddie Murphy film Meet Dave.

O'Malley was one of the people interviewed in the film City of Champions: The Best of Boston Sports.

In 2009, O'Malley participated in the American documentary film The People Speak. In the film, he performed in a segment with political activist Staceyann Chin.

Writing

O'Malley is a playwright with two of his plays, Three Years from Thirty and Diverting Devotion, having been published and produced Off-Broadway. In 2003, a third play, Searching for Certainty was produced in Los Angeles.

He later wrote the screenplay for the movie Certainty, which is based on Searching for Certainty. The movie began production on May 24, 2010, directed by Peter Askin and produced by O'Malley and two others. Certainty premiered at the Boston Film Festival on September 16, 2011, where it won the Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Ensemble Cast awards.

He is also a writer and consulting producer on the Showtime dramedy series Shameless, which was renewed in January 2013 for the fourth season.

Other media

In 2007, O'Malley kept a blog on Yahoo! Sports, which followed the Boston Red Sox throughout their journey in the MLB playoffs, which was eventually capped off by their World Series title.

Mike O'Malley is also mentioned in several songs by rapper mc chris.

Personal life

O'Malley was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Nashua, New Hampshire, the son of Marianne, a career counselor, and Tony O'Malley, an executive for the defense industry.

O'Malley and his wife, Lisa, have three children: Fiona, Seamus, and Declan. O'Malley is a 1984 graduate of Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, New Hampshire, and a 1988 graduate from the University of New Hampshire where he studied theatre. He is also a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. O'Malley returned to his alma mater in 2006 to deliver the commencement address to the University's 136th graduating class, and also received an honorary doctorate.

Kerry O'Malley, his younger New Hampshire-born sister, is also an actress and a Broadway veteran; she received critical attention for her role in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods and recently appeared in several episodes of Showtime's Brotherhood.

O'Malley is a Boston Red Sox fan and in May 2006 threw out the first pitch at a game in Fenway Park. He is also an avid fan of the NHL's Boston Bruins and the NFL's New England Patriots.

A long time fan of Boston band Buffalo Tom, O'Malley is a close friend of lead singer Bill Janovitz and they are often seen supporting causes together. O'Malley made a personal request to the band asking them to create a title song to his own short-lived television vehicle The Mike O'Malley Show and again for the sitcom Yes, Dear that he previously starred in. According to O'Malley his love of the band was shared with his wife and was "the glue" that kept them together during their long distance relationship.

Filmography

Year	Work	Role	Notes
1991	Law & Order	New York policeman #1	Television series 1 episode
1991	Get the Picture	Host	Game show
1992"1995	Nickelodeon GUTS	Host	Game show
1996"1997	Life with Roger	Roger Hoyt	Television series
1997	Path to Paradise: The Untold Story of the World Trade Center Bombing	Storage facility manager	Television film
1997"1998	Figure It Out	Panelist	Game show
1998	Some Girl	Dan
1998	Deep Impact	Mike Perry
1998	Above Freezing	Artie
1999	Pushing Tin	Pete
1999	'	Mike
2000	28 Days	Oliver
	Baby Blues	Darryl MacPherson	Animated series
	Yes, Dear	Jimmy Hughes	122 Episodes
2002	A Baby Blues Christmas Special	Darryl MacPherson	Animated television film
2005	'	Lenny Horton
2005	City of Champions: The Best of Boston Sports	Himself	Direct-to-video Documentary film
2006"2009	My Name Is Earl	Stuart	Television series 14 episodes
2007	On Broadway	Father Rolie O'Toole
2008	Meet Dave	Office Knox
2008	Leatherheads	Mickey
2008	Pretty/Handsome	Chip Fromme	Television film
2008	My Own Worst Enemy	Tom Grady/Raymond Carter	Television series 9 episodes
2009	'	Himself	Documentary film
	Glenn Martin, DDS	Various	Animated series 2 episodes
	Glee	Burt Hummel	Television series Main cast: Season 2 Recurring Guest Star: Season 1, 3 & 4 Teen Choice Awards " Parental Unit Nominated: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor
2010	Parenthood	Jim Kazinsky	Television series 3 episodes
2010	Eat Pray Love	Andy Shiraz
2011	Cedar Rapids	Mike Pyle
2011	Family Album	Dave Bronsky	Pilot
2011	Geezers!	Mike
2012	Parks and Recreation	Bill	"Bus Tour"
2012	So Undercover	Sam Morris
2013	R.I.P.D.	Elliot
2013	Justified	Nick "Nicky" Augustine	Television series 6 episodes
2013	Welcome to the Family	Dr Dan Yoder	Television series