P. J. Byrne Biography

Paul Jeffrey "P. J." Byrne (born 1974) is an American film and television actor in comedic and dramatic roles in movies and television shows. Byrne is known for his recurring role of Irv Smith, a driven sports agent who represents professional football players, on the BET series The Game.

Personal life

A Garden State native, Byrne was born in Maplewood, New Jersey, to Emma N. (Ferraro) and Paul I. Byrne, Jr., and was raised in Old Tappan, New Jersey. He is of Irish and Italian descent.

P.J. graduated from Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan in 1992.

A graduate of Boston College with a double major in finance and theatre and an M.F.A. from the Theatre School at DePaul University, Byrne was on his way to becoming an investment banker out of college when a drama teacher at BC convinced him to follow his passion for acting.

He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Jaime, who is the district director in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills for health care services and fund-raising for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Byrne and his wife are currently expecting their first child.

Career

Byrne has credits in both comedic and dramatic film and television, including both guest starring and recurring roles. He had a pivotal role in Horrible Bosses in which he encouraged the stars of the film to plot and kill their bosses. The film added Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, and Jason Sudeikis to a long list of comedic actors Byrne has worked with. He played opposite Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis in The Campaign (2012), Steve Carell in Dinner for Schmucks, Harrison Ford in Extraordinary Measures, Tom Hanks in Mike Nichols's Charlie Wilson's War, Nicole Kidman and Stephen Colbert in Nora Ephron's Bewitched, Jack Black in Michel Gondry's Be Kind, Rewind, Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty and Clint Eastwood in Bloodwork.

Byrne was well-received for his starring role in Final Destination 5, the 5th installment of the Final Destination franchise for Warner Bros.. Byrne's character meets one of the more unusual demises in the series of sci-fi horror films.

Byrne's television credits include the role of Irv Smiff, the sports agent who represents a number of professional football players, on the BET series The Game. He has appeared in guest roles on series such as The Mentalist, Burn Notice, NCIS, Bones, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Reno 911, West Wing, ER, Boston Legal, Desperate Housewives and New Adventures of Old Christine. In addition to his on screen roles, Byrne also voices Bolin, one of the lead roles in the Nickelodeon series, The Legend of Korra.

Press

New York Post Final Destination 5 Review: "Most of the characters are fatally bland, while others are aggressively loathsome, especially P.J. Byrne's Isaac, a sleazy skirt chaser who, when 18 of his co-workers are killed, steals spare change and anything else he can find in their desks. He lifts a coupon for a free massage at the local spa, where the employees are Asian women. "Yum, yum, dim sum," he says, ogling a pair of delicious-looking, um, sweet buns. Isaac's demise is the most hilariously engineered, involving a crazy series of sudden reversals of fortune, and Byrne's sporting performance makes the most of his big scene."

New York Times Final Destination 5 Review: "Amid the carnage, Mr. Todd and Courtney B. Vance, as an F.B.I. agent, are fun to watch, and P. J. Byrne stands out among the young cannon fodder as an amusingly obnoxious womanizer who has an unhappy ending in a massage parlor."

Coming Soon News Final Destination 5 Review: "Even so, their characters are generally better-developed and they're also a lot more likeable than past victims of Death's Design, with the one exception being PJ Byrne's Isaac, who pulls off a brilliantly hilarious characterization of a womanizing jerk."

Dread Central Final Destination 5 Review: "and it also lets Byrne, whose character Isaac delivers a good deal of the laughs in the film with his overbearing ladies' man approach, shine as a gifted comedic performer."

The Movie Guy Review of Final Destination 5: "My favorite among the cast is P.J. Byrne as Isaac, the ladies man of the group. The comedian, who stole scenes in the recent comedy "Horrible Bosses" as the barfly who would do anything for money, is the much-needed comic relief of the movie. Byrne and fellow comedian David Koechner, who appears as the group's boss, elevate the fifth installment."

Collider Visit to the Set of Horrible Bosses: "The first thing that you need to know is P.J. Byrne is ridiculously funny. While Horrible Bosses is about Day, Bateman and Sudeikis trying to kill their Bosses, we watched a scene where Byrne approaches the guys and what I heard him say floored me. The other reason Byrne was killing it was that he would do the scene again and again, and each time director Seth Green would tell him a line to add and he'd seamlessly weave it into his speech. I really hope what I saw on set is on the DVD/Blu-ray, because it's really some of the filthiest stuff I've ever heard.

Another thing that I found interesting was that they played the scene a few different ways. At first Byrne played it for the comedy, but then he played the same scene as if he was in a drama. He even started to cry ?"

KTLA Interview with P.J. Byrne

E News interview with P.J. Byrne

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2014	Walk of Shame		Post-production
2013	The Wolf of Wall Street	Nicky Koskoff
2012	The Campaign	Rick
	K-11	C.R.
2011	Final Destination 5	Isaac Palmer
	Horrible Bosses	Kenny Sommerfeld
2010	Dinner for Schmucks	Davenport
	Extraordinary Measures	Dr. Preston
2008	Be Kind, Rewind	Mr. Baker
	First Sunday	Dr. Preston
2007	Charlie Wilson's War	Jim Van Wagenen
	Evan Almighty	Evan's Staffer
	Because I Said So	Photographer
2005	Fun with Dick and Jane	Laughing Executive
	Bewitched	Writer
2003	Bruce Almighty	Panicked Newsroom Staffer
Television
Year	Show	Role	Notes
2013	Intelligence	Nelson Cassidy	Main role
2012"present	The Legend of Korra	Bolin	11 episodes
2006-2012	The Game	Irv Smiff	16 episodes
2012	Are You There, Chelsea	Elliot	Episode: "Those Damn Yankees" Episode: "Strays"
2011	The Mentalist	Kieran Carruthers	Episode: "Rhapsody in Red"
	Castle	Tony	Episode: "Girls Night Out"
2009	Hannah Montana	Baz B. Berkley	Episode: "Come Fail Away", Episode: "Judge Me Tender"
	Three Rivers	Dale Coffey	Episode: "Place of Life"
	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Tad	Episode: "The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis"
	Burn Notice	Stacey Conolly	Episode: "Fearless Leader"
	Bones	Joe Fillion	Episode: "The Cinderella in the Cardboard"
2007	Viva Laughlin	Jonesy	Episode: "What a Whale Wants" Episode: "Pilot"
	Boston Legal	Matthew Steinkellner	Episode: "Dumping Bella"
	Desperate Housewives	Nick	Episode: "Not While I'm Around"
2006	My Boys	Keith Luger	Episode: "Released"
	Just Legal	Wayne	Episode: "Body in the Trunk"
	Reno 911!	Agent Bruce Padul	Episode: "Spanish Mike Returns"
	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Doug	Episode: "Exile on Lame Street"
	Four Kings	Sheldon Dratch	Episode: "Elephant in the Room"
	Twins	Eric Weiner	Episode: "Sneaks and Geeks"
	NCIS	Ross Logan	Episode: "Deception"
2005	West Wing	David Orbitz	Episode: "Ninety Miles Away"
2003	The Lyon's Den	Larry Michaels	Episode: "Blood"
	Strong Medicine	Levin	Episode: "Rash Decisions"
	Yes, Dear	AD	Episode: "Let's Get Jaggy with It"
	Crossing Jordan	Forensic Goofball	Episode: "Ockham's Razor"
2002	Presidio Med	Dr. Whitby	Episode: "Milagros"
	ER	Ken the Kiosk Man	Episode: "Dead Again"