Christopher Eugene O'Donnell was born on June 26th, 1970 in Winnetka, Illinois, to Julie Ann (Rohs) and William Charles O'Donnell, Sr., who managed a CBS radio station, WBBM-AM. He is the youngest child in his family, with four sisters and two brothers. His father had Irish ancestry and his mother's lineage includes German, English, and Swiss.
O'Donnell first started modeling at the age of thirteen and continued until the age of sixteen, when he appeared in commercials. When he was seventeen, he was preparing to stop acting and modeling, but was asked to audition for what would be his first film, Los hombres no abandonan (1990). He didn't want to go to the audition, but his mother bribed him by saying she would buy him a new car if he went and he duly got the role.
Ever since that moment in his life, Chris has appeared in some major motion pictures including Tomates verdes fritos (1991), Esencia de mujer (1992), Amor loco (1995) and Límite vertical (2000). He played a part in Kinsey (2004), which appeared in theaters in the year 2004.
Chris took time off from acting to spend time with his wife, Caroline, son, Chris Jr., and his daughter Lilly. He also spent two months in New York performing in Arthur Miller's "The Man Who Had All the Luck". - IMDb Mini Biography By: Mark (TheShadow22)
Trivia
Chris' personal stunt double is stuntman Jim McConnell (1996 - present)
Chosen by People (USA) magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (1996).
Proposed to his girlfriend, Caroline Fentress. [December 1996]
He got his start in a McDonald's commercial.
Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1992" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 44.
Children (two daughters and three sons): (with Caroline Fentress) 'Lily O'Donnell' (born September 3, 1999 in New Zealand), Christopher Eugene "Chip" O'Donnell (born October 24, 2000 at 7 lbs 9 oz), Charles McHugh O'Donnell (born July 11, 2003 in Los Angeles, California at 7 lbs 7 oz), Finley O'Donnell (born March 24, 2006 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California) and Maeve Frances O'Donnell (born December 10, 2007 at 8 lbs and 21 1/2 in. long).
Chris did not attend his high school prom because he was participating in a crew meet.
Participated in a golf event and raised $500,000 for the Motion Picture and Television Fund (2000).
Wife Caroline Fentress is an elementary school teacher.
Originally cast in El príncipe de las mareas (1991), but Barbra Streisand decided she wanted her real son to play the role. She wanted to personally apologize to Chris, so she called his dorm room. One of his roommates answered the phone and took the message, which bewildered him because Chris had not yet mentioned that he was "in the movie biz".
First acted in an episode of an ABC-TV drama series Jack and Mike (1986).
"Never date an actress" - a piece of advice given to him by Al Pacino.
Began modeling after his sister Sally talked to a talent agent into seeing him.
Avid golfer who belongs to a number of clubs including Pine Valley and the Bel Air Country Club.
Was at one time considered for the role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker.
Voted "Most Likely to Run Off and Join the Circus" by his class at Loyola Academy.
The final choice for the role of Robin in Batman Forever (1995) came down between him and Leonardo DiCaprio. Kids in the key demographic were polled as to which of the two would win in a fight. O'Donnell beat DiCaprio out.
While working on Cookie's Fortune (1999) he was often found playing golf at Kirkwood National Golf Course and was once held up on the 14th hole by Joey Paul Gowdy who was spraying insecticides on all of the greens.
Won the role of Robin over several other actors, who included (according to Joel Schumacher) Alan Cumming, Toby Stephens, Jude Law, Ewan McGregor and, most notably, Christian Bale, who went on to play Batman. The second time he played the role, he acted opposite Uma Thurman, whose ex-husband Gary Oldman went on to play Commissioner Gordon.
Both Chris O'Donnell and Anatomía de Grey (2005) co-star Justin Chambers played the character D'Artagnan in different movies based on Alexandre Dumas père' novel, "The Three Musketeers." O'Donnell co-starred with Charlie Sheen and Kiefer Sutherland in Stephen Herek's Los tres mosqueteros (1993), while Chambers starred in Peter Hyams' El mosquetero (2001).
August 1, 2007: Announced he was expecting a fifth child with his wife, Caroline Fentress.
Is the fourth actor to play Robin/Dick Grayson.
Worked with acting coach Peter Kelley.
Has played the same character (G. Callen) on three different series: Navy: investigación criminal (2003), NCIS: Los Ángeles (2009) and Hawai 5.0 (2010).
His father has mostly Irish, with a small amount of English and Scottish, ancestry. His mother has English, German, Swiss-French and Swiss-German ancestry.
Parents are William Charles O'Donnell and Julie Ann Rohs Von Brecht.
Is the youngest of seven children, with four sisters and two brothers.
Attended and graduated from Loyola Academy in Willmette, Illinois (1988).
Attended and graduated from Boston College with his B.A. in Marketing (1992).
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6681 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on March 5, 2015.
Personal Quotes
[on the Batman films]: Some day my kids are going to watch these and say to themselves "That's daddy!".
[Comparing the experiences of making Batman Forever (1995) and Batman y Robin(1997)]: When I made Batman Forever, I felt like I was making a movie. When I made Batman & Robin, I felt like I was making a toy commercial.
(1995, on his clean-cut image) My family and friends see me as a real smart-ass, a wise-ass. The way people see me in movies, in the stuff they read about me, is kind of an idealistic view.
(1995, on competing with his acting peers) There have been times when I had to go audition and there were other people there. I can't stand that. When it comes to the point where I'm trying to get a part, I'm like "I don't want to talk to you.".
(on Reese Witherspoon) We hung out for a little while when Esencia de mujer (1992) came out. I did date her. It was weird because it was the first time I had ever really dated an actress. When I was in college, I never had a serious girlfriend because it was too much fun dating different girls. With Reese, it just kind of didn't work out. It was nothing serious, to tell you the truth.
(1995) I almost got caught in the Hollywood web. They almost pulled me in. But I have a much better time going to the bars over at UCLA, drinking beers and listening to that whole scene. At the 'hot' clubs, I don't know the bouncers and I have no pull at the door-they don't recognize me and, really, I don't care. I've been to most of the hot places at least once. There's a lot of losers who hang out at these places. The bars are filled with people just trying to slip you their business card, who tell you, "Hey, I'm a producer and I've written some stuff..." The women are like "Are you important enough for me to bother with?".
(1996, Movieline magazine) You'd think being in my position it would be so easy, just pick out a project, do it, no big deal. But you really have to take your time and make smart decisions. There's different routes you can take in this business. After Batman Forever(1995), I started getting offered these huge commercial films that you know are going to make hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide. And you can jump on that train if you want and cash in, make a ton of money, get a couple of sequels and some merchandising. But in two years, I think people would be just so sick of your face, that would be it.
(on working with Al Pacino) He's so powerful. Everything about him, his voice, even on its lowest register, still radiates. He's a complete perfectionist. You think he's just a natural, but he works so hard. Every day, he was in the dressing room next to me and I'd hear him working on scenes for days-and constantly coming up with new ideas. Every scene, he wants 10 do 40 different ways. It's amazing, this endless creativity, you don't know where he gets it. How does he come up with so many ideas? It's overwhelming. I'll never forget being in the limo as Al was telling us stories about El padrino (1972). Marty Brest and I kept looking at each other, like two little kids high-fiving. This is great!
(1996) I was tiny in high school, the smallest kid: 5' 9", 95 pounds. I was a late bloomer. But that's part of how I got into this business, because when I was 16 I was going in for auditions against 12 year olds. Of course I got the parts because the other kids were so immature and the directors liked me.
(1996, on Los Angeles) I really like it-there's so much to do, and I have some friends here-but it's not as exciting as when I first came here. I'm not as naive as I was then. When I spend too much time here, things get out of whack. Too many people here are too concerned about what car they drive, what they look like, where they go, who they hang out with, the whole scene. And when it comes right down to it, the scene here is not that fun. L.A. just doesn't seem real to me. Chicago does. My real friends are there. It's home.
(1996) The funniest thing was when a woman journalist was trying to insist there must have been something between me and Drew Barrymore. She asked, "You've never fallen in love with any of your co-stars?" And I said, to make her happy, "All right, yes, it happened with Jessica Lange. I tried to ask her out, but she's not into me." A week later, I'm watching the E! channel on TV, and it was reported that Chris O'Donnell is actively pursuing Jessica Lange, to no avail. This woman thought I was totally serious, and I was being completely sarcastic. I realized you've got to gauge the level of the intelligence of the people doing the interviewing.
(1996) It's amazing when you look back at things you did in high school, and you think, how did we make it through alive? I don't do as much stupid stuff as I used to, just because now I'm being watched. I can't get drunk and act like an idiot the way I used to in college. I've got a ton of stories I could tell you about, but I'm not gonna. I'd tell a friend, but I'm not going to tell the public.
(1996) I liked Los tres mosqueteros (1993). I just didn't like my hairdo... It was wild, hanging with those guys. I'd never met anybody before who was close to my age and such a big movie star and had a lot of money. They had different spending habits than people I'd met before. Charlie (Sheen) buys antique watches like I buy tennis shoes.
Salary
Mad Love (1995) $1.500.000
The Chamber (1996) $4.000.000
NCIS: Los Angeles (2009) $150.000 /episode (2009-10)
NCIS: Los Angeles (2009) $125.000 per episode (2010-2011)
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