Ed O'Neill

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Ed ONeill.jpg Ed O'Neill (Born Edward O'Neill in April 12, 1946) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the FOX Network's long running sitcom, Married... with Children. O'Neill is also often cast as a police officer on television shows and in movies.

Born in Youngstown, Ohio, O'Neill attended Ursuline High School. He attended Ohio University, in Athens, OH, and Youngstown State University, was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers (cut in training camp) and was a social studies teacher before becoming an actor. He has appeared in several movies, including The Bone Collector, Little Giants, Dutch, and the Wayne's World series.

Besides his role on Married... with Children, another notable television role of O'Neill's was as the reincarnation of Sgt. Joe Friday on Dick Wolf's brief remake of Jack Webb's classic TV crime series, Dragnet. While Married... lasted for eleven years (1987-1997), and currently (2006) stands as the longest-running sitcom in American history, Dragnet lasted only two half-seasons; not that it wasn't good, but more it was a victim of the times - starting with The X-Files, television prime-time cop/forensic investigation shows had become increasingly graphic in images and content, and the edginess of the original Dragnet stemming from the character of Joe Friday was rendered relatively benign and therefore ultimately no longer compelling.

He had short cameos in Wayne's World and its sequel, reprising the menacing character he played during the Wayne's World sketch on Saturday Night Live. He also appeared as Relish the Troll King in The 10th Kingdom.

Currently, O'Neill appears as a recurring character on NBC's The West Wing playing Gov. Eric Baker (D-PA), who was considered a potential Vice Presidential candidate by Matt Santos and earlier, was a challenger to Santos for the Democratic Presidential Nomination.

O'Neill is married to actress Catherine Rusoff.

[edit]

Trivia

Ed was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969 but was cut in training camp. Later, on Married with Children, he played a former high-school football star who had failed to make it big and constantly relived his glory days.
He played Lenny in a stage production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He is a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu [1].
Invented the popular sandwich called the "Boone" at the famous Se-port Deli in Setauket, New York [2].