Date of Birth

17 December 1974, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Jeremiah O'Connell

Nickname

Jerry

Height

6' 2" (1.88 m)

Mini Biography

Jerry O'Connell was born in New York City, to Linda (Witkowski), an art teacher, and Michael O'Connell, a British-born advertising agency art director. He spent his early years in Manhattan, with his parents and younger brother, Charlie O'Connell, who is also an actor. He is of one half Irish, one quarter Italian, and one quarter Polish, descent. Jerry began his acting career at a very young age. He did commercial work and TV work before getting the role of "Vern Tessio" in the popular film Stand by Me (1986) opposite River Phoenix and Corey Feldman. After that, he worked on several TV-Movies and TV-series and had a starring role in My Secret Identity (1988). From 1991 to 1994, Jerry attended New York University where he majored in film, but he didn't graduate.

In 1993, he starred in the film Calendar Girl (1993) opposite Jason Priestley. In 1995, he starred in the TV-movie western The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky (1995) and, in 1996, he landed the role of "Frank Cushman" in the successful film Jerry Maguire (1996) opposite Tom Cruise. Over the next few years, he starred in Scream 2 (1997), had a small uncredited role in Can't Hardly Wait (1998), as well as appearing in several TV-movies and having starring roles in the TV-series Sliders (1995) and the film Body Shots (1999) opposite Sean Patrick Flanery and Tara Reid.

In 2000, he appeared in the Brian De Palma film Mission to Mars (2000) with Gary Sinise, among others. He has also appeared in movies such as Tomcats (2001), Buying the Cow (2002), Kangaroo Jack (2003), Yours, Mine & Ours (2005), Man About Town (2006) and Room 6 (2006). In 2007, he married actress/model Rebecca Romijn, and they have twin girls.

Trivia

• Attended New York University. Graduated from in May 1995 with a degree in Film and Television.
• Older brother of actor/model Charlie O'Connell.
• Played the "heartbreaker" in Mariah Carey's "Heartbreaker" video. The single went on to become Mariah's 14th #1 hit.
• Father was an art director and mother was an art teacher.
• Signed by an agent at age 10 and was discovered gobbling up cookies in a Duncan Hines commercial.
• During his junior year at NYU film school (for screenwriting), Jerry went to Los Angeles, California, and decided to try out for two TV pilots: Sliders (1995) and a new Fox show called Party of Five (1994). He spent a single day in L.A. and landed the Bailey role in Party of Five (1994), but before he could get back to New York, the studio's first choice for Sliders (1995) backed out. Stuck a day before shooting without a lead, they begged Jerry to fill in. The rest is teen-idol history.
• He attended the Professional Children's School in New York City. His classmates included Tara Reid, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Macaulay Culkin, and Ben Taylor.
• While practicing his lines for Stand by Me (1986), was completely impressed that, as an 11-year-old, he was being allowed to swear.
• Still hates talking about Stand by Me (1986) because he was overweight at the time.
• Worked with River Phoenix in Stand by Me (1986), and Sean Patrick Flanery in Body Shots (1999). Both Phoenix and Flannery have played the young Indiana Jones.
• While attending NYU, he was saber captain of the varsity fencing team. He was ranked as high as #17 in the country.
• Two of the TV shows he has been in, Sliders (1995) and Crossing Jordan (2001), both have had episodes named "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?": Sliders: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (1998) and Crossing Jordan: Oh, Brother Where Art Thou? (2004).
• While at NYU, he was a Resident Assistant.
• Announced his engagement to actress Rebecca Romijn (September 2005).
• Was ranked #70 on vh1's The Greatest: 100 Greatest Kid Stars (2005).
• Married his girlfriend of 2 1/2 years, Rebecca Romijn, in a surprise backyard ceremony. The couple exchanged vows in front of 100 family and friends that thought that they had been invited to a barbecue.
• Has 2 daughters: Dolly O'Connell & Charlie O'Connell (b. December 28, 2008) with wife, Rebecca Romijn.
• Participated in the annual Drambuie Pursuit in Scotland. The Drambuie Pursuit takes place once a year and includes an archery contest on the first day and then a second day that includes kayaking, a castle run, boating, mountain biking, rock-climbing, rafting, cross-country biking, off-road buggy racing and canoing. [April 2008]
• Father is British and mother is American.
• Holds dual US and British nationality, stated on OK!TV in the UK on 23 March 2011 'I'm actually British' and produced his British passport to prove it.
• He is of one half Irish, one quarter Italian, and one quarter Polish, ancestry.
• New York, USA: Set to make his Broadway debut in Theresa Rebeck's new comedy, "Seminar", also starring Alan Rickman. [September 2011]
• It wasn't until 10 years after costarring in "Stand By Me" (1986), before Jerry O'Connell got his first starring movie role as "Joe" in the cult classic "Joe's Apartment" (1996). This is the only feature film the the late "Don Ho" ever acted in and the first ever feature film produced by MTV Networks.
• Because of his cameo in 'Scary Movie 5', spoofing the Shades of Grey novels, he is technically the first person to have played Christian Grey in a feature film.
• Provided the voice of the original Fawcett Captain Marvel (now known as Shazam) for Justice League (2001) and the DC Showcase short Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam (2010), and later chosen to provide the voice of Superman for Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015), two characters who are known among fans for being unofficial "rivals" due to DC's infamous lawsuit against Fawcett claiming Captain Marvel/Shazam was too similar to Superman.
• One of four actors to appear in both the Scream franchise and its parody, the Scary Movie franchise. The other three are: Anthony Anderson, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, and Tori Spelling.
• Friends with Peter Facinelli.
• The first male permanent co-host of CBS' The Talk.

Quotes

• "Playing professional football is something I'll never be able to do. So getting this part was like a dream come true." --on his role in Jerry Maguire (1996).
• I'm the kind of guy who can't keep a plant alive for a week, let alone a relationship.
• What I really love about Rebecca is that she's a character...she's the most entertaining person I've ever met.
• Once in a while, I blow my wife's hair out. I learned from watching some of those reality hairstyling shows like Shear Genius (2007)!