Biography for
Chris O'Donnell (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

26 June 1970, Winnetka, Illinois, USA

Birth Name

Christopher Eugene O'Donnell

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

Chris O' Donnell was born on June 26th, 1970. He is the youngest child in his family with four sisters and two brothers. He 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, Men Don't Leave (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 Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Scent of a Woman (1992), Mad Love (1995) and Vertical Limit (2000). He is currently working on Kinsey (2004), which should appear 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)

Spouse

Caroline Fentress

(19 April 1997 - present) 5 children

Trivia

Chris' personal stunt double is stuntman Jim McConnell (1996 - present)

Attended Boston College.

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]

Born the seventh child.

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 (2 daughters & 3 sons): (with Caroline Fentress) Lily Anne O'Donnell (b. September 3, 1999 in New Zealand), Christopher Eugene O'Donnell "Chip" (b. October 24, 2000 at 7 lbs 9 oz), Charles McHugh O'Donnell (b. July 11, 2003 in Los Angeles, California at 7 lbs 7 oz), Finley O'Donnell (b. March 24, 2006 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California) and Maeve Frances O'Donnell (b. December 10, 2007 at 8 lbs & 21 1/2 in. long).

Attended Loyola Academy (Chicago) and UCLA. Graduated from Boston College in 1995 with a BA in marketing.

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 is an elementary school teacher.

Originally cast in The Prince of Tides (1991), but Barbra Streisand decided she wanted her real son to play the part. 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.

Born on the same day as "Will & Grace" (1998) star Sean Hayes.

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 part 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 "Grey's Anatomy" (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 The Three Musketeers (1993), while Chambers starred in Peter Hyams' 2001 film, The Musketeer (2001).

August 1, 2007: Announced he was expecting a 5th child with his wife, Caroline Fentress.

Fourth actor to play Robin/Dick Grayson.

Graduated from Boston College in 1992.

Worked with acting coach Peter Kelley.

Personal Quotes

[Talking about 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 & Robin (1997)]: "When I made Batman Forever (1995), I felt like I was making a movie. When I made Batman & Robin (1997), I felt like I was making a toy commercial".

Salary

The Chamber (1996)	$4,000,000
Mad Love (1995)	$1,500,000

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