Ed O'Neill

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Edward O'Neill
O'Neill as Governor Eric Baker (D-PA) on The West Wing
Born	April 12, 1946 Youngstown, Ohio, USA

Edward O'Neill (Born 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 often cast as a police officer on television shows and in movies.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 TV-Series 4 External link

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

O'Neill was born in Youngstown, Ohio, to Edward O'Neill, a steelworker, and Ruth Ann O'Neill, a homemaker and social worker. He attended Ursuline High School and went on to study at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and Youngstown State University. O'Neill was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969. He was released before the start of the 1969 regular season. Later, on Married... with Children, O'Neill played a former high-school football star who had failed to make it big and constantly relived his "glory days." O'Neill was also a social studies teacher before becoming an actor.

[edit] Career

O'Neill played Lenny in a stage production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He appeared in several movies, including The Bone Collector, Little Giants, and Dutch. He also starred as Sgt. Joe Friday on Dick Wolf's remake of Jack Webb's classic TV crime series Dragnet. The series was short-lived, cancelled by ABC in its second season. His film debut was in John Boorman's Deliverance as a deputy.

However, O'Neill is most known for playing the lead role of Al Bundy in Married… with Children, a long-running American sitcom about a dysfunctional family living in Chicago. It was the first-ever primetime television series to air on the FOX Network as a midseason replacement, debuting on April 5, 1987 and concluding June 9, 1997. The series was created by Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt

O'Neill 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. He also made a cameo on the sitcom 8 Simple Rules where he played Katey Sagal's old boyfriend.

O'Neill went on to appear as a recurring character on NBC's The West Wing, playing Gov. Eric Baker (D-PA). Baker, a strong candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, assumed the office of the Vice Presidency under Matt Santos at the end of the series.

O'Neill currently appears in ads for AOL's online video service.

[edit] Personal life

O'Neill is married to actress Catherine Rusoff. He has been a practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for over nine years under the mentorship of Hélio Gracie.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	John from Cincinnati	Bill
2006	Inseparable	Alan
2005	Steel Valley	Congressman Cardone
	In the Game	Buzz Reed
2004	Spartan	Burch
2001	Nobody's Baby	Norman Pinkney
2000	Lucky Numbers	Dick Simmons
	The 10th Kingdom	Relish the Troll King
1999	The Bone Collector	Detective Paulie Sellitto
1997	The Spanish Prisoner	FBI Team Leader
	Prefontaine	Bill Dellinger
1995	W.E.I.R.D. World	Dr. Monochian
1994	Little Giants	Kevin O'Shea
	Blue Chips	Ed
1993	Nick's Game	Ron Hawthorne
	Wayne's World 2	Glen, Mikita's Manager
1992	Wayne's World	Glen, Mikita's Manager
1991	Dutch	Dutch Dooley
	The Whereabouts of Jenny	Jimmy O'Meara
1990	Sibling Rivalry	Capt. Wilbur Meany
	The Adventures of Ford Fairlane	Lt. Amos
	A Very Retail Christmas
1989	K-9	Brannigan
	Disorganized Crime	George Denver
1988	Police Story: Gladiator School	Sgt. Stanley Bivens
1987	Right to Die
1986	Popeye Doyle	Popeye Doyle
	A Winner Never Quits	Whitey Wyshner
1985	Braker	Danny Buckner
1983	When Your Lover Leaves	Mack Shore
1982	Farrell for the People	Detective Jay Brennan
1981	The Dogs of War	Terry
1980	The Day the Women Got Even	Ed
	Cruising	Det. Schreiber

[edit] TV-Series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	The West Wing	Governor Eric Baker D-PA
	8 Simple Rules	Matt	(1 episode)
2003	Dragnet	Det. Joe Friday
2001	Big Apple	Det. Michael Mooney
1991	Top of the Heap	Al Bundy	(1 episode)
1988	Midnight Caller	Hank	(1 episode)
1987	Married... with Children	Al Bundy	(1987-1997)
1986	Spenser: For Hire	Buddy Almeida	(1 episode)
1985	The Equalizer	Doctor	(1 episode)
	Hunter	Dan Colson	(1 episode)
1984	Miami Vice	Arthur Lawson/Artie Rollins

[edit] External link

• Ed O'Neill at the Internet Movie Database