Early life

Olsen was born in Eugene, Oregon, the son of Jeanne (née Donstad), a non-denominational chaplain, and Paul V. Olsen, a professor of English and head track and cross country coach of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. He has an older brother who acts as his stunt double. He is of Norwegian descent. Olsen spent most of his childhood in Bettendorf, Iowa and attended Bettendorf Middle and High School, where he pursued interests such as sports, Japanese, and Chinese. In addition to many local theatre performances, Olsen trained in improv with ComedySportz Quad Cities and later joined the cast.

Career

Olsen's first starring role was the titular role in the 1999 TV movie Arthur's Quest, soon after he gave an Emmy submitted portrayal of a dying burn victim on NBC's ER. His next role was a small one in HBO's Black Cat Run. Eric soon landed a starring role in the Fox TV series Get Real, playing Cameron Green. The series lasted for a year before Eric made his transition onto the big screen when he played Ben Affleck's gunner in Pearl Harbor, that was quickly followed by a leading role as Austin "The Cocky Blond Guy" in the teen send up feature film Not Another Teen Movie.

Olsen next played Jake in the teen comedy The Hot Chick. In 2003 he won the role of Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, the prequel to the hit movie Dumb and Dumber. Olsen followed that up by playing opposite Chris Evans for a second time in Cellular. He starred in the yet to be released Mojave and then joined the final season of Fox's Tru Calling. He claimed three highly contrasting roles in 2006 and 2007 with the release of Beerfest, License to Wed and Zach Braff's The Last Kiss.

Olsen co-starred as Sully in the Fox sitcom The Loop. Olsen had four other projects in 2008 and continues to reside in Malibu, California.

Olsen appeared on Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's streaming video website Funny or Die, with a small series of segments featuring a character called Perry Hilton, an obvious parody of Paris Hilton. He starred in the 2011 science-fiction horror film The Thing.

Olsen portrays Detective Marty Deeks on the CBS show NCIS: Los Angeles. His character appeared in two episodes of season one before joining the cast as a series regular in the second season.

Personal life

Olsen has been in a relationship with actress Sarah Wright since 2007, and they became engaged in October 2011. They were married near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on June 23, 2012. Their first child, a son, was born in 2013 and the couple is expecting their second child in summer 2016. Olsen and Wright were featured in a 2015 episode of the HGTV series House Hunters buying a vacation home near Jackson Hole.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Mean People Suck	Nick	Short film
	Pearl Harbor	Gunner
	Not Another Teen Movie	Austin
2002	Local Boys	Randy Dobson
	The Hot Chick	Jake
2003	Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd	Lloyd Christmas
2004	Cellular	Chad Thompson
	Death Valley	Josh	{original title: Mojave}
2006	Beerfest	Gunther
	The Last Kiss	Kenny
2007	License to Wed	Carlisle Myers
	The Comebacks	Foreign Exchange Student
2008	Sunshine Cleaning	Randy Clever
	Eagle Eye	Craig Bolston
2009	Fired Up	Nick Brady
	The Six Wives of Henry Lefay	Lloyd Wiggins
2010	The Back-Up Plan	Clive Bennett
2010-12	Hero Factory	William Furno	Trials of Furno - Breakout Part 2
2011	The Thing	Adam Finch
2012	Celeste and Jesse Forever	Steve Tucker
2014	Warning Labels	Thad	Short film
2015	Band of Robbers	Sid Sawyer	Post-production
2017	Battle of the Sexes	Lornie Kuhle	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction	Adam	1 episode: "The Viewing, The Subway, Kid in the Closet, Justice is Served & The Tractor"
1998	Black Cat Run	Gas Station Attendant	TV Movie Credited as Eric Olsen
1999	Arthur's Quest	Artie/King Arthur	TV Movie
	Turks	Kevin Williams	Episode: "Friends & Strangers"
	ER	Travis Mitchell	Episode: "Responsible Parties"
1999-2000	Get Real	Cameron Green	Main cast 22 episodes
2000	Lessons Learned	Jack	TV Movie
2001	Ruling Class	Bill Olszewski
	Smallville	Young Harry Bollston	Episode: "Hourglass"
2002	24	John Mason	1 episode: "Day 2: 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m."
2005	Tru Calling	Jensen Ritchie	5 Episodes
2006-07	The Loop	Sully Sullivan	Main cast 17 episodes
2007	The Hill	Matt O'Brien	TV Movie
	Write & Wrong	Jason 'Krueger' Langdon
2008-09	Brothers & Sisters	Kyle DeWitt	6 episodes
2009-10	Community	Vaughn Miller	4 episodes
2010-present	NCIS: Los Angeles	LAPD Detective Marty Deeks	Recurring cast (season 1); Main cast, (season 2-present)
2010-12	Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil	Wade	Recurring character
2015	House Hunters	Himself	Appeared in an episode with his wife Sarah and mother Jeanne looking for a vacation home in the Jackson Hole area
	Geeks Who Drink		Episode: Eric Christian Olsen vs Scott Porter

[ Source: Wikipedia ]