Early life and education

O'Connell was born in Manhattan, the son of Linda (née Witkowski), an American art teacher, and Michael O'Connell, a British-born advertising agency art director. His maternal grandfather, Charles S. Witkowski, was mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey. He is of half Irish, one quarter Italian, and one quarter Polish, ancestry. O'Connell was raised in Manhattan with his younger brother, actor Charlie O'Connell. As a teenager, he attended Manhattan's Professional Children's School. He attended New York University (NYU) from 1991-95, majoring in film. While there, he studied screen writing and competed on the NYU fencing team, serving a stint as captain of the sabre squad. He graduated in 1995.

Career

O'Connell began his acting career at a young age. As a child, he did commercial work for Duncan Hines cookies. Shortly after turning eleven, he landed his first feature film role, as the character Vern Tessio in Stephen King's Stand by Me. In 1987, O'Connell appeared on a commercial for Frosted Flakes. O'Connell starred in the Canadian science fiction sitcom My Secret Identity from 1988 to 1991 as the teen hero who develops superhuman traits. During a summer break from NYU, Jerry starred in the feature film Calendar Girl alongside Jason Priestley and Gabriel Olds. He also appeared in the short-lived ABC sitcom, Camp Wilder with Jay Mohr and Hilary Swank in 1992. In his Junior year, O'Connell auditioned for the TV pilot Sliders (also filmed in Canada). He was offered the role of Quinn Mallory in the series, which ran for three seasons on Fox and two seasons on the Syfy Channel. He served as producer during his fourth and final season, and is credited with writing and directing several episodes.

O'Connell has since gone on to star in such movies as Jerry Maguire, Body Shots, Mission to Mars, Tomcats, Scream 2, and Kangaroo Jack. O'Connell has also tried his hand at screenwriting and sold his first screenplay, for First Daughter, to New Regency in 1999. The film was released in 2004 by 20th Century Fox-based Davis Entertainment. O'Connell served as executive producer on the film, which starred Katie Holmes and Michael Keaton.

O'Connell starred as Detective Woody Hoyt on the NBC crime drama Crossing Jordan (2001) until its cancellation in May 2007, and was engaged to actress Rebecca Romijn. He starred opposite her in the Ugly Betty episode "Derailed". O'Connell played Hoyt in several episodes of Las Vegas. In 2004, he wore a diaper on Last Call with Carson Daly, during a mock commercial skit for the GoodNites bedwetting product. The National Enquirer caught him filming the skit and printed a photo of him in his diaper.

In 2005, O'Connell guest-starred in one episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. In the episode, titled "Clash", he played Captain Marvel. He reprised the role of Captain Marvel in the "DC Universe Animated Original Movies" short film, Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam alongside George Newbern, who reprised the role of Superman, having done the voice for the animated series. Jerry's younger brother, Charlie has appeared in several productions in which his brother starred, such as in Sliders and Crossing Jordan. In 2007-08 O'Connell starred in ABC's Carpoolers, which ran from October 2, 2007 to March 4, 2008. In early 2008, O'Connell participated in a widely circulated Internet video parody of the leaked Tom Cruise video on Scientology. Cruise was O'Connell's co-star in Jerry Maguire.

O'Connell co-wrote and appeared in a video parody called "Young Hillary Clinton", satirizing Hillary Clinton's 2008 primary campaign. On February 2, 2008, O'Connell hosted VH1's Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Bash, which aired the night before Super Bowl XLII and featured musical guests Maroon 5 and Mary J. Blige. On April 28, 2008, he appeared as a guest star on ABC's Samantha Who?. In late 2008 O'Connell starred in Fox's Do Not Disturb, co-starring Niecy Nash, but Fox cancelled the show after only three episodes.

O'Connell appeared in the 2009 thriller film Obsessed as "Ben", the best friend and co-worker of the film's protagonist Derek Charles (Idris Elba). He appeared in Eastwick on ABC, on which his wife, Rebecca Romijn, starred in the series. He portrayed Derrick Jones in Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3D, which also stars Adam Scott and Elisabeth Shue.

O'Connell co-starred with David Tennant in the pilot for legal drama Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, which was not picked up for production. In 2010, O'Connell starred with Jim Belushi in the CBS comedy-drama The Defenders, which was cancelled on May 15, 2011 after one season.

O'Connell appeared on Broadway at the Golden Theatre in Seminar, written by Theresa Rebeck. The play, directed by Sam Gold, opened on November 20, 2011, starring Alan Rickman, Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater and Hettienne Park. On June 4, 2012, it was announced that O'Connell would play Herman Munster in a reboot of The Munsters, titled Mockingbird Lane; the remake series was never picked up for production. On May 15, 2013, it was announced that O'Connell would play Stuart Strickland on We Are Men, alongside Tony Shalhoub.

In April 2015, O'Connell returned to Broadway as a ghostwriter in the comedy Living on Love, with Renee Fleming, Anna Chlumsky and Douglas Sills. It closed after 37 performances.

Personal life

Between 2003 to 2004, O'Connell was in a relationship with television personality Giuliana Rancic. On July 14, 2007, O'Connell married actress and former model Rebecca Romijn.

After weeks of officially stating that the couple were "trying" to get pregnant, a publicist for the pair confirmed that Romijn was pregnant with twin girls. When talking about having children, O'Connell said "I am excited I am having girls. I know guys are supposed to say, 'I want a boy. I want to play baseball,' but I think I'm going to be good raising girls...I can't wait. They're going to be tough chicks. They're only having sex when I'm dead. If they don't date boys at all and just want them to be infatuated with their father, that's what I'm really going for." The girls, Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip O'Connell, were born on December 28, 2008. Dolly is named for singer Dolly Parton and Charlie is named for O'Connell's brother.

O'Connell enrolled in Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles in August 2009 but dropped out to return to acting full-time.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1986	Stand by Me	Vernon "Vern" Tessio
1988	Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach	Kid at beach	Uncredited
1993	Calendar Girl	Scott Foreman
1996	Joe's Apartment	Joe
	Jerry Maguire	Frank "Cush" Cushman
1997	Scream 2	Derek Feldman
1998	Can't Hardly Wait	Trip McNeely	Uncredited
1999	The Beast of Today	Fabian
	Body Shots	Michael Penorisi
2000	Clayton
	Mission to Mars	Phil Ohlmyer
2001	Tomcats	Michael Delaney
2002	The New Guy	Highland Party Twin
	Buying the Cow	David Collins
2003	Kangaroo Jack	Charlie Carbone
2004	Fat Slags	Sean Cooley
2005	Yours, Mine and Ours	Max Algrant
2006	The Alibi	Businessman
	Man About Town	David Lilly
	Room 6	Lucas Dylan
2008	The Parody Video Tom Cruise Wants You to See	Tom Cruise	Short film
2009	Baby on Board	Curtis
	Obsessed	Ben
2010	Piranha 3-D	Derrick Jones
	Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam	Captain Marvel	Short film
2013	Scary Movie 5	Christian Grey
2014	Veronica Mars	Sheriff Dan Lamb
	Space Station 76	Steve
	The Lookalike	Joe Mulligan
2015	Justice League: Throne of Atlantis	Clark Kent/Superman (voice)	Direct-to-video
2016	Justice League vs. Teen Titans	Clark Kent/Superman (voice)	Direct-to-video
2016	Finding Dory	Ralph (voice)	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure	Osborne	TV Special
1987	The Room Upstairs	Carl	TV movie
1988	The Equalizer	Bobby	Episode: "The Child Broker"
	Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss	Ralph Parker	TV movie
1988-91	My Secret Identity	Andrew Clements	Starring role
1989	Charles in Charge	David Landon	Episode: "The Organization Man"
1990	TGIF	Brody	Unknown episodes
1992	Camp Wilder	Brody Wilder	Cast member
1995	The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky	Mac	TV movie
	Blue River	Lawrence Sellars
1995-99	Sliders	Quinn Mallory	Cast member
1999	The '60s	Brian Herlihy	TV movie
2001	Night Visions	Andy	Episode: "Rest Stop"
2002	Going to California	Pete Rossock	Episode: "Searching For Eddie Van Halen"
	Rome Fire	Ryan Wheeler	TV movie
2002-7	Crossing Jordan	Detective Woody Hoyt	Cast member
2003, 2008	MADtv	Ted Levin, John Edwards	Episode: 8.12, 14.01
2004	Without a Trace	Joe Gibson	Episode: "Hawks and Handsaws"
	The Screaming Cocktail Hour	Singer	TV series
2004-6	Las Vegas	Detective Woody Hoyt	5 episodes
2005	Justice League Unlimited	Captain Marvel	Episode: "Clash"
2007	On the Lot	Jerry 'The Move'	Episode "6 Cut to 5 & 5 Directors Compete"
	Ugly Betty	Joel	Episode: "Derailed"
	The Batman	Nightwing	2 episodes: "The Metal Face of Comedy", "Artifacts"
2007-8	Carpoolers	Laird	Cast member
2008	Samantha Who?	Craig	Episode: "The Gallery Show"
	Do Not Disturb	Neal	6 episodes
2009	Midnight Bayou	Declan Fitzpatrick	TV movie
	Eastwick	Colin Friesen	Episode: "Magic Snow and Creepy Gene"
2010-11	The Defenders	Pete Kaczmarek	Cast member
2011	G.I. Joe: Renegades	Barbecue	Episode: "Fire Fight"
	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Mental Man	Episode: "Up Periscope, Down With San Diego"
2012	Mockingbird Lane	Herman Munster	TV Series Failed Pilot
2013	Jake and the Never Land Pirates	Pip the Pirate Genie	Episode: "Pirate-Genie-In-A-Bottle"
	Satisfaction	David	Episode: "Penis Face Cat Funeral"
	We Are Men	Stuart Strickland	Cast Member
2014	Drunk History	Thomas Jefferson	Episode: "Philadelphia"
	The League	Father Muldoon	Episode: "The Heavenly Fouler"
2015	The Librarians	Young Lancelot	Episode: "And the Loom of Fate"
	Marry Me	Daniel	Episode: "Friend Me"
2016	The Mysteries of Laura	Jon Dunham	2 episodes
	Billions	Steven Birch	2 episodes
	Young & Hungry	Nick Diamond	Episode: "Young & Parents"
Mistresses

Video game

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Infinite Crisis	Shazam

Producer

• Sliders (1995) TV series (producer: 1998-1999)
• First Daughter (2004)

Director

• Sliders (1999) TV series - "Stoker", "Slidecage", "Lipschitz Live," "Data World", "Roads Taken"

Writer

• Sliders (1999) - "Way out West",
• First Daughter (2004) - screenplay

Music videos

• "David Duchovny" - Bree Sharp
• "Heartbreaker" - Mariah Carey (1999)
• "12 Days of Christmas" from Christmas Queens - Katya Zamolodchikova

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result	Work
1987	Young Artist Awards		Won	Stand by Me
1989	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor in a Family Syndicated Show	Nominated	My Secret Identity
1990	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor in an Off-Primetime Family	Nominated	My Secret Identity

[ Source: Wikipedia ]