Mike O'Malley

Michael Edward O'Malley (born October 31, 1966) is an American actor and writer who has appeared in many films and television series. Born in Boston and raised in New Hampshire, O'Malley hosted the early 1990s children's game show Nickelodeon Guts before moving to Los Angeles later that decade to star in his own sitcom for NBC called The Mike O'Malley Show. He is probably best known for his role as Jimmy Hughes on Yes, Dear, the CBS series which aired from 2000 to 2006. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role as Burt Hummel on the Fox series Glee.

O'Malley has also guest-starred in series such as My Name Is Earl, Raising Hope, Parenthood and Parks and Recreation. He appeared in films such as 28 Days, Deep Impact, Leatherheads, Eat, Pray, Love, R.I.P.D., Concussion and Sully.

Mike is a published playwright whose plays include Three Years From Thirty and Diverting Devotion. He adapted another play called Searching for Certainty for Peter Askin's film Certainty, which premiered at the Boston Film Festival in 2011. O'Malley is also a writer on Showtime's hit drama Shameless.

O'Malley was the creator and an executive producer of the Starz series Survivor's Remorse, which ran for four seasons between 2014 and 2017.

Early life
O'Malley was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Nashua, New Hampshire, the son of Marianne (a career counselor) and Tony O'Malley (an executive in the defense industry).

O'Malley is a 1984 graduate of Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, New Hampshire, and a 1988 graduate from the University of New Hampshire where he studied theatre. He is also a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Television
His first role came as the host of Nickelodeon children's game show Get the Picture when he was 24 years old. Later moving on to Nickelodeon Guts and (later Global GUTS). On the advice of colleague and friend Marc Summers, he moved to Los Angeles after the cancellation of GUTS to further pursue his acting career. O'Malley starred in Life with Roger, a series which aired from 1996 to 1997. In 1999, two episodes of The Mike O'Malley Show aired before the show was canceled; thirteen episodes were filmed. During the 1990s, he also appeared as "The Rick", a popular character in a series of ads for the ESPN network.

Beginning in 2000, O'Malley starred as Jimmy Hughes on the CBS comedy Yes, Dear. The show ran until 2006. Along with Yes, Dear costar Anthony Clark, O'Malley appeared in the Alan Jackson music video "The Talkin' Song Repair Blues". From 2000 to 2002, O'Malley also provided the voice of Darryl MacPherson for The WB's Baby Blues.

In 2006, O'Malley made a guest appearance on My Name Is Earl, as a police officer with bowling aspirations, and made several more guest appearances on the show. In 2008, O'Malley appeared in the NBC drama My Own Worst Enemy.

In 2008, O'Malley became the spokesman for Time Warner Cable's digital cable. In 2009, O'Malley began playing the recurring character, Burt Hummel, the father of a gay student, on Glee. It is a role which has pleasantly surprised him and lead to Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack to say, "If Mike O'Malley doesn't win an Emmy for playing Burt Hummel, I will be sorely disappointed." Chris Colfer, who plays Burt's son Kurt, has credited his off-screen relationship with O'Malley with improving the quality of their scenes together.

Beginning in 2010, O'Malley portrayed a recurring character on Parenthood. He also hosted The World's Funniest Office Commercials in 2010. On July 8, 2010, O'Malley received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series for playing Burt Hummel on Glee. Prior to its second season, O'Malley was made a series regular on Glee. On August 8, 2010, O'Malley won the Teen Choice Award for Best Parental Unit. He returned to recurring guest star status for the show's third season.

Film
O'Malley made his movie debut in the 1998 film Deep Impact, playing Elijah Wood's astronomy teacher. He followed that with a supporting role in the John Cusack/Billy Bob Thornton film about air traffic controllers called Pushing Tin. In 2000, he portrayed Oliver, a drug addict in rehab, in the Sandra Bullock film 28 Days. In 2005, O'Malley starred in the Heather Locklear/Hilary Duff film The Perfect Man. In 2007, he had supporting roles in the George Clooney film Leatherheads and the Eddie Murphy film Meet Dave.

O'Malley was one of the people interviewed in the film City of Champions: The Best of Boston Sports.

In 2009, O'Malley participated in the American documentary film The People Speak. In the film, he performed in a segment with political activist Staceyann Chin.

O'Malley's feature work also includes roles in Eat Pray Love, Cedar Rapids, Concussion and Clint Eastwood’s project, Sully.

Writing
O'Malley is a playwright with two of his plays, Three Years from Thirty and Diverting Devotion, having been published and produced Off-Broadway. In 2003, a third play, Searching for Certainty was produced in Los Angeles.

He later wrote the screenplay for the film Certainty, which is based on Searching for Certainty. The movie began production on May 24, 2010, directed by Peter Askin and produced by O'Malley, along with Will Battersby and Per Melita. Certainty premiered at the Boston Film Festival on September 16, 2011, where it won the Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Ensemble Cast awards.

He is also a writer and consulting producer on the Showtime dramedy series Shameless, which was renewed in January 2013 for a fourth season.

He created the Starz basketball comedy series Survivor's Remorse and serves as the show's writer and producer with his production company O'Malley Ink.

O'Malley co-wrote the book for the musical Escape to Margaritaville featuring the songs of Jimmy Buffett with Greg Garcia. The show is scheduled to open on Broadway in February 2018.

Other media work
In 2007, O'Malley kept a blog on Yahoo! Sports, which followed the Boston Red Sox throughout their journey in the MLB playoffs, which was eventually capped off by their World Series title.

Personal life
O'Malley resides in Los Angeles with his wife Lisa. They have three children: Fiona, Seamus and Declan.

Kerry O'Malley, his younger sister, is an actress and Broadway veteran. She received critical attention for her role in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods and appeared in several episodes of Showtime's Brotherhood.

A long time fan of Boston band Buffalo Tom, O'Malley is a close friend of lead singer Bill Janovitz. They have often supported causes together. O'Malley requested that the band create a title song for his own short-lived television show The Mike O'Malley Show, as well as for the sitcom Yes, Dear which he co-starred on. According to O'Malley, his love of the band was shared with his wife and was "the glue" that kept them together during their long distance relationship.

O'Malley is a Boston Red Sox fan, and in May 2006 threw out the first pitch at a game in Fenway Park. He is also an avid fan of the NHL's Boston Bruins and the NFL's New England Patriots.

O'Malley returned to his graduating alma mater in 2006 to deliver the commencement speech to the university's 136th graduating class. He also received an honorary degree.