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Chris O'Donnell
Birth name	Christopher Eugene O'Donnell
Born	June 26, 1970 (1970-06-26) (age 37) Winnetka, Illinois
Spouse(s)	Caroline Fentress (1997 - present) 5 children
Awards Golden Globe Awards Nominated: Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture 1993 Scent of a Woman

Christopher "Chris" Eugene O'Donnell (born June 26, 1970) is a Golden Globe Award-nominated American actor, perhaps best known for playing Robin in the Batman films, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Charlie Simms in Scent of a Woman, Finn Dandridge in Grey's Anatomy, and more recently Jack McCauliffe in The Company.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

O'Donnell, the youngest of seven children (with four sisters and two brothers), was born in Winnetka, Illinois, the son of Julie, a realtor, and William O'Donnell, Sr., a radio manager.^[1] O'Donnell's parents are Irish American and Catholic,^[2] and he attended Catholic schools, including Loyola Academy in Willmette, Illinois for high school, graduating in 1988. O'Donnell attended Boston College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in marketing. He subsequently attended law school at UCLA but did not graduate.

From the ages of thirteen to sixteen, O'Donnell began modeling, and was featured in several commercials.

O'Donnell was discovered when he was cast in a McDonald's commercial, in which he served Michael Jordan. His first television role was an appearance on the series Jack and Mike in 1986. At the age of seventeen, he was offered a chance to audition for a part in the movie Men Don’t Leave, with Jessica Lange, and he won the role. In the early 1990s, O'Donnell was a featured player in many successful movies such as Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), School Ties (1992), and Scent of a Woman (1992) with Al Pacino. He was named one of the twelve Promising New Actors of 1992 in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 44.

After the success of Circle of Friends (1995), O'Donnell successfully auditioned for Robin in Batman Forever. The role of Robin was one of the most sought-after roles at that time. O'Donnell was part of a field that included DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Christian Bale (who later went on to play the Dark Knight himself), Jude Law, Ewan McGregor, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Toby Stephens, and Scott Speedman. Producers narrowed their choices to DiCaprio and O'Donnell. At a comic book convention, they asked a group of eleven year-old boys, the target audience, attending which actor could beat the other in a fistfight. When the boys overwhelmingly declared O'Donnell the winner, he was ultimately given the role. Ironically, O'Donnell was 20th Century Fox's favorite choice for Jack Dawson in Titanic, but DiCaprio ended up receiving it.

O'Donnell followed that film with an appearance in the 1996 film The Chamber, based on the John Grisham novel, which was a good success at the box office. He subsequently appeared in the Batman sequel, Batman & Robin, in 1997. Critically panned, the movie turned out to be one of the largest box office failures in history. He was considered for the lead role in Spider-Man, when the project was in development with James Cameron directing in 1996. Tobey Maguire was ultimately cast.

O'Donnell did not appear in another movie for two years. He was the producers' original choice for the role of James Edwards in Men in Black (1997), but, after he turned it down, the role went to Will Smith.^[3] His next appearance was in the Robert Altman film Cookie's Fortune, as part of the ensemble. His more mainstream comeback films The Bachelor (1999) and Vertical Limit (2000) were only moderately successful. Following Vertical Limit, a four-year hiatus led many to believe he had met the same career fate of his Batman & Robin co-star Alicia Silverstone. However, in 2004, he appeared in the widely praised Kinsey.

O'Donnell took a lead role in the Fox Network television series Head Cases in 2005. The show was the first show of the fall 2005 season to be cancelled, and only two episodes were aired. He was subsequently cast as veterinarian Finn Dandridge on the popular ABC drama Grey's Anatomy. O'Donnell appeared in the last six episodes of the 2005-2006 season, and has made additional appearances in the 2006-2007 season.

Most recently, he has figured prominently in the acclaimed TNT miniseries The Company as fictional CIA agent Jack McCauliffe in a performance which subtly portrayed his character's progression from spoon-fed Yale elitist to jaded, post-Cold War cynic.

In 1996, O’Donnell proposed to his girlfriend Caroline Fentress. He met her while in college; they married in 1997.

The couple have five children, three sons and two daughters: Lilly Ann O'Donnell (b. September 1999), Christopher Eugene O'Donnell Jr (b. October 24, 2000), Charles McHugh O'Donnell (b. July 11, 2003), Finley (b. March 24, 2006), and Maeve Frances (December 10, 2007 in Los Angeles).^[4]

O'Donnell is an avid golfer. He participated in a golf outing to help raise money for the Motion Picture and Television Fund for which they raised $500,000 in the year 2000.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	The Company	Jack McCauliffe	TV miniseries
	Grey's Anatomy	Dr. Finn Dandridge	TV series
2005	Head Cases	Jason Payne	TV series
	The Sisters	David Turzin
2004	Kinsey	Wardell Pomeroy
2003	The Practice	Brad Stanfield	TV series
2002	29 Palms	The Hitman
2000	Vertical Limit	Peter Garrett
1999	The Bachelor	Jimmie Shannon
	Cookie's Fortune	Jason Brown
1997	Batman & Robin	Robin/Richard "Dick" Grayson
1996	In Love and War	Ernest 'Ernie' Hemingway
	The Chamber	Adam Hall
1995	Batman Forever	Robin/Richard "Dick" Grayson
	Mad Love	Matt Leland
	Circle of Friends	Jack Foley
1994	Blue Sky	Glenn Johnson
1993	The Three Musketeers	D'Artagnan
1992	Scent of a Woman	Charlie Simms
	School Ties	Chris Reece
1991	Fried Green Tomatoes	Buddy Threadgoode
1990	Men Don't Leave	Chris Macauley

• Chris O'Donnell at the Internet Movie Database
• Chris O'Donnell at TV.com