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Early life

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. O'Donnell is of paternal Irish and maternal German descent; he was raised in a devout Catholic family and 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.

Career

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 played Robin in Batman Forever. He reportedly was part of a field of candidates that included Leonardo 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, which actor could win a fistfight. After the boys overwhelmingly declared O'Donnell the winner, he was ultimately given the role. By coincidence, O'Donnell was said to be 20th Century Fox's favorite choice to play Jack Dawson in Titanic, but DiCaprio ended up with the role.

O'Donnell followed with a starring role in 1996's The Chamber, based on the John Grisham novel. He subsequently reprised his role in the Batman sequel, Batman & Robin, in 1997. Although a box office success the movie was critically panned and O'Donnell himself has called it a low point in his career. 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. The Robert Altman film Cookie's Fortune, The Bachelor (1999) and Vertical Limit (2000) were only moderately successful. Following Vertical Limit, a four-year hiatus led some to believe Batman & Robin had damaged his career as it had co-star Alicia Silverstone. He came back in 2004 with 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 canceled, and only two episodes were aired. He was subsequently cast as veterinarian Finn Dandridge on the popular ABC drama Grey's Anatomy.

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

Personal life

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: Lily Anne O'Donnell (b. September 1999), Christopher Eugene O'Donnell Jr (b. October 24, 2000), Charles McHugh O'Donnell (b. July 11, 2003), Finley O'Donnell (b. March 24, 2006), and Maeve Frances O'Donnell (b. December 10, 2007 in Los Angeles).

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.