Nice Guys Finish First
by Alison Prato
After all these years, NCIS: LOS ANGELES’ Chris O’Donnell continues to make being good look great.
Chris O’Donnell was only a teenager when he became a Hollywood A-lister, thanks to critically acclaimed roles in School Ties, Fried Green Tomatoes, Circle of Friends and Scent of a Woman, a movie that won Al Pacino an Oscar and made everyone want to dance the the tango.
But even with a scene-chewing co-star, you couldn’t deny the obvious: O’Donnell was a natural, that rare breed of talent who could hold his own against the biggest Hollywood heavyweights and shine just as brightly.
Twenty years later, he’s all grown up but still at it on the high-octane CBS series NCIS: LOS ANGELES, where a buff, scruffy, hotter-than-ever O’Donnell is chasing bad guys with co-star LL COOL J, and taking part in more stunts, action and explosions than all of his films combined. Now married with five children, the actor has avoided many of the pratfalls of other teenage stars and gone on to make his series one of the most seen in the world, with a record 18 million viewers watching last winter. O’Donnell’s all-American charm juxtaposed against the mysterious intensity of his alter ago, G. Callen, has made his character one of the most layered on television, and the show one of its highest rated.
