MovieChat Forums > Chris O'Donnell Discussion > What happened to his career?

What happened to his career?


I remember in the mid-to-late 90s this guy was hot shit. He was a popular up-and-comer, like Keanu Reeves or Matt Damon or Matthew McConaughey. I remember him from films like Scent of a Woman, School Ties, Vertical Limit and, yes of course, Batman & Robin.

School Ties is particularly interesting because it's like a Who's Who of actors of that generation: O'Donnell, Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck all appear, among others. But all of those guys went on to bigger and better careers.

Today, O'Donnell is still working, but as a character on NCIS: Los Angeles. An NCIS spin-off is where careers go, not to die, but to shuffle forward like an inanimate corpse. It's a paycheck, but is it really respectable?

The last film I saw him in was Kit Kittridge: An American Girl. It was an enjoyable little family film and he did a fine job in it. But that was 10 years ago.

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Without knowing what his personality is like i.e. how he is offscreen, how hard he works, how much he enjoys it etc. it's hard to really know for sure, but simply basing it from what I've seen of him onscreen, I would say he was never the best actor nor particularly charismatic, and his films weren't big successes, which is a combination that never bodes well.

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I mentioned this to my wife. She came right out with the answer. Chris O'Donnell was asked by an interviewer and responded that he is the father of four and his wife is a kindergarten teacher. While working on the series he is home every night and can talk to his wife about her day and check on his kids at school. For now this is where he wants to be.

I'd say that's very respectable and admirable.

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I agree. I think being a big time movie star and some of the roles he played was for bachleors looking for big paycheck from movie to movie. I think he was mature enough to see passed that and live a good life.

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Looking at his photos, he went from 'young handsome school/college boy' to 'model good looks man' to just regular looking white guy.

The first two have their places in Hollywood, but 'regular looking white guy' has a lot of competition. I don't think he has a lot of charisma or smouldering good looks, so he peaked.

I actually got to see him up close shooting a scene for NCIS on Hollywood Boulevard. They closed the street for a few hours so he could do some stunt chasing a guy. He seemed like a rather boring dude.

I actually went into Souvenir store that sells photos of stars and asked if they had one of him so I could get it signed. They didn't have any. I said 'not even a batman and robin?' but they didn't.

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LOL in what way did he seem like "a rather boring dude" while you watched him film a scene for a TV show? What were you expecting him to do?

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He wasn't talking to anyone. He looked bored. He made little interaction with those giving him direction and didn't really want to make eye contact. From my perspective, he seemed boring.

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It's amazing that this thread has 38 replies and yet it's the only thread on Chris O'Donnell's board.

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He was also the lead in Arrow for almost a decade.

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That was Stephen Armell.

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Oh, shit. My bad 😅

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No problem. We’re all here to help

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he played robin.

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I think Leonardo Di Caprio kind of eclipsed him and then replaced him in everything, in the same way Haley Joel Osment did to Joseph Mazzello a.k.a that kid from Jurassic Park.

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Sam Worthington strikes me as a modern day Chris O'Donnell. Both very short on charisma.

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I see them as rather different. While I agree that neither exude an amazing amount of charisma, I've always seen O'Donnell as boyish and seemingly innocent, without an exceptional amount of masculinity. Worthington comes across as more of a full-fledged man with a harder edge.

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I don't see Worthington having any edge. I equate his acting with Ruby Rose. Both are pretty flat and defined by their wardrobe more than their actual personality or skill.

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If you want to see a truly good acting performance from Worthington then watch Sabotage. It's just a supporting role but I didn't even recognize him.

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Will do. Thanks for the recommendation.

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