Ed O’Neill

Ed O’Neill came close to becoming an NFL star. In 1969, the Pittsburgh Steelers cut him during training camp, and that release sent him back to Ohio with no clear Plan B. He was twenty-three years old, with a build that seemed suited only to physical contact.

He worked as a substitute social studies teacher in his hometown of Youngstown while the stage bug began to take hold. He decided to move to New York in 1977 to make a living in theater. He got by as a waiter and nightclub bouncer while landing supporting roles in Broadway productions.

It was not a bed of roses.

The shoe salesman who hated his life

In 1987, Fox launched Married… with Children. O’Neill played Al Bundy for eleven straight seasons and 259 episodes that blew up the family sitcom format. The character was a frustrated shoe salesman who constantly reminded everyone of his glory days in high school.

The series broke with the sugarcoated image of American television at the time. And it did so thanks to an actor who understood male defeat perfectly. But the massive success came at a high price for his film career.

Audiences typecast him aggressively. He tried to break into mainstream movies with Dutch in 1991, but the box office turned its back on him in spectacular fashion. He also appeared in Wayne’s World in 1992, in a brief role as a coffee shop owner with psychopathic tendencies. In 1999, he shot The Bone Collector alongside Denzel Washington to try to distance himself from the canned laughter.

The shadow of Al Bundy was far too long.

The patriarch's comeback

Years of minor projects and shows that never made it past their first season followed. So when the script for Modern Family arrived in 2009, many people assumed it would be another failed attempt. O’Neill accepted the role of Jay Pritchett, a wealthy and somewhat stiff businessman married to a much younger woman.

This show earned him three Screen Actors Guild Awards in a row. The series stayed on the air until 2020 and reshaped his public image for a new generation of viewers. He was no longer the working-class loser but the cynical yet tender grandfather of the California upper middle class.

And the gamble paid off.

In 2011 he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Curiously, the organization chose to place it right in front of a shoe store, a nod to his most famous character. He voiced Hank the octopus in Finding Dory in 2016 and appeared in the drama The Last Shift in 2020.

Martial arts and NBA boardrooms

Away from the spotlight, he keeps a life far removed from the excesses of the industry. He has held a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since 2007, after training for more than two decades with the Gracie family. He considers this achievement the most important of his private life, above his three Emmy nominations.

In 2024, he starred in the miniseries Clipped for Hulu. He plays Donald Sterling (the controversial owner of the Los Angeles Clippers) in a story about racism and power in professional basketball. The shoot called for a dry, dramatic tone that moved him far away from any trace of physical comedy.

The production of Clipped wrapped with an estimated budget of $50 million.