In his more than 25-year television and movie career, Chris O’Donnell has escorted an eccentric blind man, played a sidekick to a super hero and portrayed a heart throb veterinarian.
But working with Al Pacino, donning tights and a mask or charming women physicians are all acting roles.
Golf is real, and it’s been part of O’Donnell’s family and sporting life for nearly as long as he can remember.
He’s been infatuated with the game since his youth, and little is more enticing about the sport than his annual trek to the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
“It’s like the Super Bowl for me. It’s like being a member of the greatest club in the world,” said O’Donnell. “There is so much history and tradition. The best perk I get (for being a celebrity) is playing in the AT&T.”
O’Donnell, who has a six-handicap, has played in the event a dozen times and will be in the celebrity field of the 2011 event, Feb. 10-13.
“For a guy like me, the AT&T is about as big as it’s going to get. I am not good enough to play in real amateur events,” said O’Donnell. “Even club championships are a stretch for me, so I just love the tournament. Inside the ropes? Playing at Pebble Beach? That’s tough to beat.”
O’Donnell, 40, was born in the suburbs of Chicago, but he spent his summer months with six older siblings and his parents in Douglas, Michigan. His family’s home was located in the 15th hole of the West Shore Golf Club, a public course,
In his dual-state upbringing, O’Donnell rotated courses.
“We lived on number 15 at West Shore and I would play 15 and 14 over and over again,” he recalled. “It’s about a par 66 and that’s where I learned to play. But I also played junior golf at Exmoor Country Club (Highland Park, Ill.) as a kid. I loved it and I would play everyday.”
By the time he was in high school, O’Donnell’s acting career had begin in earnest, and he exchanged golf clubs for another sport — rowing.
Still, it didn’t take long for O’Donnell’s golfing fondness to return. With some of his friends at Boston College on the golf team, O’Donnell began to play more.
Since then, his passion for golf has remained. And it’s still a family affair.
With Chris as his caddie, one of O’Donnell’s older brothers, John, has played in the U.S. Amateur. Conversely, when the younger O’Donnell competes in the AT&T, his brother John has been his caddie on several occasions.
“I have only beaten him (his brother) once in my life gross, which means I really choke when I play him or he’s really good,” said O’Donnell. “My parents play golf, too, as do most of the members of my family. We’re not golf obsessed (except John and I), but we all enjoy the game.”
Now the father of five children, O’Donnell divides his time between acting and parenthood.
O’Donnell’s 1992 co-starring role with Pacino in “Scent of a Woman” earned him a Golden Globe nomination. Three years later, he played Roin in Batman Forever, the highest grossing film of 1995.
Numerous movie, television and Broadway roles followed, with co-stars ranging from Renee Zellweger to Liam Neeson. In recent years, O’Donnell’s roles have included his periodic recurring vet’s role in television show Grey’s Anatomy and as a CIA field agent in the mini-series The Company. He currently stars in NCIS: Los Angeles.
O’Donnell also periodically returns to the courses of his youth. His lives in Los Angeles, but travels to Michigan and Chicago and then memories unfold.