Actors Journal – Ed O’Neill

Ed O’Neill is a working class salt. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, to a steelworker and truck driver father and a social worker mother, he was a gifted athlete in college and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers, but was cut before opening season. Undaunted, he studied acting and was eventually cast as working man Al Bundy in the hit series Married with Children, which ran for 10 years. Most recently, TV audiences know him as Jay Pritchett, in another hit series, Modern Family, which has run for eleven years. His credits also include Ralph Breaks the Internet, John from Cincinnati, The West Wing, Dragnet, Big Apple, The 10th Kingdom, Wayne’s World, Another World, and guest shots in many other television shows. His trademark is playing a common family man who is sarcastic and has a self-deprecating sense of humor.