Mike O'Malley

Though Mike O'Malley established himself as a credible comedic everyman as the title character of the short-lived sitcom, "Life with Roger" (The WB, 1996-97), it was a series of commercials for ESPN that brought him widespread attention. Directed by comedic genius Christopher Guest, the spots featured O'Malley as "The Rick," a likable sports fanatic in backward baseball cap whom all frat boys across the country could relate to. NBC gave O'Malley the green light to portray a slacker version of himself in the "The Mike O'Malley Show" (NBC, 1999) and his rise to fame finally seemed assured. But when the show was panned as sub-generic by the critics and ignored by the viewers, the network pulled the plug after only two episodes. O'Malley quickly found a new role on the popular "Yes Dear" (CBS, 2000-06), but was increasingly frustrated with being typecast as average schlubs in baseball caps. Then in 1999 O'Malley was finally given the opportunity to showcase his dramatic skills on the pop culture phenomenon, "Glee" (FOX, 2009-15), in which he portrayed a blue-collar dad struggling to come to terms with his openly gay son. He joined "Glee" as a regular on season two as his film career began to take off with projects including the Julia Roberts vehicle, "Eat Pray Love'' (2010). Once underestimated as just another "half-hour laugh track" guy, O'Malley was finally receiving the respect he had long deserved