
Among his “big breaks”: a part in Mike Leigh‘s Vera Drake (2004), which offered him his first exposure to improvisation the Scottfish film Festival (2005), which allowed him to show off his comedic talents and then the sitcom The I.T.
STAR OF BRIDESMAIDS MOVIE PROFESSIONAL
He went directly to drama school in London, and soon began getting professional jobs. He went to college in Dublin, where he studied politics before starting becoming involved in school plays and falling so in love with acting that he abandoned his degree.

O’Dowd was born in the west of Ireland, where music and art were much more a part of his childhood than films. The musical dramedy, which chronicles the rise of an Aboriginal soul group’s rise to prominence under the tutelage of a wacky manager (O’Dowd), had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation and THR‘s film critic described O’Dowd as “one of the most effortlessly funny actors working today” then had its North American premiere at the Telluride Film Festival earlier this month, where it was a fan favorite and I called him “utterly wonderful” and is now charming a whole new audience north of the border at the Toronto International Film Festival.

TORONTO - Earlier this week I had the opportunity to interivew Chris O’Dowd, the Irish actor who is best known to American audiences as the most prominently featured male character in last year’s blockbuster Bridesmaids, but who has actually put together a slew of impressive performances over the last few years, none better than the one that he gives in Wayne Blair‘s Australian film The Sapphires.
