Jim O'Heir
Encyclopedia
Jim O'Heir is an American actor. He was active in the Chicago
theater during the 1980s and 1990s as part of the theater group White Noise, and appeared in such plays as The Book of Blanche, Stumpy's Gang and Ad-Nauseam with the group. O'Heir has appeared in several films and made guest appearances on such shows as Friends, Boston Legal
, Malcolm in the Middle
, Star Trek: Voyager
, ER
and Parenthood
.
In 2000, he starred in a regular role in the Comedy Central
series Strip Mall
as Harvey Krudup, the unattractive husband of protagonist Tammi Tyler, who was played by Julie Brown
. As of 2009, O'Heir is a regular supporting cast member of the NBC
comedy series Parks and Recreation
. He plays Jerry Gergich, a clumsy employee at a local government parks department who is routinely mocked by his co-workers.
in Lansing
, Illinois
. O'Heir was active in the Chicago
theater during the 1980s and early 1990s with the theater group White Noise, which was formed in 1987 by members of an improv
workshop class. The group wrote and produced comedic plays that often employed bizarre humor or black comedy. Starting in November 1988, O'Heir appeared in White Noise's production of The Book of Blanche, about a woman who falls through a television screen and ends up in a fantasy world influenced by various television show genres. In July 1989, O'Heir appeared in the Chicago
premiere of the Tom Griffin
play The Boys Next Door
at the Edgewater Theatre Center. O'Heir played Norman Bulansky, a child-like middle-aged mentally-handicapped man who works at a doughnut shop.
Starting in 1990, O'Heir appeared in White Noise's Stumpy's Gang, a one-act black comedy play by Patrick Cannon. The show played at Stage Left and Strawdog Theatres in Chicago
, where it developed a cult following. O'Heir played Frank Bubman, the janitor for a genetics laboratory whose job is to destroy the unsuccessful experiments, which are portrayed by puppets. Frank secretly uses the experiments to stage private shows reminiscent of early television programs. Mary Shen Barnidge of the Chicago Reader said of his performance, "The grotesquely ursine Jim O'Heir adds a new dimension to the role of the enfant terrible with his uninhibited and enthusiastic portrayal of Frank, who will break your heart even as he turns your stomach." Ernest Tucker of the Chicago Sun-Times
described O'Heir's performance as very funny and "unforgettable", and said he "held together this funny yet sick apocalyptic fantasy". Stumpy's Gang closed in the fall of 1991. Also with White Noise, O'Heir appeared in the play Ad-Nauseam, about a pair of writers who create an ad campaign about a character named Rim Shot, played by O'Heir. Rim Shot, dressed as a gladiator costume made up of bristle brushes and toilet detritus. O'Heir appeared in the 1996 baseball comedy film Ed
, and 1998 fantasy television film Harvey.
, Just Shoot Me, Star Trek: Voyager
and ER
. Starting in 2000, O'Heir starred in a regular role in the Comedy Central
series Strip Mall
as Harvey Krudup, the unattractive husband of protagonist Tammi Tyler, who was played by Julie Brown
. The character was the owner of the Starbrite Cleaners business, and Tammi married his under the false assumption that he was rich. After learning Harvey is not wealthy, Tammi makes numerous attempts to have him murdered.
In November 2003, he made a guest appearance in the tenth season episode of Friends, "The One With the Birth Mother", where he played the manager of an adoption agency. On November 28, 2004, he appeared in the Boston Legal
episode "Loose Lips", where he played a homosexual fired from being a department store Santa Claus because he is a transvestite. O'Heir also continued appearing in plays during this time, and played the inmate Dale Harding in Dale Wasserman
's stage adaption of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
at The Theatre District
in Hollywood
, California
. Back Stage
writer Terri Roberts said O'Heir stood out among the show's cast. He also appeared in the 2007 family drama film Welcome to Paradise.
Starting in 2009, Jim O'Heir has been a regular supporting cast member of the NBC
comedy series Parks and Recreation
. He plays Jerry Gergich, a clumsy employee at a local government parks department who is often routinely mocked by his fellow co-workers. Although the character has been featured in the series since the first episode
, he has started to become more fully developed and play larger roles in the episodes during the second season
. The episode "Park Safety
", in which Jerry pretends to have been mugged in order to avoid being made fun of for an injury, was focused almost entirely around Jerry and drew positive reviews for O'Heir's comedic performance. In 2011, O'Heir made a guest appearance on the NBC comedy-drama series Parenthood
as a bar owner.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
theater during the 1980s and 1990s as part of the theater group White Noise, and appeared in such plays as The Book of Blanche, Stumpy's Gang and Ad-Nauseam with the group. O'Heir has appeared in several films and made guest appearances on such shows as Friends, Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
, Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. The series was first broadcast on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes...
, Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
, ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
and Parenthood
Parenthood (2010 TV series)
Parenthood is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Katims and produced by Imagine Television and Universal Media Studios. The first season premiered on March 2, 2010 on NBC...
.
In 2000, he starred in a regular role in the Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
series Strip Mall
Strip Mall
Strip Mall is a situation comedy that aired on Comedy Central from June 2000 until March 2001.The series, a spoof of prime time soap operas, was set in Van Nuys, California which is series star/creator/executive producer Julie Brown's hometown. The titular "Strip Mall" was the fictional Plaza del...
as Harvey Krudup, the unattractive husband of protagonist Tammi Tyler, who was played by Julie Brown
Julie Brown
Julie Ann Brown is an American actress, comedienne, screen/television writer, singer-songwriter, television director. Brown is perhaps best known for her work in the 1980s, where she often played a quintessential valley girl character...
. As of 2009, O'Heir is a regular supporting cast member of the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
comedy series Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
. He plays Jerry Gergich, a clumsy employee at a local government parks department who is routinely mocked by his co-workers.
Theater work
Jim O'Heir is a graduate of the Thornton Fractional South High SchoolThornton Fractional South High School
Thornton Fractional Township South High School is a high school located in Suburban Cook County, Illinois, located about from the city limits of Chicago, south of Downtown Chicago. Thornton Fractional Township South High School is one of three high schools in the Village of Lansing, the others...
in Lansing
Lansing, Illinois
Lansing is a village in Cook County, Illinois, USA. Lansing is a southern suburb of Chicago. The population was 28,332 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. O'Heir was active in the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
theater during the 1980s and early 1990s with the theater group White Noise, which was formed in 1987 by members of an improv
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
workshop class. The group wrote and produced comedic plays that often employed bizarre humor or black comedy. Starting in November 1988, O'Heir appeared in White Noise's production of The Book of Blanche, about a woman who falls through a television screen and ends up in a fantasy world influenced by various television show genres. In July 1989, O'Heir appeared in the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
premiere of the Tom Griffin
Tom Griffin (playwright)
Tom Griffin is a playwright. The Boys Next Door is his most successful work. His other plays include Amateurs, Einstein and The Polar Bear, Pasta, and Mrs. Sedgewick's Head.- References :**...
play The Boys Next Door
The Boys Next Door (play)
The Boys Next Door is a play, written by Tom Griffin. It deals with four mentally disabled men who live in a group home. It takes place over roughly a two month period of time and consists of brief vignettes about their lives...
at the Edgewater Theatre Center. O'Heir played Norman Bulansky, a child-like middle-aged mentally-handicapped man who works at a doughnut shop.
Starting in 1990, O'Heir appeared in White Noise's Stumpy's Gang, a one-act black comedy play by Patrick Cannon. The show played at Stage Left and Strawdog Theatres in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where it developed a cult following. O'Heir played Frank Bubman, the janitor for a genetics laboratory whose job is to destroy the unsuccessful experiments, which are portrayed by puppets. Frank secretly uses the experiments to stage private shows reminiscent of early television programs. Mary Shen Barnidge of the Chicago Reader said of his performance, "The grotesquely ursine Jim O'Heir adds a new dimension to the role of the enfant terrible with his uninhibited and enthusiastic portrayal of Frank, who will break your heart even as he turns your stomach." Ernest Tucker of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
described O'Heir's performance as very funny and "unforgettable", and said he "held together this funny yet sick apocalyptic fantasy". Stumpy's Gang closed in the fall of 1991. Also with White Noise, O'Heir appeared in the play Ad-Nauseam, about a pair of writers who create an ad campaign about a character named Rim Shot, played by O'Heir. Rim Shot, dressed as a gladiator costume made up of bristle brushes and toilet detritus. O'Heir appeared in the 1996 baseball comedy film Ed
Ed (film)
Ed is a 1996 comedy film starring Matt LeBlanc. LeBlanc plays Jack "Deuce" Cooper, a talented baseball pitcher. Deuce also finds a friend in a talented ball-playing chimpanzee, who was originally his team's mascot.-Reception:...
, and 1998 fantasy television film Harvey.
Television work
O'Heir has appeared in several television shows throughout the 2000s, including Malcolm in the MiddleMalcolm in the Middle
Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Network. The series was first broadcast on January 9, 2000, and ended its six-and-a-half-year run on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes...
, Just Shoot Me, Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
and ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
. Starting in 2000, O'Heir starred in a regular role in the Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
series Strip Mall
Strip Mall
Strip Mall is a situation comedy that aired on Comedy Central from June 2000 until March 2001.The series, a spoof of prime time soap operas, was set in Van Nuys, California which is series star/creator/executive producer Julie Brown's hometown. The titular "Strip Mall" was the fictional Plaza del...
as Harvey Krudup, the unattractive husband of protagonist Tammi Tyler, who was played by Julie Brown
Julie Brown
Julie Ann Brown is an American actress, comedienne, screen/television writer, singer-songwriter, television director. Brown is perhaps best known for her work in the 1980s, where she often played a quintessential valley girl character...
. The character was the owner of the Starbrite Cleaners business, and Tammi married his under the false assumption that he was rich. After learning Harvey is not wealthy, Tammi makes numerous attempts to have him murdered.
In November 2003, he made a guest appearance in the tenth season episode of Friends, "The One With the Birth Mother", where he played the manager of an adoption agency. On November 28, 2004, he appeared in the Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
episode "Loose Lips", where he played a homosexual fired from being a department store Santa Claus because he is a transvestite. O'Heir also continued appearing in plays during this time, and played the inmate Dale Harding in Dale Wasserman
Dale Wasserman
Dale Wasserman was an American playwright. -Early life:Dale Wasserman was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and was orphaned at the age of nine. He lived in a state orphanage and with an older brother in South Dakota before he "hit the rails". He later said:-Career:Wasserman worked in various...
's stage adaption of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a play based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway preview on November 12, 1963, its premiere on November 13, and ran until January 25, 1964 for a total of one preview and 82...
at The Theatre District
El Centro Theatre
El Centro Theatre in Los Angeles, California has two stages: The Circle and The Chaplin . Founded in 1946 and originally named the Circle Theatre, it is located at: Hollywood, California 90038...
in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Back Stage
Back Stage
Back Stage is an entertainment-industry brand aimed at people working in film and the performing arts, with a special focus on casting, job opportunities, and career advice.Back Stage publishes a weekly tabloid-sized trade magazine in the U.S...
writer Terri Roberts said O'Heir stood out among the show's cast. He also appeared in the 2007 family drama film Welcome to Paradise.
Starting in 2009, Jim O'Heir has been a regular supporting cast member of the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
comedy series Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is an American comedy television series on NBC that focuses on Leslie Knope , a mid-level bureaucrat in the parks department of Pawnee, a fictional town in Indiana. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the series debuted on April 9, 2009; it has run for three seasons and...
. He plays Jerry Gergich, a clumsy employee at a local government parks department who is often routinely mocked by his fellow co-workers. Although the character has been featured in the series since the first episode
Pilot (Parks and Recreation)
"Pilot" is the first episode of the first season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. The episode was written by series co-creators Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, and directed by Daniels...
, he has started to become more fully developed and play larger roles in the episodes during the second season
Parks and Recreation (season 2)
The second season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network starting September 17, 2009, and ended on May 20, 2010. The season was produced by Deedle-Dee Productions and Universal Media Studios, and series co-creators Greg Daniels and Michael Schur...
. The episode "Park Safety
Park Safety
"Park Safety" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 25th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 18, 2010...
", in which Jerry pretends to have been mugged in order to avoid being made fun of for an injury, was focused almost entirely around Jerry and drew positive reviews for O'Heir's comedic performance. In 2011, O'Heir made a guest appearance on the NBC comedy-drama series Parenthood
Parenthood (2010 TV series)
Parenthood is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Katims and produced by Imagine Television and Universal Media Studios. The first season premiered on March 2, 2010 on NBC...
as a bar owner.
External links
- Jim O'Heir at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...