Chris O'Dowd to be honoured with Oscar Wilde Award

Chris O'Dowd will be honoured by the US-Ireland Alliance at the 14th Annual Oscar Wilde Awards, which will be held at J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot in Santa Monica on Thursday 21 February. O'Dowd joins fellow honorees Glenn Close and Aidan Gillen. Abrams will emcee and Melissa McCarthy will present. Irish band VINCI will perform as well.

Founder and President of the US-Ireland Alliance Trina Vargo noted, “Chris’ well-deserved reputation as a great comedic actor belies his versatility, evident across a range of roles in television, theater and film, including a Tony Award nomination.”

The actor has taken on a number of roles over the years. He appeared in Aaron Sorkin’s Molly's Game with Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, and Kevin Costner in 2017. O'Dowd also featured in Jesse Peretz’s Juliet, Naked, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. In addition, Chris lent his voice to the animated character of “Shamus the Coachman” in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt and Lin Manuel Miranda.

O'Dowd has been nominated for a BAFTA “Rising Star Award,” a Screen Actor’s Guild Award for “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture” and won the Irish Film and Television Award for “Best Supporting Actor – Film.” for his starring role in Bridesmaids alongside Kristen Wiig.

He currently stars opposite Ray Romano in the EPIX series Get Shorty. One of his best known characters is Seán Murphy from the TV series, Moone Boy, in which O'Dowd plays the imaginary friend of Martin Moone (David Rawle) set in the '90s. O'Dowd wrote, directed, and starred in Moone Boy, which won an Emmy Award for “Best Comedy” in 2013, was nominated for “Best New Comedy Programme” at The British Comedy Awards, and won the IFTA for “Best Entertainment Programme” in the same year. In 2014, Moone Boy won the British Comedy Award for “Best Sitcom,” earned the IFTA for the second consecutive year, and received a BAFTA Award nomination in 2015 for “Best Sitcom Comedy.”

On stage, Chris’ performance as Lennie in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, starring opposite James Franco, earned him a Tony nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role,” a Drama Desk Nomination for “Outstanding Actor in a Play and Theatre,” and a World Award for “Outstanding Broadway Debut Performance.”