Eric Christian Olsen (born May 31, 1977), is an American actor. He is known for his portrayals of Investigator Marty Deeks on the CBS television series '' NCIS: Los Angeles'', and of Austin in the film '' Not Another Teen Movie''.

Early life

Olsen was born in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census ...

, the son of Jeanne (née Donstad), a

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. Overview The term has been used in the context of various faiths including Jainism, Baháʼí Fait ...

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

, and Paul V. Olsen, a professor of English, and head track and cross country coach of

Augustana College Augustana College may refer to: *Augustana College (Illinois) *Augustana University Sioux Falls, South Dakota *Augustana University College, Alberta See also *Augustana Divinity School (Neuendettelsau) The Augustana-Hochschule Neuendettelsau is ...

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Arsenal Island. The population was 37,108 at the 2020 census. Located on ...

. He has an older brother, David, who acts as his stunt double; David is married to actress and Olsen's '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' costar Daniela Ruah. Olsen is of Norwegian descent. Olsen spent most of his childhood in

Bettendorf, Iowa Bettendorf is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States. It is the 15th largest city of Iowa and the third-largest city in the " Quad Cities". It is part of the Davenport– Moline– Rock Island, IA- IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. The popu ...

, and attended Bettendorf Middle and

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, where he pursued interests such as

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

, Japanese, and Chinese. In addition to many local theatre performances, Olsen trained in improv with ComedySportz Quad Cities and later joined the cast.

Career

Olsen's first starring role was the titular role in the 1999 TV movie ''Arthur's Quest'', soon after he gave an Emmy submitted portrayal of a dying burn victim on NBC's '' ER''. His next role was a small one in HBO's ''Black Cat Run''. Eric soon landed a starring role in the Fox TV series '' Get Real'', playing Cameron Green. The series lasted for a year before Eric made his transition onto the big screen when he played Ben Affleck's gunner in ''

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...

'', that was quickly followed by a leading role as Austin "The Cocky Blond Guy" in the teen send up feature film '' Not Another Teen Movie''. Olsen next played Jake in the teen comedy '' The Hot Chick''. In 2003, he won the role of Lloyd Christmas in '' Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd'', the prequel to the hit movie '' Dumb and Dumber''. Olsen followed that up by playing opposite Chris Evans for a second time in '' Cellular''. He starred in the yet to be released ''Mojave'' and then joined the final season of Fox's '' Tru Calling''. He claimed three highly contrasting roles in 2006 and 2007 with the release of ''

Beerfest ''Beerfest'' is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and starring the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, which comprises Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, and Erik Stolhanske. The film co-stars Nat Fax ...

'', '' License to Wed'' and Zach Braff's ''

The Last Kiss "Last Kiss" is a 1961 romantic love song by Wayne Cochran, covered by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, Canada's Wednesday, Pearl Jam, and others. Last Kiss or The Last Kiss may also refer to: Film * ''The Last Kiss'' (1931 film), a British Ind ...

''. Olsen co-starred as Sully in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

sitcom '' The Loop''. Olsen had four other projects in 2008 and continues to reside in Malibu, California. In 2009, he appeared in several episodes of the first season of the ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, villag ...

'' sitcom, as Vaughn, a usually shirtless, neo-hippie student, musician, and athlete. Olsen appeared on

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 20 ...

and Adam McKay's streaming video website Funny or Die, with a small series of segments featuring a character called Perry Hilton, a parody of

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer. Born in New York City, and raised there and in Beverly Hills, California, she is a great-granddaughter of Conr ...

. He starred in the 2011 science-fiction horror film '' The Thing''. Olsen portrays Detective Marty Deeks on the CBS show '' NCIS: Los Angeles''. His character appeared in two episodes of season one before joining the cast as a series regular in the second season. Olsen's sister-in-law, Daniela Ruah, is one of his co-stars. Olsen is a producer of a short film "Bald" from 2014 and executive producer of a documentary "Andy Irons: Kissed by God" from 2018. He has his own

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, a ...

Cloud Nine Productions. In 2019 he started his first show as an executive producer picked up in production for Hulu called "Woke". Olsen made his writing debut with the season 11 episode 10 (the 250th overall episode) of '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' titled "Mother", which aired December 1, 2019.

Personal life

Olsen became engaged to actress Sarah Wright in October 2011. They were married near Jackson Hole,

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...

, on June 23, 2012. They have a son and two daughters. Olsen and Wright were featured in a 2015 episode of the

HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, ...

series '' House Hunters'' buying a vacation home near Jackson Hole. Olsen works with the charity Hats Off for Cancer as an Honorary Board Member and Spokesperson, featured on their Public Service Announcement video. He and his wife Sarah are members of Board of Directors of Environmental Media Awards.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Young Artist Awards *2000: Nominated, "Best Performance in a TV Series – Young Ensemble" with Jesse Eisenberg, Kyle Gibson, Anne Hathaway in '' Get Real''.

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards is an annual awards show that airs on the Fox television network. The awards honor the year's biggest achievements in music, film, sports, television, fashion, social media, and more, voted by viewers living in the United S ...

*2003: Nominated, "Choice Movie Chemistry" with Derek Richardson in '' Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd''. Razzie Awards *2003: Nominated, "Worst Screen Couple" with Derek Richardson in '' Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd''. Prism Awards by Entertainment Industries Council *2014: Nominated, "Male Performance in a Drama Series Multi-Episode Storyline" in '' NCIS: Los Angeles''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olsen, Eric Christian American people of Scandinavian descent Living people American male film actors American male television actors American people of Norwegian descent People from Bettendorf, Iowa Male actors from Iowa 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Bettendorf High School alumni 1977 births