Robert John Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul.
44 Facts About Bob Odenkirk
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Bob Odenkirk is known for the HBO sketch comedy series Mr Show with Bob and David, which he co-created and co-starred in with fellow comic David Cross.
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Bob Odenkirk wrote for television series Saturday Night Live and The Ben Stiller Show, winning Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1989 and 1993.
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Bob Odenkirk wrote for Late Night with Conan O'Brien and acted in a recurring role as Agent Stevie Grant in The Larry Sanders Show.
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Bob Odenkirk was born in Berwyn, Illinois, then raised in Naperville.
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Bob Odenkirk is the second oldest of seven siblings born to Walter Henry Odenkirk, who was employed in the printing business, and Barbara Mary Odenkirk, Catholics of German and Irish descent.
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Bob Odenkirk's parents divorced in part due to Walter's alcoholism, which influenced Bob's decision to avoid alcohol as much as possible.
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Bob Odenkirk attended Naperville North High School and graduated at 16; he was "tired of high school", and because he had enough credits, he was able to leave high school when he was still a junior.
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Bob Odenkirk began his foray into comedy writing as a radio DJ for WIDB, the local non-broadcast college station at SIU.
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Bob Odenkirk completed the credits at Columbia College Chicago and received his bachelor's degree from SIU in 1984.
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Bob Odenkirk performed at the Improv Olympic alongside future Saturday Night Live cast members Chris Farley and Tim Meadows.
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Bob Odenkirk would sharpen his stand-up and improv skills at Elmhurst's now defunct Who's on First comedy club, then part of The Steve and Leo Show.
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Bob Odenkirk visited Chicago's Second City Theater at the age of fourteen.
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Bob Odenkirk said his strongest comedic influence was Monty Python's Flying Circus, primarily due to its combination of cerebral humor and verbal slapstick, which Odenkirk characterized as "laugh-out-loud" humor.
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Bob Odenkirk was hired as a writer at Saturday Night Live in 1987 and worked there through 1991.
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When SNL took its 1988 summer break, Bob Odenkirk returned to Chicago to perform a stage show with Smigel and O'Brien, titled Happy Happy Good Show.
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Bob Odenkirk acted in several small roles on the show, most visibly during a 1990 parody commercial for Bad Idea Jeans.
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Bob Odenkirk has credited SNL with teaching him many lessons about sketch writing, from senior writers like Jim Downey and Al Franken, as well as his friends Smigel and O'Brien.
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In 1991, Bob Odenkirk relocated to Los Angeles and was hired to write for the TV show Get a Life, which starred Late Night with David Letterman alumnus Chris Elliott.
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Bob Odenkirk served as a writer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien for the show's 1993 and 1994 seasons.
21.
In 1993, Bob Odenkirk began a recurring role on The Larry Sanders Show as Larry Sanders' agent, Stevie Grant.
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Bob Odenkirk has written and produced many TV pilots, including The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke and David's Situation, but most didn't make it to air and none were picked up as a series.
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In 2003, Bob Odenkirk directed Melvin Goes to Dinner and played the role of Keith.
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In 2004, Bob Odenkirk received an unsolicited package including the work of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim.
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Bob Odenkirk assisted Tim and Eric with the development of their second series, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job.
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Bob Odenkirk was considered for the role of Michael Scott in the pilot of The Office, a role that ultimately went to Steve Carell.
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Bob Odenkirk finally guested in the final season of The Office as a Philadelphia manager strongly reminiscent of Michael Scott.
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In 2006, Bob Odenkirk directed Let's Go to Prison, which was written by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant, and starred Will Arnett, Dax Shepard and Chi McBride.
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In 2009, Bob Odenkirk joined the cast of AMC's Breaking Bad as corrupt lawyer Saul Goodman.
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The Goodman role was only intended to cover a three-episode guest spot in the second season, but Bob Odenkirk's performance led Gould and Vince Gilligan to extend the character as an ongoing role.
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Bob Odenkirk became a series regular as Goodman for the show's third through fifth and final season.
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Bob Odenkirk executive produced the sketch comedy show The Birthday Boys, which starred the comedy group of the same name.
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Bob Odenkirk appeared in and directed a number of the sketches on the show.
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In 2014, Bob Odenkirk played Police Chief Bill Oswalt in FX's miniseries Fargo.
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Bob Odenkirk starred in the title role of Better Call Saul, a Breaking Bad spinoff.
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Bob Odenkirk is credited as a producer for the series.
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Bob Odenkirk co-wrote, produced, and starred in Girlfriend's Day, a Netflix original film.
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In March 2021, Bob Odenkirk starred as Hutch Mansell in the action-thriller film Nobody, which opened at number one at the US box office, with $6.7 million in ticket sales.
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Bob Odenkirk received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 18,2022, the date of the premiere of the final season of Better Call Saul.
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Bob Odenkirk's star is located next to the star of his Breaking Bad co-star Bryan Cranston.
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In 2022, a new series starring Bob Odenkirk was announced for AMC, entitled Lucky Hank, based on the novel Straight Man by Richard Russo.
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Bob Odenkirk starred as Tommy Wiseau's character Johnny in a 2023 remake of The Room, which is in post-production.
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On July 27,2021, Bob Odenkirk was hospitalized in Albuquerque after having what he described as a "small heart attack" on the set of the sixth season of Better Call Saul.
44.
In 2022, Bob Odenkirk revealed that he had two stents placed in his coronary arteries shortly after the widow-maker heart attack due to arterial plaque build-up, which he had been diagnosed with earlier in 2018; he said that his condition was more severe than initially been understood, disclosing that his heart stopped and he required cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation to recover a pulse.