Kevin Connolly Biography
Summary
"Kevin Connolly" (born March 5, 1974) is a American actor and director. Connolly is probably best known for his role on the HBO series "Entourage" as Eric Murphy.
Early life and career
Connolly was born on Long Island, New York, to a waitress mother and a truck driver father. He began his career at age six, appearing in television commercials including the popular 'Betcha bite a chip' campaign for Chips Ahoy. In 1990, he landed his first film role, as Chickie, in "Rocky V". Two years later, Connolly was cast as Shaun Kelly in the film adaptation of Myron Levoy's novel "Alan & Naomi", and co-starred in the short-lived Fox sitcom "Great Scott!". His appearance in the show later earned him a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Young Actor Co-starring in a Television Series. He portrayed Dabney Coleman's son in the 1993 film "The Beverly Hillbillies". Connolly continued guest starring in television shows including "Wings", "Getting By" and the medical drama "ER".
From 1995-96, Connolly starred in "Don's Plum", alongside friends and future collaborators, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio. Later that year, he landed the role of Ryan Malloy on the sitcom "Unhappily Ever After". The show also marked Connolly's directorial debut when he directed six episodes in its fourth season. In 2007, Connolly made his full length movie directorial debut with the film "Gardener of Eden", which premiered in April 2007 at the Tribeca Film Festival.
In addition to television work, Connolly has starred in several major motion pictures including, "Antwone Fisher", "John Q", and "The Notebook". In August 2007, he signed on to play a supporting character in Drew Barrymore's new comedy "He's Just Not That Into You", which was released in 2009. Connolly has reportedly been cast as jazz musician Benny Goodman in an upcoming movie. The film, set in the 1930s, will focus on one of the first interracial bands of the era. Nick Cannon, Brandon Routh and rapper Ludacris will co-star.
In October 2008, Connolly was hired to direct his first music video for multi platinum rap artist The Game featuring R&B artist Ne-Yo. The video is for the song 'Camera Phone' off The Game's latest album "LAX".
Personal life
Connolly was linked with his "Unhappily Ever After" co-star Nikki Cox. He also dated heiress and designer Nicky Hilton from January 2005 to October 2006. In 2007, he was romantically linked with actress Haylie Duff and "Dancing with the Stars" dancer, Julianne Hough.
In June 2007, Connolly was named one of "People" magazine's hottest bachelors of 2007 along with cast mate Adrian Grenier.
Connolly is a die-hard New York Islanders fan. He showed his support for the team by wearing Islanders' clothing throughout the six seasons.
External links
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Kevin Connolly.
