Kevin James O'Connor (born November 15, 1963) is an American character actor known for roles in films such as Lord of Illusions, The Mummy, Van Helsing, and There Will Be Blood. He is a favorite of director Stephen Sommers.
Early life, family and education
O'Connor was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His father was a policeman and his mother was a schoolteacher. As a youth, O'Connor enjoyed reading novelizations of movies, and watched the old movies on television on channels before cable TV, such as PBS, WGN-TV and Chicago Channel 32.
O'Connor attended Catholic school as a youth. He began performing in stage plays his last years in high school. His first performance was as Nutsy Miller, a minor role, in James Thurber's play The Male Animal.
He attended college at DePaul University in Chicago and trained for the stage at its Goodman School of Drama (now The Theatre School at DePaul University), graduating with his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1985.
Career O'Connor's first professional role was when Al Franken hired him for a low-budget feature film One More Saturday Night. However, O'Connor's big break was at practically the beginning of his career as high school rebel and beatnik poet Michael Fitzsimmons in Francis Ford Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). His next major part was quizzical newspaper reporter Taggerty Hayes in the HBO miniseries Tanner '88 (1988). He portrayed a young Ernest Hemingway in the film The Moderns (1988), had a role as a bartender turned groom in Steel Magnolias (1989), and a featured role in the erotic thriller Color of Night (1994) which starred Bruce Willis and Jane March. O'Connor starred in John Candy's last film, Canadian Bacon (1995), directed by Michael Moore; he portrayed Roy Boy, a suicidal, eccentric American intent on sabotaging Canada.
O'Connor worked with writer/director Stephen Sommers on the science-fiction adventure Deep Rising (1998). He subsequently appeared in Sommers' projects The Mummy (1999), in which he played the devious, materialistic Beni and was hired without an audition. Later Sommers' projects followed for him: Van Helsing (2004), in which he played Count Dracula's devious servant (and Dr. Frankenstein's former assistant) Igor; and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), in which he portrayed Doctor Mindbender.
O'Connor had a key supporting role in There Will Be Blood (2007) as Henry, the "brother" of Daniel Day-Lewis's oil man, Daniel Plainview. He reunited with There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson for a small role in The Master (2012).
Although he has performed mostly on the big screen, he has acted in TV series such as Birdland (1994), The Others (2000), and Gideon's Crossing (2000–01), and later in The Beast (2009), The Mob Doctor (2012–2013), Chicago P.D. (2014–2015), and the streaming mini-series 11.22.63 (2016) and Catch-22. He has performed on stage at the Steppenwolf and off-Broadway.
He does not consider himself strictly a method actor, although he does have techniques to maintain focus.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes1986 One More Saturday Night Hood Peggy Sue Got Married Michael Fitzsimmons1988 Candy Mountain Julius The Moderns Ernest Hemingway The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial Lt. Thomas Keefer TV movie1989 Signs of Life Eddie Johnson Steel Magnolias Sammy Desoto 1990 Love at Large Art the farmhand 1991 F/X2 Matt Neely1992 Equinox Russell Franks Hero Chucky1994 No Escape Stephano Color of Night Casey Heinz1995 Canadian Bacon Roy Boy Virtuosity Clyde Reilly Lord of Illusions Philip Swann 1996 Hit Me Cougar1997 Chicago Cab Southside Guy The Love Bug Roddy Martel TV movie Amistad Missionary1998 Gods and Monsters Harry Deep Rising Joey "Toochi" Pantucci Black Cat Run Hobbs TV movie1999 The Mummy Beni Gabor Chill Factor Telstar If... Dog... Rabbit... Jamie Cooper 2004 Van Helsing Igor 2006 Kettle of Fish Harry2007 Seraphim Falls Henry Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane Frank There Will Be Blood Henry Plainview 2009 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Doctor Mindbender Cameo 2012 The Master Bill William 2016 The Cleanse Fredericks 2018 Widows Bobby Welsh2019 Buck Run John Yoder Colewell Charles Captive State Kermode 2020 Exorcism at 60,000 Feet Buzz Wish Upon a Unicorn Willie 2027 Untitled The Mummy Returns sequel Beni Gabor Filming
Television Year Title Role Notes 1988 Tanner '88 Hayes Taggerty 7 episodes 1991 Law & Order Patrick McCarter Episode: The Troubles 1994 Birdland Mr. Horner 7 episodes 2000 The Others Warren Day 13 episodes 2001 Gideon's Crossing Dr. Michael Pirandello Episode: The Mistake 2004 Century City Henry Krell Episode: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Lose 2005 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Dr. Evan Chapel Episode: Grow 2009 The Beast Harry Conrad 13 episodes 2012–2013 The Mob Doctor Stavos Kazan 9 episodes 2014–2015 Chicago P.D. Commander Fischer 12 episodes 2016 11.22.63 Yellow-card Man 5 episodes 2017 The Blacklist Calvin Dawson Episode: The Travel Agency (No. 90)2019 Catch-22 Lt. Colonel Korn 6 episodes On Becoming a God in Central Florida Roger Penland 6 episodes
References
External links
Kevin J. O'Connor at Turner Classic Movies (archived)