Edward Leonard "Ed" O'Neill (born April 12, 1946) is an American actor who is best known for his role as Al Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children from 1987 to 1997, and as Jay Pritchett on the ABC comedy series Modern Family since 2009.
For Disney, he voiced Grandpa in the Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil episode "Truth or Daredevil", and Mr. Litwak in the 2012 animated film Wreck-It Ralph. He also played George Denver in the 1989 Touchstone Pictures film Disorganized Crime, Bill Dellinger in Prefontaine, Matt in the 8 Simple Rules episode "Old Flame", and Mayor Thompson in the Handy Manny episode "Great Garage Rescue". He voiced Hank in Finding Doryand in Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition.
Career[]
O'Neill is primarily known for his role as Al Bundy in Married... with Children, It was the first primetime television series to air on the Fox Network as a midseason replacement, debuting on April 5, 1987 and concluding June 9, 1997.
After "Married...with Children"[]
During and following the success of Married... with Children, Ed appeared in several movies, including The Bone Collector, Little Giants, and Dutch. He also had small parts in Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2, and appeared as Relish the Troll King in The 10th Kingdom. O'Neill made a brief appearance on the comedy variety show In Living Color, playing the "Dirty Dozens" champion who defeats the challenger, played by Jamie Foxx. He also made a cameo on the sitcom 8 Simple Rules where he was the ex-boyfriend of ate S. Hennessy (played by Katey Sagal, who portrayed O'Neill's TV wife Peg Bundy on Married with Children). He also appeared in the movie The Adventures of Ford Fairlane with Andrew Dice Clay and in Cruising' with Al Pacino. During the mid 1990s, he had a long string of appearances in commercials for MCI Communications, 1-800-COLLECT.
Law & Order franchise creator Dick Wolf cast Ed as Sgt. Joe Friday in his 2003 remake of Jack Webb's classic TV crime series Dragnet. The series was canceled by ABC in its second season. O'Neill went on to appear as fictional Governor Eric Baker (D-PA), a recurring character on NBC's The West Wing [political-drama series. Baker, a strong candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, assumed the office of the Vice President of the United States under Matt Santos at the end of the series.
O'Neill also played Bill on HBO's television series John From Cincinnati.
In 2008, O'Neill appeared in an advertisement for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama as "Al the Shoesalesman".
In January 2009, O'Neill reunited with David Faustino (Bud Bundy from Married with Children) for two episodes of Faustino's show Star-ving. O'Neill also appeared with the entire cast of Married with Children again when they were honored at the 7th Annual TV Land Award show in 2009, presented by Dr. Phil.
"Modern Family" TV series (2009-present)[]
Since 2009, O'Neill has played the role of Jay Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family, a role that earned him Emmy award nominations in 2011 and 2012.