Chris O’Dowd’s life away from TV including famous wife and reason why he left LA

Irish actor Chris O’Dowd is gracing our screens once again with his new series Small Town Big Story. The six-part comedy on Sky explores the chaos that ensues when a major TV production descends on the fictional small town of Drumbán.

The show follows Wendy Patterson, played by Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks, a local girl who made it big as a TV producer in Los Angeles. She returns to her hometown with a film crew and is forced to confront a decades-old secret – extraterrestrial visitors.

The show is inspired by Chris’s own experiences filming the 2012 comedy hit Moone Boy about a boy with an imaginary friend. This is his latest TV project after relocating from Los Angeles to Britain.

The 45-year-old is best known for his roles in The IT Crowd, Girls, Bridesmaids, The Cloverfield Paradox and State of the Union. But what else do we know about this Irish star’s life, including his time in America and his famous wife?

Early life and career of Chris O’Dowd

Chris O’Dowd was born and raised in Boyle, County Roscommon, with his father Seán working as a sign designer and his mother, Denise, a counsellor and psychotherapist, reports the Irish Mirror.

The youngest of five siblings, O’Dowd left home to study politics and sociology at University College-Dublin. It was here that he developed an interest in acting.

Eventually, he left UCD without completing his degree to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.

His first on-screen acting appearance was in 2003 when he was cast in the television series Red Cap, but his big break came in 2006 when he landed a starring role in the popular comedy as Roy in The IT Crowd.

His success in the comedy saw him land roles in a number of films, including the box office hit Bridesmaids, Friends with Kids, The Sapphires and Thor: The Dark World.

Chris returned to TV as a writer and actor for his own show Moone Boy and later appeared in The Twilight Zone, Get Shorty, Puffin Rock and The Big Door Prize.

O’Dowd won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for his portrayal of Tom in State of the Union.

Chris O’Dowd’s famous wife

Chris O’Dowd is currently married to Dawn O’Porter after they tied the knot in 2012. They share two children, Art and Valentine, born in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

Dawn O’Porter is a Scottish writer, director, and television presenter who fronted TV documentaries on topics as wide-ranging as vintage clothes, breast cancer and the film Dirty Dancing for Three, Sky and .

O’Porter has also published nine books, including six bestselling novels. Most recently, she has published her sixth novel, Honeybee , the third in a series about friend Flo and Renée whose mothers have died of cancer when they meet at school in Guernsey in the Nineties.

The pair met after Chris initially asked her to go bowling, but she instead invited him to a 30th birthday party.

Life in LA and why Chris and Dawn left

For more than a decade, Chris resided in Los Angeles with his wife, Dawn, and their two children, Art and Valentine. Due to Chris’ flourishing career in Marvel films and TV shows, the family opted to stay in .

Their LA home featured a pool, where Chris and Dawn frequently entertained their expat friends, including Louis Theroux, with Sunday lunches. However, the actor and his family relocated to London last summer, driven by their desire to reconnect with life in the UK and be closer to their loved ones.

In an interview with Radio Times, he explained: “We thought we would wait until the kids were in secondary school, but then hit, and we suddenly felt very far away.

“Our parents were getting old, I wanted to visit Ireland more… I loved LA, though. I remember somebody asking ‘Does it not just feel like being on holiday all the time? ‘ and I was like, ‘Yes! That’s the draw!’.”