Bob Odenkirk

Robert John "Bob" Odenkirk ( born October 22, 1962 in Berwyn, Illinois ) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and film producer. Odenkirk is best known for his role as a sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman in AMC television series Breaking Bad and co-founder and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy show Mr. Show.

Life

Bob Odenkirk came in Berwyn, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Naperville with six siblings, the son of Barbara and Walter Odenkirk on. A brother of his is the comedy writer Bill Odenkirk. He is partly of Irish ancestry. His father ran a print shop. Odenkirks divorced father died of cancer. His father's battle against alcoholism influenced Bob's decision to avoid alcohol if possible.

Career

Odenkirk began his career as a DJ for WIDB, the campus radio station of the Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He was inspired by comedies like Monty Python's Flying Circus and Second City Television, by the comedian Steve Martin, Woody Allen, The Credibility Gap, and Bob and Ray as well as a visit to the Second City Theatre at the age of 14 years. After three years at the College Odenkirk, decided to make a name for himself in Chicago's comedy scene. He studied first with the Improvisisations guru Del Close. Odenkirk visited the The Players Workshop of The Second City, where he met Robert Smigel and long-term cooperation with Smigel began the Odenkirk eventually led to Saturday Night Live (SNL ).

1987 Odenkirk was hired as a sketch writer for SNL and worked there until 1991. 1989 he received his first Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program. He worked there together with Smigel and Conan O'Brien. Odenkirk was unsure about the quality of his sketches, which were not effective. In the summer of 1988 he returned to Second City to produce a show with Smigel and O'Brien called Happy Happy Good Show. The following summer, the one-man -show Show- Acting Guy, in which his friend Tom Giana directed followed. In his final year at SNL, he worked with Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock and Chris Farley. He left the show after he had written screenplays for the fourth season.

1991 Odenkirk worked for the TV show Get a Life and the following year for The Dennis Miller Show. Odenkirk, who had briefly shared an office with Ben Stiller on Saturday Night Live, worked from 1992 for The Ben Stiller Show as a sketch writer and actor. For this series, he received another Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program.

From 1995 to 1998 Odenkirk co-produced with David Cross comedy show Mr. Show with Bob and David. Since 1999, Odenkirk was mostly as an actor in television films and series active. In 2003, he led the film Melvin Goes to Dinner Director.

He achieved international fame was known from 2009 through his role as Saul Goodman in the series Breaking Bad. As a secondary role, he is also seen as Artillery Arthur in How I Met Your Mother. In March 2012, he landed a role as a voice actor in the 2013 calling at Animation Horror Comedy Hell & Back.

In September 2013 Sony Pictures Entertainment and AMC announced that an offshoot of Breaking Bad tentatively titled Better Call Saul was planned, in which Odenkirk is to take over the leading role. The prequel to respond to the story of Saul before he meets Walter.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Odenkirk was from 1989 to 1999 two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program, and five Emmy nominations, including four for Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program and once in the category of Outstanding Music and Lyrics. Other awards received Odenkirk for the film Melvin Goes to Dinner 2003, in which he directed. The film was named among other things on the Avignon / New York Film Festival for best U.S. drama, on the Birmingham Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival and the Phoenix Film Festival for Best Feature Film, at the Boston Independent Film Festival, the film won the Audience Award. For his role as Saul Goodman in the television series Breaking Bad Odenkirk was nominated as part of the ensemble for the Screen Actors Guild Award in 2012.