Eric Christian Olsen Biography
Born: May 31, 1977
Date of Birth: May 31, 1977
Although his main interest in high school was sports, Eric Christian Olsen found himself drawn to acting as well. In 1996, he decided to travel to California and try his luck, so he hopped in his car with $500 in his pocket. He had only been in Los Angeles one week when he landed a guest role on the ABC-TV series High Incident, executive-produced by Steven Spielberg. His next guest appearance was on the Fox TV series Millennium. He played a gas station attendant in the TV movie Black Cat Run (1998), then landed his first leading role as Arthur in the TV movie Arthur's Quest (1999).
Having a lead role under his belt added to Olsen's marketability in Hollywood, and he soon landed a recurring role in the Fox TV series Get Real, playing Cameron Green. Although the series lasted only one year, he played the memorable role of a burn victim on the hit series ER before landing another recurring role on the short-lived series Ruling Class. In the blockbuster Pearl Harbor (2001), he made his movie debut with a small role as a gunner, then landed a leading role in the teen send up feature film Not Another Teen Movie (2001).
One day, after a really bad audition, Olsen went out and bought a surfboard and taught himself to surf. He soon fell in love with the sport and counts it as his main hobby. In Local Boys (2002), he got the chance to show off the surfing skills he'd acquired since moving to Los Angeles. Olsen next played Jake in the teen comedy The Hot Chick (2002) before taking over the role of Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003) in the prequel to the hit movie Dumb and Dumber (1994). Unfortunately, the film was a huge flop, but Olsen bounced back with a role in Cellular (2004), starring Kim Basinger. He later worked with Jennifer Lopez in The Back-Up Plan (2010) and alongside Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg in Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012). Olsen has also found success in television with a recurring role on not one but two series: he plays William Furno on Hero Factor and Marty Deeks on NCIS: Los Angeles.
At one time, Olsen studied pre-med part time at Pepperdine University but finally decided to concentrate on his acting career.