Dan O'Brien is an American actor of Irish and Italian descent. He began his career off-off Broadway in 1997, receiving critical acclaim from Village Voice critic Alexis Soloski for his performance in Sander Hick's play, 'Sealove, Manager' at the Ohio Theater, Wooster St. New York.
After completing his education at the University of Notre Dame, O'Brien returned to New York and became a prominent figure in the indie theater scene, working with notable companies such as SITI Company Studio at Columbia, MCC, The Atlantic, The Flea, Here Arts, The Vineyard, The Ohio, Collective Unconscious, The Present Company Theatorium, The Kraine, Hudson Shakespeare Company, East Village Latino Arts Center Charas El Bohio, and La Plaza Cultural.
In 2004, O'Brien co-founded Black Rocking Chair productions with playwright and actress Julie Shavers, producing her work to critical praise at the New York International Fringe Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Ohio Theater, PS 1, and barns and stages across Tennessee.
O'Brien's commercial and sitcom work includes a series of funny television commercials, as well as appearances on popular television series such as 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'How I Met Your Mother,' 'Law and Order,' 'Ray Donovan,' 'The Affair,' 'American Housewife,' and others. He has also guest-starred on 'Whitney,' a NBC Thursday night prime-time sitcom, and has developed several major motion pictures in early readings by Aaron Sorkin and Beau Willimon.
As a voice-over talent, O'Brien has voiced television and radio campaigns for Sprint, Zillow, PNG, Tangerine Bank, and Nutro Dog Food. He has also directed plays and musicals in New York and Edinburgh, including Julie Shaver's 'Go Robot Go,' Nick Colt's puppet musical 'Birdy and Golden Putter,' and Shavers' 'Silver Bullet Trailer.'
O'Brien has also hosted a satirical web series as Fr. Daniel Malarky, treating clergy who suffer from Notre Dame Football related anxiety. He is currently producing a film with Academy Award winner Johnathan King and Concordia Media, written by Pulitzer-nominated playwright Theresa Rebeck, based on the life of defrocked priest Rev. Marek Bozek of Poland who fought the Vatican to keep an inner city Polish parish from closing in St. Louis and paid with his priesthood.
