Ken Olin
Acting
Born 1954-07-30
Chicago, Illinois, USA
57 credits
Read biography
His dark, sincere good looks were steadily put to use on the small screen during the 80s, but, in retrospect, actor Ken Olin will probably be considered more of a major force behind the camera. Born in Chicago, Ken went to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and headed for Hollywood in the late 70s. After the typical route of bit parts, he started moving up in leaps and bounds on TV's top shows. A couple of strong, single season regular parts on both Hill Street Blues (1981)and Falcon Crest (1981) ultimately led to his casting as the introspective and quietly sexy Michael Steadman on Thirtysomething (1987), which ran for four seasons and nabbed numerous awards for its liberal writing and sensitive content. Ken co-starred with wife Patricia Wettig on the show, but the multi-Emmy winner Wettig did not play Ken's wife (actress Mel Harris did) and the public was often confused as to who Ken's wife really was. Ken also earned the chance to direct occasionally on Thirtysomething (1987) and this would have a significant impact as to the direction of his career in the years to come. Following Thirtysomething (1987), Ken pursued acting work in mini-movies as both hero ( Police Story: Cop Killer (1988) ) and villain ( Dead by Sunset (1995) ), but almost always seemed on the verge of leaving acting altogether. It was his burgeoning interest in directing that took over, and he has since found steady helming duties on such popular shows as Felicity (1998) and The West Wing (1999). His TV drama Doing Time on Maple Drive (1992)was nominated for three Emmys.
Not enough member ratings yet.
Sign in to rate.
Filmography
Acting
33 credits
Murder, She Wrote
Golden Globe Awards
Falcon Crest
Hill Street Blues
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Brothers and Sisters
thirtysomething
Zoo
Stars in the House
The Hitchhiker
Police Story
Alias
L.A. Doctors
EZ Streets
Ghost Story
Bay City Blues
Queens Logic
The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie
I'll Take Manhattan
'Til There Was You
Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac
Telling Secrets
A Stoning in Fulham County
The Story of Soaps
The Advocate's Devil
There Must Be a Pony
Women at West Point
Americana
Nothing But the Truth
Y2K
Police Story: Cop Killer
Goodnight Sweet Wife: A Murder in Boston
Tonight's the Night
Directing
23 credits
The West Wing
Tracker
This Is Us
Paradise
Judging Amy
The Man in the High Castle
Sleepy Hollow
Brothers and Sisters
Felicity
thirtysomething
Freaks and Geeks
Eli Stone
Alias
L.A. Doctors
Grand Hotel
The Slap
EZ Streets
The Mob Doctor
White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf
Doing Time on Maple Drive
In Pursuit of Honor
Phenomenon II
The Broken Cord
Producing
8 credits
Tracker
This Is Us
Sleepy Hollow
Eli Stone
Breaking News
Brothers & Sisters: Family Album
Phenomenon II
Kansas
Other credits
3 credits
Track what you watch
DuckTrack members see which of these they have already watched,
right here on this page.
Create a free account
Comments
0 commentsNo comments yet. Sign in to be the first.