Australian actor Alex O’Loughlin was born on August 24, 1975 in Sydney, New South Wales. His father is a physics and astronomy teacher in their hometown, and his parents divorced when he was a child. In 2002, O’Loughlin graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art. His first role was a minor one on television, playing Ian Mack in an episode of White Collar Blue. He also began acting on stage, appearing in local productions of plays by Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy.

Alex O’Loughlin started his film career in 2004, when he was cast as the lead character Jack Flange in Oyster Farmer. He appeared on television’s BlackJack: Sweet Science as Luke Anderson, and had a role in 2005’s Man-Thing. That year, he co-produced, wrote and starred in the crime thriller Feed, where he played Michael Carter. He was also in the Australian mini-series The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant, and was an extra in 2006’s The Holiday. The next year, he was given a role in the feature film The Invisible as well as joining the cast of the series The Shield. He played Detectice Kevin Hiatt for seven episodes. His next role was in the movie August Rush, where he starred alongside Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Terence Howard and Robin Williams. When Alex O’Loughlin left The Shield, he went on to star in another series, the fantasy thriller Moonlight. He played the lead role, Mick St. John, a private investigator and vampire. Though he had a six-year contract with CBS for his role, the series ended in 2008. O’Loughlin was also considered to play James Bond in the 2006 film Casino Royale but lost the role to Daniel Craig.

In 2005, Alex O’Loughlin was nominated for the Australian Film Institute’s “Best Lead Actor in Television” for his performance in The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant. The next year, he received a nomination for the Logie Awards’ Silver Logie for the same role and category.


(Image courtesy of IMDb.com)