Jerry O’Connell is born on February 17, 1974 in New York City. He began acting at a young age, initially doing commercial work. At age 11, he made his film debut on the 1986 coming-of-age film Stand By Me, where he played Vern Tessio, the easily scared boy whose timidity and heavy weight made him an easy target for bullies. He then got his first starring role, in the Canadian television series My Secret Identity, a comic book fan who inadvertently develops superpowers after being hit by a photon beam. He then studied film at the New York University from 1991, although he left a few credits short of graduation in 1995.
While studying, O’Connell continued making appearances on screen, notably in the film Calendar Girl, and in an episode of Camp Wilder. In 1995, he auditioned for a role in the science fiction series Sliders, which he later got. He played the role of Quinn Mallory, a physics graduate student who invents the means for people to travel one parallel dimension to another. He stayed on the series until the fourth season, where he was already co-producer and occasional episode writer and director.
O’Connell then appeared in other films such as Body Shots, Mission to Mars, Scream 2 and Kangaroo Jack. He also dabbled in screenwriting, eventually seeing his film, First Daughter, released in 2004, five years after it was sold. In 2001, he starred in the crime drama Crossing Jordan, playing Detective Woody Hoyt, a colleague of Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh (Jill Hennessy) who harbors romantic feelings for her. He later reprised this character in its sister program, Las Vegas.
After appearing in shows such as Ugly Betty, Carpoolers, and Samantha Who?, as well as on an Internet video parodying the leaked Tom Cruise video on Scientology, O’Connell took a role in the comedy series Do Not Disturb. Premiered in 2008, he played Neal, the egotistical general manager of a swanky New York hotel, who is in charge of the hotel’s reputation as one of the best.