Famous Catholics in Hollywood

Christopher Eugene O'Donnell (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor. He played Charlie Sims in Scent of a Woman, Chris Reece in School Ties, D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, Jack Foley in the drama film Circle of Friends, Dick Grayson/Robin in Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Jason Brown in Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune, Peter Garrett in Vertical Limit, and Wardell Pomeroy in Kinsey. O'Donnell starred as Special Agent G. Callen on the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles, a spin-off of NCIS.

Faith and family first.

That's been the guiding principle of both life and career for actor Chris O'Donnell '92, who spoke to BC students at Robsham Theater on September 29.

O'Donnell is a veteran of film, theater, and television. Currently starring in the CBS crime drama NCIS-Los Angeles, now in its eighth season, his credits include a Golden Globe-nominated role opposite Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (for which O'Donnell won the Chicago Film Critics Award); parts in Men Don't Leave, Blue Sky, Circle of Friends, Fried Green Tomatoes, and School Ties; plus two turns as Robin in Batman films. O'Donnell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but he is also well known as a "family man," and has been honored for his commitment to charitable causes.

His appearance on campus opened the 10th season of BC's student-run Agape Latte series. Launched at Boston College in 2006 by the Church in the 21st Century Center and Office of Campus Ministry, the program provides a platform for prominent BC figures to share stories about transformative or other significant moments of faith in their lives. The popular series has inspired similar programs at Jesuit, Catholic, private, and public colleges across the country.

"Remember your priorities. For me it was always my faith, my family, my friends, and my work. It becomes a pattern of your life, and it serves you better than you know. I had my ups and downs, but I never let the highs get too high, and it protected me from the lows."—Chris O'Donnell

O'Donnell, who addressed a packed house of BC students ("I feel like I'm here to announce a new iPhone," he said upon seeing the crowd), said he "was more comfortable with a script" and not particularly versed in describing his faith journey. But, as he shared his experiences of home and career, he soon began to illustrate how faith and family have influenced his choices and kept him on course through the highs of fame and the lows of a fast-paced and occasionally "brutal" industry.

The youngest of seven children, for whom weekly Mass and nightly prayers were the norm, O'Donnell characterized his close-knit Catholic family as his support system, sustaining him in times of doubt or difficulty. A positive experience with Jesuit education at Loyola Academy in Chicago, he said, prompted him to apply to BC.

At the time, he already had several years of modeling for print ads and television commercials under his belt, and was in the process of auditioning for Men Don't Leave, a film starring Jessica Lange and directed by Paul Brickman of Risky Business fame.

O'Donnell never believed he'd get the part, he said, and when they offered it to him, he was torn, because he was still focused on college. ("I was the seventh of seven kids," he said. "It was finally my turn."). Serendipity solved the problem: he would be accepted to BC if he could begin in January, a delayed start that enabled him to do the film.

A graduate of the Carroll School of Management, O'Donnell peppered his remarks with memories of his former professors Richard McGowan, S.J., and the late Ray Keyes; living in Duchesne ("I like Newton"); and of his lack of luck in the housing lottery ("My roommates and I were like the island of misfit toys.")

"I wanted to be under the radar at BC," he said. "I didn't want to be the kid who'd done a film." That became harder to achieve when, after he'd auditioned for a role in The Prince of Tides, his roommate delivered a phone message: "'Hey, OD,' he said. 'Barbra Streisand called for you. What's up with that?'"

O'Donnell's film career continued during his time at BC with roles in School Ties and Scent of a Woman. He described the transition from being "a complete unknown" to co-starring with Pacino as an "explosion," an occurrence that he now recognizes as a pivotal point in his life. While it would have been easy to be influenced by the new-found fame, "Dad said 'don't get carried away by the excitement,'" he recalled, "'because it won't last.'" O'Donnell heeded his father's advice.

When the relentless pace of doing film after film without a break began to "take over my life," he stepped away from the spotlight. He married and began a family—he and his wife of nearly 20 years now have five children—but when he decided to return to work, he faced another pivotal moment at which, he said, his priorities kept him grounded.

"The film opportunities weren't as easy to come by," he said. "It was devastating. But I always put faith and family before career and I think having that focus got me through it."

The experience also prompted him to take a risk: he auditioned for, and landed, the lead role in a Williamstown Theatre Festival production of Arthur Miller's The Man Who Had All the Luck. Though he found the transition to live performance daunting at first ("I knew nothing about theater," he said. "I kept waiting for someone to say 'Action!'"), the play's success and subsequent Broadway run renewed his confidence, and also paved his way to roles in the television hit Grey's Anatomy and, ultimately, NCIS: Los Angeles.

During a Q&A, O'Donnell shared insights into his film career (wearing the Robin suit was "miserable; the thickest wet suit you can imagine" with the mask "glued to my face all day"); NCIS (he'd spent the previous day being repeatedly thrown fully clothed into the ocean while filming episode 175 ("I'm afraid of sharks")); and his personal taste (favorite film? "It's a Wonderful Life; my family watched it every Christmas").

Though he finds it "crazy to think I've been doing this for almost 30 years," O'Donnell hastened to add that he's grateful for the opportunities he's had, and for a steady job doing what he enjoys—especially one that allows him be settled in one place and see his kids every day.

His parting advice to students: "First, remember your priorities," he said. "For me it was always my faith, my family, my friends, and my work. It becomes a pattern of your life, and it serves you better than you know. I had my ups and downs, but I never let the highs get too high, and it protected me from the lows."

"Second, try things out of your comfort zone. The biggest risks can lead to the biggest success, and even failing helps you to grow and to become the person you're meant to be."

Let's be real — given all the negative headlines coming out of Hollywood in recent years, it's seemed like legitimate good guys with acting careers are few and far between. However, Chris O'Donnell hasn't attracted tabloid attention for behaving badly — quite the contrary, in fact. 

The wholesome, clean-cut actor made a career for himself in the early nineties depicting characters who — one way or another — benefited from his soft touch. As time passed and his acting roles changed, his attitude remained the same, and his core audience and fanbase grew with him. Though he has suffered the same critical and box office bombs as most other actors — the mid-nineties mishaps "Batman & Robin," "Mad Love," and the Ernest Hemingway biopic "In Love and War" are a few examples — he's nonetheless maintained a consistent career for himself, particularly on television. He's thrived on the shows "Grey's Anatomy" and "NCIS: Los Angeles," which have both utilized his gentle appeal.

By charming both television and film audiences, O'Donnell has become a Hollywood success story — and he's done it without sacrificing the values he holds dear. The key to his life, attitude, and career? It's all here.

He's from a large Catholic family

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Chris O'Donnell was the youngest of seven siblings in a large Catholic family — an environment within which the "NCIS: Los Angeles" star "learned his altar-boy values," according to Rolling Stone. His wholesome religious upbringing seemed to have a positive impact — it kept him grounded in Hollywood, where even the most humble of stars can get caught engaging in some less than decent behavior.

The family values O'Donnell grew up with have seemingly influenced the way he treats everyone around him. "Chris has every friend he's made since the delivery room," "Batman Forever" director Joel Schumacher told the Chicago Tribune. "From the doctor who slapped his bottom to the person he met yesterday ... When you work with him, you become part of his extended family." Unsurprisingly, these values have also extended to the large family O'Donnell has with his wife Caroline.

The two share five children together, with O'Donnell telling Redbook that he and his spouse grew up with "the same values and traditions." Caroline was the sister of one of his college roommates, and they shared "a little smooch" when she came over one day. They "didn't see each other again for three years," but the actor "had never forgotten her." Soon enough, they reconnected. O'Donnell was 26 when they got married. As he told Redbook, having "a traditional family life" was what he desired, not "the playboy lifestyle" that some Hollywood stars embrace. 

Chris O'Donnell wasn't exactly eyeing a career in acting when he first sought to get paid for being in front of a camera. In fact, at age 13, he decided to try his hand at modeling. As he told the Chicago Tribune, he thought, "'These guys are making $65 an hour for doing nothing. This is excellent!'" — and what teenage boy wouldn't want a piece of that pie? O'Donnell told Rolling Stone that his sister hooked him up with an agent she'd met at a wedding who agreed to see him. "We went downtown," he recalled, "and the agent said I was perfect." 

Indeed she did. Maureen Brockman, the agent in question, told the Chicago Tribune that his "fabulous smile and adorable personality" made him "a perfect package," and she knew immediately that he could find work. Taking baby steps into the next phase of his budding career, O'Donnell started doing commercials. His most notable promotional moment is arguably a 1987 McDonald's commercial in which he's shown serving breakfast to basketball legend Michael Jordan.

His appearance is brief, but his star quality is evident: Has anybody ever looked so enthusiastic and chipper slinging burgers behind a fast food counter? Clearly, this kid could act! His subsequent first feature film performances in the early '90s movies "Men Don't Leave" and "Fried Green Tomatoes" further cemented his burgeoning talent and proved that he wasn't just model material.

Despite gaining a respectable level of success with his formative Hollywood roles, Chris O'Donnell headed off to Boston College, where he majored in marketing. As he told the Chicago Tribune in 1993, his entertainment career had only just started prior to heading off to college, so, like any good traditionalist, he stuck with a pragmatic plan. However, as he started to book more gigs, he had an epiphany, and soon realized that acting was "what [he] wanted to do."

The epiphany came late in his studies, so he "never switched to a theater major or a film major." This fact perfectly embodies O'Donnell's seemingly humble nature — he was a few years behind the rest of the world in realizing what a talent he was. In fact, his college roommates didn't even know that the guy they lived with was a bona fide movie star — that is, until they took a personal call for O'Donnell from the one and only Barbra Streisand. 

Recounting the incident on "Watch What Happens Live," the actor told host Andy Cohen that it happened after Streisand decided not to hire him for the film "The Prince of Tides." She left a message with his roommate while he was at the library, which raised some questions. Worse still, when Streisand said that she'd call back the next day, "The entire hall was waiting to answer the phone," O'Donnell recalled. Who wouldn't be?

Chris O'Donnell is one of the nicest guys in Hollywood

In a 1997 profile of the star, the Chicago Tribune mused on how Chris O'Donnell had garnered "some of the worst press in the history of celebrity journalism" due to his impeccably clean-cut image, which earned him nicknames including "Mr. Squeaky Clean" and "The Safe-Sex Symbol of the '90s" — insults that seem incredibly twee in the hindsight of the Me Too era.

Understandably, O'Donnell wasn't hurt by the media taunts. Rather, he almost seemed amused by them. "It frustrates them that I have this clean-cut image," he told the Tribune, his hometown newspaper. "It's not normal for an actor to be like this, I guess. But I'm not trying to create an image. I'm just being myself." It certainly didn't seem to harm his career. If anything, his decency and authenticity went a long way in impressing filmmakers. In an industry full of bad boys and Brat Pack kids, he was a breath of genuine, wholesome air. 

Devout Catholic Mark Wahlberg has said his faith is 'not popular' in Hollywood but he cannot deny his religion because that would be 'an even bigger sin' as he celebrated the start of Lent.

The Ted actor, 51, said he has always talked about his faith - but he added 'he doesn't want to jam it down anybody's throat'. 

Wahlberg said Catholicism had allowed him to focus on being a 'better version of himself' as he appeared on the Today Show on Ash Wednesday, which starts 40 days of Lent.

Wahlberg appeared on the show with a black cross on his forehead - Christian devotees receive repentance ash in the form of the cross on Ash Wednesday, a holy day of praying and fasting.

'I have always talked about my faith,' Wahlberg told the Today Show. 'It's a balance. I don't wanna jam it down anybody's throat, but I do not deny my faith. 

'That's an even bigger sin. You know, it's not popular in my industry, but, you know, I cannot deny my faith. It's important for me to share that with people.'

Speaking about what his faith means to him, Wahlberg said: 'It's everything, it's afforded me so many things. 

'God didn't come to save the saints, he came to save the sinners. We've all had issues in our lives and we want to be better versions of ourselves, and through focusing on my faith, it's allowed me to do that.'

Wahlberg's family are Catholic, which his son Michael attending his confirmation in July last year. Michael wore a white button-down shirt with a gray tie and matching gray slacks at the time. 

Confirmation is one of the seven Catholic sacraments. It is a rite where Catholics reaffirm their faith in the religion they first joined after being baptized.

The Uncharted actor shares four children with Rhea Durham: Michael, 18-year-old Ella, 13-year-old Brendan and 12-year-old Grace. 

Ash Wednesday is a Christian holy day of praying and fasting as devotees receive repentance ash in the form of a cross on their foreheads to either the words 'Repent, and believe in the Gospel' or the dictum 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.' 

As a devout Roman Catholic, no doubt it is important for Mark to participate in acts of contrition as in his teenage years he served 45 days in prison for felony assault for two racially charged attacks on Vietnamese men on the same day.

It’s been about a year since I interviewed Mark Wahlberg — last Lent — when we discussed the beautiful life of Father Stuart Long as told on-screen in the flick Father Stu, which ended up being a box-office success and even led to a reboot featuring milder language. 

As we entered 40 days of the penitential Lenten season yesterday, Ash Wednesday, the Catholic actor made headlines again, while speaking about his Catholic faith. The interview hit on several topics, including his own Lenten practices, the danger of duplicity, why he will never deny his faith.

The conversation also brought to mind some of the things Wahlberg told the Register about family.

Sporting salvific soot on TV, Wahlberg proudly shared why he will never deny his faith — even in an industry that shuns it. 

“You know, we all know those things that make us feel guilty, don’t make us feel as good as we should, so being able to detach from those things and focus on, you know, good habits as opposed to bad habits,” Wahlberg said, before pivoting to the challenge that lay ahead. “So there are challenges for fasting; like today, I won’t have any meat, I’ll have one meal today, and I will do that every Friday throughout Lent and Good Friday — but just challenging people to be better versions of themselves.”

Expanding the importance of detachment and how there are other things that Catholics need to put down this Lenten season, Wahlberg told Guthrie: “There are many different elements to fasting, and I think the important thing to understand is — and first of all, if you have issues with food, there are other things — God knows the things that he wants you to detach from.”

“I just think it gives me — discipline has always been important for me in life. Once I started getting in movies and transitioned from music, I realized I needed a lot of discipline in my life, and that discipline has afforded me so many other things, and I have been rewarded for it so much, and I want to share that with people,” Wahlberg added.

“So, whether that’s with fasting, working out more, detaching from other things, and just spending more time with God in prayer or in thoughtful reflection, and those things are important,” he added.

As a father of four, Wahlberg also spoke to Guthrie about teaching the Catholic faith to his children, telling Guthrie, “I don’t force it on them,” adding his concern about causing any “resentment” and his desire to lead by example.

“I want them to gravitate to it in a very natural way. I want them to understand that Dad has to start the day by getting on his hands and his knees, and no matter where I am, the priority on Sunday is to go to church; so to be able to do those things and just see them — hopefully, they will say, 'Well, okay, there’s got to be something there’ and let them do it on their own.”

Wahlberg spoke to the Register in April 2022 in Helena, Montana, on the sidelines of the Father Stu premiere and spoke about the importance of family. Broaching the topic of how he helps guide his own children in an increasingly hostile world when it comes to faith, he says it all comes down to communication and an understanding of our human condition. 

“I think, for parents and kids, just communicating with each other, being honest about how you feel, especially kids being able to communicate their feelings. ... When you see kids are dealing with their suffering and having to keep things inside, that should be accepted and embraced, no matter what. That was a very difficult thing. ... You know, there’s one Judge. There’s one Judge. And we’re all sinners. We’re all weak in the flesh. And we all have made mistakes. But we want to encourage people ...”

Speaking with Today about his new role with the Hallow app, along some some other Catholic actors, including Jonathan Roumie, Walhberg spoke about the importance of community during this period of penance, especially on the heels of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that impacted so many during the Lenten season of 2020, leaving millions isolated, alone and without the sacraments.

“We want to bring people together,” he told Guthrie before he quoted the late Pope Benedict XVI: “The world affords you a lot of comfort. We’re not made for comfort. We’re made for greatness. In order to be [great], we gotta be in the fight to get the rewards.”

“Being a Catholic is the most important aspect of my life,” Wahlberg said in an interview with the Catholic Herald in the U.K. He continued,

“Once I focused on my faith wonderful things started happening for me. And I don’t mean professionally – that’s not what it’s about. These days, I’ll be in church and people will come up to me and say: ‘Do you mind if I sit and pray with you?’ And they’ll start praying and it’ll turn out they’re praying for their new movie to be a success or whatever, and I’m like, this is not what I come here for. For me to sit down and ask for material things is ridiculous. It’s a much bigger picture than that. I want to serve God and to be a good human being and to make up for the mistakes I made and the pain I put people through. That’s what I’m praying for, and I recommend it to anybody.”
– Mark Wahlberg

 Wahlberg’s whole life changed when he began to center his life on prayer and on his Catholic faith. He stayed focused on what is most important in life, and his career followed on that path. Wahlberg spoke of his priorities in life saying,

“Being a good actor or a good producer: that’s not going to help me sleep at night or get me into heaven. The most important thing from where I sit is to be a good father, a good husband, and a good human being – a man who helps his fellow man and raises his kids to be good human beings too. Every single aspect of my family life is joy”

Kevin James
April 26, 1965 (age 58)
Mineola, New York, U.S.Occupations

• Comedian
• actor

Years active1989–presentSpouseSteffiana de la Cruz​​(m. 2004)​Children4RelativesGary Valentine (brother)

Kevin George Knipfing (born April 26, 1965), better known by his stage name Kevin James, is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his role as Doug Heffernan on the sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series nomination in 2006. He also was nominated for a People's Choice Award in 2017 for his role on the sitcom Kevin Can Wait (2016–2018).

James has appeared in the films Hitch (2005), I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007), Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), Grown Ups (2010), Zookeeper (2011), Here Comes the Boom (2012), and Pixels (2015). He has also done voice work for Monster House, Barnyard (both 2006), and the first three films of the Hotel Transylvania franchise (2012–2018).

He also had roles in the drama films Little Boy (2015) and Becky (2020).

James was born Kevin George Knipfing in Mineola, New York, on April 26, 1965,[1] the son of American office worker Janet and German-American insurance agency owner Joseph Valentine Knipfing Jr.[1][2] He grew up in Stony Brook, New York.[3] He has a sister named Leslie and an older brother named Gary, the latter of whom also became a comedian and actor under the name Gary Valentine.[4] The siblings were raised Catholic. James graduated from Ward Melville High School,[5] where he reached the top position on the wrestling team, one spot above his friend and future professional wrestler Mick Foley. Both wrestled in the Heavyweight weight class. When James suffered a season-ending back injury, Foley took over the first string position.[6] Both men went on to study at the State University of New York at Cortland, where James played halfback on the varsity football team until another back injury permanently ended his sporting ambitions.

Kevin James, who played Doug Heffernan for nine seasons on the CBS sitcom and has since branched out into movies, has no problem talking about his values and how it affects his career. 

“I am involved in my faith, it becomes more and more – you know, it becomes a difficult, difficult position. You have a platform and you don’t want to do anything that doesn’t glorify God in every way,” James told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from Philadelphia. 

“I can’t play a priest in every film, either. You definitely want to have a positive message. I want to be able to sit and watch my movies with my children,” added James, who is married with two daughters and one son. Having control over and writing the material, according to him, is a key to “be inspiring and (to) move people in a positive way.” 

James, 47, is promoting his upcoming film comedy, “Here Comes the Boom.” In it, he plays a high school science teacher who once loved his work but has “lost his mojo,” as he put it, but gets it back when budget cuts threaten the job of the music teacher (Henry Winkler), who never lost his love for teaching. 

James’ character even goes so far as to train to be a mixed martial arts fighter – which James did in real life to prepare for the movie – in the belief that even a loser’s payday in such a bout will reap the bucks necessary to save the music program. 

It’s not that James admits to some road-to-Damascus moment that made his faith all the more relevant to him. “I was born and raised Catholic and absolutely love my faith and learn more and more about it all the time,” he said. “It’s nice to have that going into whatever you do, whatever part of life you take upon yourself.” 

It might have been, though, that James had his own lost-his-mojo moment. “I’ve been very guilty, a lot, of not knowing my faith too much and just praying when I needed it when something bad happened in my life and not being thankful when things turned good,” he told CNS. “The more I realized how important it is, the more I want to learn about it and do the right thing. All good is from him (God), and so I want to honor him. It’s honestly about learning more and instilling that in my kids and my friends, and those around me.” 

Even before he hit it big on the small screen with “The King of Queens,” James was known as a standup comic who worked clean – but not necessarily as a byproduct of his faith. “It was easier to get on television and it was more universal” than using coarse language, he said. “I saw people who were kind of filthy in the clubs and they were very, very funny (in) what they were doing. But you weren’t going to be able to get on ‘The Tonight Show.’ I was selfish – I didn’t want to have to change my material.” 

James has been in the public eye for 14 years, first with “The King of Queens” and a series of mostly hit film comedies including “Hitch,” “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” “Zookeeper” and “Grown-Ups” and its sequel. What if it all comes to an end? 

“There’s always that possibility,” James replied, “It’s his will, not mine. If it doesn’t happen, I’ve definitely had a great run. I’ll continue to do it, or find my path to something else. He’s given me the platform to do it. It’s great, yeah, I love it.”

Kevin James agrees. Speaking with him about his new workplace comedy series, The Crew, premiering on Netflix Monday, Feb. 15, I asked him, as a Catholic actor, about the importance of making family-friendly comedy that inspires and uplifts, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

"Yeah, absolutely! It's always important, it really is, but now more than ever, because we do need that break; we need that release — we're meant for that. I honestly believe that you have to turn it around. And even in our quarantine, I was quarantined with a big family of directors, really good guys, the Kinnane family, and they helped me put together this YouTube channel, and we just did these short films that are just goofy and kind of fun to try and give to the world some comedy — and also good for me. It was literally cathartic for me to get out there and do it, so ... we need it, we need it, and I always love doing it."

Kevin James is not shy about sharing his Catholic faith in his life, to the media, or even on the screen. His 2012 hit Here Comes the Boom showed fighters and trainers, hands linked in prayer, before a fight. When I asked him about his faith and his willingness to witness to others, he said it is very important to him. Speaking to Catholic media in 2012, James said, “I was born and raised Catholic and absolutely love my faith and learn more and more about it all the time. It’s nice to have that going into whatever you do, whatever part of life you take upon yourself.”

James seems to be a normal fixture at Catholic events, not as a speaker typically, but in attendance; he is usually seen palling around with well-known Catholics. Social-media posts spied him attending the 2020 SEEK conference sponsored by FOCUS. He is also close to several Catholic authors and speakers, including Dr. Scott Hahn, who has hosted him at some of his retreats. James' career reflects his desire to stick to the tenets of his faith — even in his early days performing stand-up, all of his comedy was clean. Of course, James is no stranger to the sitcom. Most people know him from his role in CBS' The King of Queens.

His new show on Netflix, The Crew, is set inside the inner workings of a NASCAR racing team, starring James as crew chief. In watching the first few episodes, this workplace comedy showcases a tight-knit racing team, but it really does seem more like family, with loads of laughs along the way. NASCAR actually worked in tandem with the producers of the show, offering a rare insight into the sport that garners millions of fans and comes with its own subculture. With the show premiering a day after the Daytona 500 (airing today), James said his experience in the life of racing was thrilling. 

"I grew up on Long Island, New York, and early on, I was a Richard Petty fan, and I dressed up like him for Halloween one year, but I wasn't exposed to much NASCAR growing up. It wasn't til about 10 years ago, when I did promotion for a movie, that they asked me to be a grand marshall for one of the races. ... It's insane when you go there. You see it on TV: You just see the guy in front of the pack. You think this guy is gonna win, you know; you don't know how much goes into this sport. A live event is just a whole different world. ... Doing a workplace comedy, with that backdrop, was just a no-brainer for me." 

This is James' first entree into Netflix, and he said it has been nothing but positive. With no studio house or production companies in the way, Netflix is able to run a show in a more open and freeform way, allowing more creative control to rest in the hands of the writers and producers of the show. 

"It's much different and much better for me. With network [programming], you got the studio. ... Sometimes they're worried about the commercials, the advertisers. Netflix just does their thing. They give you the reigns, and they let you go. They believe in you. They give great notes when they do give notes, you know; but for the most part, they let you do your thing. And there's a comfort there. You get to work with great people, and whenever you're worried about 'hey, can we do this or that?' they're just like: Just do it. So it has just been a great experience for me."

The entertainment industry has definitely been hit by the pandemic. Theater companies have had to shutter or go online, while drive-ins seem to be making a comeback. Although there are valid concerns about the lack of the social aspect in entertainment, with so much programming going online or streaming, James says he isn't certain about what the future holds, but he sees a silver lining. 

"I don't know; I don't know. It is nice to see things in a theater with other people, people laughing next to you and stuff, but I mean, Netflix has proved that it works, too. You can watch with your family. But there is something to it. I get it through doing it in front of a live audience; that's why I love the four-camera shoots where you have that audience reaction. That's why I love stand-up, that immediate reaction, and you can kinda guide [the audience reaction], and you're out there live, and it's fun. I remember when I used to do movies that were in the theater, and I'd sneak in the back during the premiere just to get the audience's reaction. That's taken away for now, but it's also great. We've adapted to watching at home, now and, with what's going on in the world, it's awesome. Entertainment is great; as long as you get to watch it with the people you love, it's fun."

Finding programming that allows the entire family to laugh together is hard these days, even with the multiple options for entertainment. As a mother of a young toddler, I have cringed every time the television is on, and sometimes it's just getting through the commercials. James says bringing a fun family-friendly show to the public is crucial to his career in comedy, especially as a man of faith. It's what he sets out to do. As a father of four, he takes it very seriously. 

"Basically, family-friendly comedy that can transcend all so it's not just, you're watching it with the kids, it's boring for the adults — but it's engaging for adults, but it's also fun for kids, and you're comfortable watching it with your whole family. And that's — you don't find too much of that now — so it's hard to do that. And I know when I sit down with my kids, I don't want to be uncomfortable watching stuff. So it makes it grand, and Netflix was fantastic with this."

Neal McDonough[1] (born February 13, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Lynn "Buck" Compton in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers (2001), Deputy District Attorney David McNorris on Boomtown (2002–2003), Tin Man in the Sci Fi Channel miniseries Tin Man, and a main cast role as Dave Williams in Season 5 of Desperate Housewives (2008–2009). He has also appeared in films such as Star Trek: First Contact, Minority Report, Walking Tall, and as Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan in various Marvel Cinematic Universe films and TV series. In the DC Arrowverse, he has appeared as Damien Darhk in the TV series Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, and The Flash. He had a major role in Suits for several seasons (2014–2019) and played Malcolm Beck on Yellowstone (2019).

McDonough was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, on February 13, 1966, the son of Catherine (néeBushe) and Frank McDonough, motel owners who emigrated from Ireland, with his mother coming from County Tipperary and his father from County Galway.[2][3] McDonough grew up in Barnstable, Massachusetts and was raised Catholic.[4] His childhood nickname was "Headster", which McDonough says originated in his brothers' teasing him about the size of his head.[5] He graduated from Barnstable High School, and attended Syracuse University, where he was initiated and became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1988. He had obtained several college scholarships to play baseball, but decided to go to Syracuse, as he thought it had the best theater department.[6] McDonough furthered his classical theatre training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

McDonough is a devout Catholic.[17] In 2003, McDonough married Ruvé Robertson, a South African model whom McDonough met in the United Kingdom while filming Band of Brothers.[18] The couple has five children, Morgan "Little Buck"[19] Patrick (born November 28, 2005), Catherine Maggie (born May 14, 2007), London Jane (born January 11, 2010), Clover Elizabeth (born August 15, 2011),[20][21] and James Hamilton (born March 31, 2014).[22] He has stated that he refuses to perform sex scenes because of his faith and respect for his wife. He said he was fired from the TV series Scoundrels for his refusal to perform sex scenes.[17] McDonough and his family resided in the seaside community of Tsawwassen, British Columbia,[23] but have since relocated back to Los Angeles.

The Christian Post reports that Neal and Ruvé, who have been married for 20 years, have often been at odds with the demands of the film industry. For example, Neal is well known for refusing to take on roles that require him to kiss other actors. The famed actor, who has made a name for himself playing villains on TV and in cinema, has stated that “these lips are meant for one woman.”

His strong convictions as a man of the Catholic faith have sometimes led to McDonough losing roles, as was the case with ABC’s Scoundrels in 2010. In an interview with Fox, McDonough explained that there are many factors to his decision not to take on characters who have carnal relations on the silver screen, but he also will not play characters who disparage the name of God: 

“I won’t mention the Lord’s name in vain, and then I won’t kiss another woman,” the 53-year-old told Fox News. “Sex scenes aren’t in it for me. And I think, gosh, there’s enough sex scenes out there and me being in my fifties I’m not sure if anyone wants to see me doing that stuff anyway, but it’s a comfort level.”

Neal and Ruvé, who are the proud parents of five children, say they want their new production company to “have a faith backdrop.” They say that not all of their releases will be overtly religious, but every one of them will be “faith friendly.” They also hope that their films will draw audiences of all faiths and even those with none. 

Neal expressed the pair’s excitement over taking the reins of the project and releasing content that they are proud of professionally and spiritually: 

“Now I have that opportunity because Ruvé and I are doing it ourselves, and are so blessed to have companies that support us and back us and want to make more films and TV shows, or reality shows or any kind of show that gives glory to Him,” McDonough declared. “Not just to make a movie, but to do a movie that actually gives Him glory — that’s our goal,” he added. “And that’s what we’re after, and we’re very fortunate to be able to do it.”

Actor Neal McDonough for years has talked openly about his faith and how his fidelity to his wife nearly cost him his career in Hollywood. You might not know the name but you'll likely recognize him in the photo above.

You might recall that McDonough was pretty much a constant on TV for years, and then he was gone... for a while. Why? It’s because the happily married man and Catholic father of five refused to love scenes. And BOOM went the hammer! He was fired from the television show “Scoundrels” and things looked pretty grim for a while.

In his own words, he was considered to be a "religious zealot." Yahoo:

“I was [surprised], and it was a horrible situation for me,” McDonough said. “After that, I couldn’t get a job because everybody thought I was this religious zealot. I am very religious. I put God and family first and me second. That’s what I live by. It was hard for a few years. Then [Band of Brothers producer] Graham Yost called me and said, ‘Hey, I want you to be the bad guy on Justified. I knew that was my shot back at the title.”

In the end, McDonough said, everything has worked out well for him professionally because the setback pushed him to improve his acting. He’s on the History Channel’s new series Project Blue Book and has several other projects, including the animated Sonic the Hedgehog, in the works. On the personal level, McDonough said, things have been going well for since he met and instantly fell in love with his wife-to-be after meeting her on the streets of England, where he was filming HBO’s acclaimed 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers. “Almost 20 years, five kids and just one heck of an awesome life later, to have her as my partner in everything, I’m just the most blessed guy I know,” he said. “That’s why I go to church every day and say thank you to God for everything he’s given me. And most importantly, thank you for giving me Ruvé, because without her, I most certainly would not be talking with you right now.”

That's pretty awesome. And just to let you know, the show “Scoundrels” was cancelled after like five episodes or something like that. McDonough's career, however, continues to do quite well.

“God has got a great sense of humor.” It’s a popular saying when something ironic or poetic happens in someone’s life. While it’s often said tongue-in-cheek, it is also a form of acknowledgment. It’s an admission that we as humans do not have control over everything in our lives. It’s a subtle submission of one’s will to the circumstantial hilarity that God may have temporarily set before us as a reminder.

For example, Catholic comedian Jen Fulwiler was a guest on The Cale Clarke Show this past week and she happens to be an only child who was born into an atheist family and lived most of her young life in the Bible Belt. God does have a great sense of humor.

The atheistic perspective was not a popular one in the region for obvious reasons and the clash over religious stances led to a conflict-filled social life for young Jen. These negative experiences with Christian acquaintances tainted her perspective of Christianity as a whole, and by the time she got to college she considered herself a “militant atheist.”

There was, Jen admitted unsurprisingly, a long journey from that identity as a staunch atheist to a devout Roman Catholic, but she brought up one event that she believes sparked her journey to Christianity: the birth of her first child. Both Jen and her husband were only children, had never anticipated having kids, and were perfectly content to maintain their individualistic worldviews. Jen said she had been involved in secular feminism for a while and had just assumed she would live a childless life. But the birth of her child had an incredible effect on her.

“I said, ‘You know, the love that I feel for this child, it seems to have a source outside of the atheist, materialist worldview. I don’t think I believe that the love that I feel for this child is purely a chemical reaction in the human brain.'” She began to question the idea that if you can’t prove it in a laboratory, then it can’t be true. Because how do you prove love? Maybe there are truths out there that don’t rely on the scientific method.

After this eye-opening experience, Jen started a blog to find people that she could discuss this with. She didn’t have a specific idea of what she was hoping to hear, only that she wanted answers to questions that were starting to occupy her mind. She had realized how alone that atheistic path had left her and although she had her growing family, she was left wanting. Soon after this discovery, Relevant Radio came to her hometown of Austin on 970 AM. Not Catholic and not even sure if she would become Catholic, Jen began putting her baby in the backseat for his nap and driving around the city for a couple of hours while listening to Relevant Radio, a “pivotal part” of her conversion.

Cale then asked her what types of reactions she got when she told people that she was becoming Catholic and she mentioned the incredulity and shock she would get from her friends. She joked at people’s responses, “They say, ‘Why would you leave the freedom of atheism for the Roman Catholic Church?’ And that’s just the Catholics.” But she also mentioned the way her father reacted, saying that he never intended to lock her into atheism and prohibit her from exploring other ideas. He had always raised her to seek the truth and upon hearing that she had found the truth in the Catholic Faith, he said that he didn’t understand it, but he supported it. Her father was present when both Jen and her husband Joe were baptized at Easter Vigil.

In eight years, Jen had six kids, believing that God was not calling her to do comedy, at least not yet. So she wrote for the National Catholic Register, blogged, and wrote a book with Ignatius Press, Something other than God, published in 2016. She also has two other books now, One Beautiful Dream (2018) and Your Blue Flame (2020). As her kids got older, Jen moved into Catholic Radio, but after a while, she once again felt the call to do stand-up comedy. So, against all logic, she quit her stable job — during the pandemic — to share her story and her life experiences through comedy.

“But my husband and I both really prayed about it. And oddly enough, we felt God telling us now is the time even though it makes zero sense on paper.” This event marked the epitome of Jen’s submission to God’s Divine Providence. It may seem crazy, but if this is God’s will, let it be done. And just recently, Jen was signed by United Talent, a top Hollywood agency that represents other comedians like Sebastian Maniscalco, Nate Bargatze, and Jeff Foxworthy.

Jennifer Fulwiler, a Catholic mom of six, writer, speaker, podcaster and comic, has hit the big time in stand-up comedy, between notoriety as the “TikTok mom on the plane” and the launch of her one-hour Amazon Prime comedy special, Jen Fulwiler: The Naughty Corner. 

Fulwiler’s career literally began with her conversion from atheism, blogging at “Conversion Diary” and writing for the Register, until she made a leap of faith into radio and stand-up comedy, recognizing it both as a vocation and a kind of ministry to help lift burdens from people weighed down by the problems of their world. 

Fulwiler, on the cusp of launching her new stand-up “The Minivan Fabulous Tour,” spent some time with Register staff writer Peter Jesserer Smith discussing the truth, goodness and the beautiful hilarity of her career in stand-up comedy and the importance of following one’s God-given “blue flame.” 

So Jen, you went from ardent atheist to Catholic mom of six and stand-up comic in 14 years? Where has your career come from?

I started writing and blogging at the National Catholic Register and my own blog. Then I wrote my conversion story, a memoir for Ignatius Press. My next two books were with HarperCollins, and one of the big things was I was on the Catholic Channel at Sirius XM. I had a daily talk radio show there. That was a wonderful experience, and I’m still friends with all the people over there; they’re amazing. But the feedback that I would always get on my radio show is that people liked it most for the humor. They liked it when I use humor. 

So I was kind of praying about what to do next in my career after one of my books came out. And I really do believe it was a God thing that I just got this very sudden answered prayer to try stand-up. And since that day, I have never looked back. I have been 100% in stand-up. It was a very sudden decision and change. But I really do think it was kind of an answered prayer and what I was supposed to be doing. 

What was that moment like when you realized that? 

I had felt like something was next. I didn’t have peace in my life. I felt like there was something I was supposed to be doing. But I didn’t know what it was. And so I said the prayer where I told God, “Either remove this lack of peace from my life, or tell me what I am supposed to be doing.” And the idea just came to me. I was just sitting at my desk after I got off my radio show. And it was this very sudden and very strong inspiration to do stand-up. So I went down to my first open mic the next day, and the first person I ever spoke to in the stand-up world ended up being a girl who’s my comedy writing partner! She tours with me; she’s my opener. So the very first person I spoke to in that world happened to be someone who’s now a good friend of mine. So God started opening doors very quickly once I followed that path.

Clearly you had this inspiration from the Holy Spirit. But how did you actually get yourself to go up in front of a whole bunch of people and just start to do that?

I’m crazy. I mean, I do all sorts of crazy stuff. I had done public speaking. I went to events and spoke on all sorts of topics, so I was used to being on a stage. I learned very quickly that stand-up is a totally different thing. And just because you can be funny on a stage with regular public speaking does not mean that you can do stand-up. So there was a lot to learn. And I really had to study the art. I took that very seriously. In fact, I actually have Excel spreadsheets that I would create where I would put each joke in it. And I would rate how it did with different crowds and graph the response. 

You’re kidding. You really did spreadsheets?

Literally, I did spreadsheets. But it did help me. I got an hour of material very quickly. And then I started contacting stand-up comedy clubs. Understandably, they hadn’t heard of me — I came out of nowhere — and so I wasn’t getting booked to do shows. So my friend and I started calling theaters. I kind of knew where my fans were, so I would just go to Google Maps. For example, I would just search “theater in Columbus, Ohio,” and I read reviews of the theater and if it got good reviews. Then we would call the theater and put down my personal credit card. And we booked a 14-city tour totally on my personal credit card. If I hadn’t been able to sell tickets, we would have faced bankruptcy. It would have been terrible.

Oh, wow. That’s a leap of faith.
That was absolutely terrifying. But it was a national sold-out theater tour. And that is where my comedy special came from. I got connected with the guys from Spirit Juice. They’re amazing. They’ve done a lot of incredible work with Bishop [Robert] Barron. They filmed my comedy special, which is actually higher quality than if it had been done by Netflix. Netflix does a three-camera shoot for comedy specials. Spirit Juice did an eight-camera shoot, and it’s in 4K.
The first theater tour was booked entirely by me. But just last month, I signed with United Talent Artists. They represent Jeff Foxworthy, Nate Bargatze — big, big names. And when you scroll down, you see my name right there on that list! So that was really gratifying, because I had been doing it by myself for so long. It’s so nice now to kind of have a team at UTA that’s on my side and helping me out with all of this.

That’s a great next step in the chapter of your career. Now, a lot of people looking at your stand-up comedy special, The Naughty Corner, will look at that and ask themselves, “Does all this material just come out of you fully formed?” Where does the material for your comedy routine come from? How did you successfully work this out?

When I got into this, people said that because I have a big family — I have six kids — they said, “That’s going to be a disadvantage for you.” “It will be very hard for you.” But what I found is it turned into an advantage. Because we have a big family, there are constantly people in and out of our house. 

As an aside, people in the comedy industry were shocked that I created the set that you see in The Naughty Corner on Amazon in less than a year. It was a matter of months. And that’s very unusual. Normally, it takes comics — even seasoned comics with decades of experience — it takes them a year at least to come up with material. When people ask how I did it so quickly, it really helped being in this big-family Catholic culture, where I did what I call “garage comedy.” I would get my kids, my older kids and their friends and neighbors, and just gather people in my garage. I would read through my comedy, and actually give them survey sheets with each joke. I wouldn’t spell out the joke, but it would be a set list, and I would have them rate it. And I would tell them, “I need you guys to be honest. Because if you lie to me and tell me something is funny that is not funny, then I am going to be very embarrassed when I am up on stage in front of hundreds of people.” And they were honest. They would say, “I just didn’t understand that punch line. I didn’t find that to be very funny.” And then at other things, they’d say, “This is so funny! You have to develop this more. We want three more minutes on this subject.” 

Having this big-family Catholic culture where there are people in and out of your house all the time was really my ace in the hole. I was able to gather people and engage an audience in a way that many comics can’t get.

In what way is comedy good for the spiritual life?

Comedy is so good for the spiritual life because comedy is predicated on humility. And humility is such a critical virtue. 

There are a lot of quotes about how pride is the most dangerous thing for the spiritual life, because it makes us think we don’t need God, that we’re so great, that our ego is central to everything. If you think about it: When you’re in a very prideful state, you can’t laugh; you’re too full of yourself to laugh. And laughter reminds us that we can laugh at this, because God is in charge, and God has things under control. And if God didn’t exist, and the weight of the whole world rests on our shoulders, then nothing’s funny: The world is too dire; and it’s too serious; and there’s no hope. 

And that spirit of laughter reminds us that we’re so small in the grand scheme of things, and God has got all of this under control. And that is why we can laugh. And when we laugh, we remember that.

In our social milieu, do you see being a stand-up comic as a kind of ministry?

It feels that way. In fact, one of my inspirations for getting into comedy is when I was having a hard time in my life. And we’ve had a lot of difficult things, like in my sixth pregnancy: I almost died; the baby almost died. It was a very hard time. And comedy was a way that I relieved those burdens and felt a little bit better about life. But so much of the stand-up comedy entertainment out there was directly insulting to people of faith. I mean, they would straight-up insult Catholics all the time. 

But I just thought, “I wish someone could make me laugh and speak to my perspective and not act like people of faith are stupid and not constantly make jokes at the Catholic Church’s expense.” And then I think of all of my friends: When you’re in this Catholic world, when you’re in the culture of life, it’s not an easy life. The Christian life is never an easy life. And so I looked around, and I saw all these friends: They’re volunteering at the nursing home, they’re raising children with disabilities, they’re working with the poor, they’re exhausted, and they don’t have a comedy special that they can turn on at the end of the day to just relax and laugh. Or if they do, it’ll be absolutely filthy and insult everything they stand for. And so doing comedy that speaks to the perspective of people who can relate to my life, I really do see it as a type of ministry.

One of the things I was impressed with in your comedy special was how many people were reaching out to you about their own struggles. You shared some of your own experiences of grief and the things you were going through, such as your father passing away during the tour.
Yes, in the middle of the tour. 

How did you get through that, process it, and get to the point where you could share that experience with others?

That was very hard. He died about three weeks before I filmed the special, and he was supposed to be there that night. Another thing to understand is he lived right down the road from us. He took my kids to all of their activities. He was in and out of my house every single day. He was our free chauffeur; he had dinner with us once a week — he was a very intimate part of our immediate family. And I’m an only child. So we were very close. And when he died, it was sudden. It was an internal-bleeding issue. I had just been texting with him. Nobody saw it coming — we thought he was great. I thought I had 20 more years with my dad.

When he died, it was the night before my Atlanta show. I got the call at two o’clock in the morning. But I knew a lot of people had really gone out of their way to get babysitting. I had a couple people at the Atlanta show who had bought plane tickets to be there. So I couldn’t cancel the show. I had to go up on stage right after getting that news and do an hour of stand-up comedy. That was certainly not an easy thing. 

And then we had to plan his funeral in the middle of that. I had to go out and film my special, and there were a lot of difficult things just about the logistics of getting that filmed, as well. But I think that’s one of those things where you just have to believe that if God means for you to do something, and if it’s in his plan, he’ll give you the grace to do it. And that was the only thing that got me through that Atlanta show — is that I just felt like, “This is bigger than me. Yes, I’ve had something bad happen. But I bet a lot of people in the audience have had something bad happen to them, and I need to set aside my own sadness and my own grief and do what God has sent me here to do tonight.” 

If I didn’t have that belief that I was meant to do this, and that this [stand-up comedy] is kind of a ministry to lift other people’s burdens and to help them, I don’t know how I would have gotten through that show. 

Can you tell us about your most recent book, Your Blue Flame: Drop the Guilt and Do What Makes You Come Alive? What is your “blue flame,” and what is the message that you’re trying to share with people

The message in that one is: I really did not like this message that is out there that women need to put their lives on hold when they have young children. ... What I saw is that these women’s talents and what they had to give back to their communities were not being seen, because they believed that they had to put their lives on hold. That message, “Put your life on hold when you have young children,” works if you’re in a part of the culture that believes it’s irresponsible to have more than one child and so you take measures to make sure that you don’t. But for my people, for many of them, it was the right decision for them to have a bigger family. They felt like, “Well, I guess I can’t ever use my talents because I could be changing diapers when I’m 50.” So it was important for me to get the message out there that God has given each one of us “a blue flame” as just a way to add love to the world. It could be anything from stand-up comedy to just cooking in your home. It doesn’t have to involve making money. It doesn’t have to involve worldly success or be glamorous. 

It’s just something that builds you up, when you give back in some sort of way, like just stopping by your local nursing home to chat with the people there; something like that. What I found — and I had six babies in eight years — is that when I engaged in my “blue flame,” not only did it not detract from my vocation as a wife and a mother, but it enhanced it; it gave me more energy, more life and more love to share with my family. That was the message that I wanted to get across in this book: that when you seek your blue flame, and you discover it and you use it, your family will actually benefit. It is a favor to your spouse and your children to do that.

Thank you for that witness, because we definitely need high-profile examples to show just that. We’ve seen a lot of people in the Catholic spotlight achieve a certain degree of fame only to publicly unravel in spiritual crises later. What are your thoughts on that? How do you navigate that kind of tension? 

I know exactly what you’re talking about. And I’ve seen that. One, it starts with staying humble and seeing everything you do as service. I tell God every day, this [career] is up to him; the results are up to him. I think one of the things that can lead to spiritual crises is when you get too attached to the worldly results. That can really start to drive you crazy and be very damaging for your spiritual life. So you have to just let all that go and let the results be up to God. 

To be honest, it has helped me to move from the Catholic media world and into the stand-up comedy world, because certainly you hear and see things when you’re in Catholic media that can be dispiriting. And when I left Catholic media, one of the reasons I did that was because I felt like it was starting to become bad for my spiritual life to be so deep in that world where I was hearing about all the skeletons in the closet. Every group has them, and it doesn’t mean that the Church isn’t ultimately a good thing. But for me, and where I was in my spiritual life, I needed a break from that world. I didn’t know if it would work at the time, transitioning into stand-up comedy, but I said, for the sake of my own personal faith, it is no longer healthy for me to be so deeply involved in the day-to-day working of that world.

Last question: You just went viral on TikTok as the mom with the PSA about babies on the plane. But what’s next for you in your stand-up career? 

That has been really funny how much that viral stuff has gotten around. But what’s next is I am back out on tour. I don’t have dates yet, but I will at JFComedyTour.com. Probably in September, I will be starting back out on tour. And I’m calling it “The Minivan Fabulous Tour“ to let my moms know that this can be kind of a fun night out for them. I’m doing that with United Talent Agency, my new agents. So that’s very exciting, and I already have hit a couple of real comedy clubs. That was an interesting experience: being the Catholic minivan-driving mom of six headlining major comedy clubs! But this will be a comedy-club tour. And it’s a real worlds colliding thing.

 Pierce Brosnan admits that he might not have learned all he needed to know about math from the Christian Brothers in Ireland, but the teachers imparted one thing that has stayed with him to this day – his Catholic faith.

Brosnan credits the power of prayer with guiding him through life’s ups and downs. 

"(Prayer) helped me with the loss of my wife to cancer and with a child who had fallen on tough times. Now prayer helps me to be a father, to be an actor and to be a man.”

Perhaps best known for playing James Bond in a series of films.

Brosnan, whose father left home shortly after his birth, was raised by relatives after his mother left to work in England. At age 15 he set out on his own in London to be an actor. He joined a theatre group and later studied at the Drama Centre of London. He married actress Cassandra Harris, and the two subsequently moved to the United States; he became a U.S. citizen in 2004. Brosnan was soon cast as a charming con man in the NBCtelevision detective series Remington Steele. The show, which premiered in 1982, was a success, and in 1986 he was chosen as the successor to Roger Moore as James Bond—the suave British secret service agent 007 created by novelist Ian Fleming.  Remington Steele ended in 1987, and Brosnan continued to take on television and film roles, then in 1994 Brosnan was finally able to accept his first film in the Bond series, GoldenEye (1995), which made more than $350 million worldwide, the most ever for a Bond film at that time. The second, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), scored record grosses for a Bond film in the United States. Brosnan starred in The World Is Not Enough(1999), and made his final appearance as James Bond in Die Another Day (2002).

Throughout his career he maintained his steadfast faith:

“It always helps to have a bit of prayer in your back pocket. At the end of the day, you have to have something and for me that is God, Jesus, my Catholic upbringing, my faith.”

Pierce’s first wife, Cassandra Harris, died of ovarian cancer 20 years ago. The son they had together, Sean, was in a serious car crash a few years back in California, but luckily he survived and is thriving again.

Brosnan and his mother left his hometown of Navan, Co. Meath in 1964, when he was 12 years old, for greener pastures in London.  His father left the family when he was only two, so times were tough.

"In a way (my life) all leads back to a little boy in Navan, my home town on the banks of the Boyne.

Sometimes, it has been painted in melodramatic tones but it was a fantastic way to be brought up. The Catholicism and the Christian brothers, those are deep-rooted images and the foundation for a person of some acting skill,” he says.

"God has been good to me. My faith has been good to me in the moments of deepest suffering, doubt and fear. It is a constant, the language of prayer … I might not have got my sums right from the Christian Brothers or might not have got the greatest learning of literature from them but I certainly got a strapping amount of faith."

College students across the country use their time in school to figure out where they are heading in life. Aaron Weber, a 2010 graduate of Pope John Paul II High School in Hendersonville, has landed on a stage, holding a microphone, making people laugh.

Weber, who first tried stand-up comedy at the University of Notre Dame when he was a student there, has spent the past five years building a career in comedy. On Wednesday, Sept. 30, he will be the headliner at Zanies Comedy Club in Nashville and the show will be recorded for his first comedy album.

“It’s a culmination of a little over five years of taking stand-up pretty seriously,” said Weber, whose father, Faustin Weber, is the former headmaster at JPII High School. “It’s a big milestone for sure.”

The album of the show will be produced by 800 Pound Gorilla Records, a Nashville-based company that specializes in comedy recordings. Weber’s album will be available on Amazon and other outlets and he hopes will get some airplay on XM Sirius’s comedy channel and other similar platforms.

“It’s exciting to have stuff out there,” Weber said.

Zanies, which can hold 310-315 people in normal times, is limited to half its capacity because of COVID-19 restrictions, Weber said. There are still some tickets available for his show. They can be purchased online at Nashville.zanies.com, at Weber’s webpage, aaronwebercomedy.com, or through his social media platforms, realaaronweber.

Weber is hoping his classmates and friends from JPII will be able to get to the show, despite the coronavirus. “I’m still am pretty close with a lot of my classmates,” he said. “Hopefully some of them can come out.”

He did have a big turnout of JPII people at his previous opportunity to headline at Zanies, including classmates, teachers and staff. “That was a cool show of support,” he said.

Weber described his style of comedy as “clean,” which for some people has connotations of being for children or corny, “which my show is not,” he said.

“There’s no politics. There’s nothing serious. It’s just silly stories about me and things I’ve observed,” he said. “It’s just a silly night. You’re not going to learn anything. … you’ll just have fun and then you’ll leave.”

When he was younger, Weber considered a future in music. He plays the guitar, piano and drums, and in JPII’s Jazz Band, played the xylophone.

“I think that’s all I wanted to do when I was younger,” Weber said of his musical aspirations. “Probably if you would have asked me 10 years ago, comedy wouldn’t have even been in the cards. It’s been a hard pivot in the last several years.”

His classmates recognized him as funny, but “I never thought of myself as a class clown,” Weber said. “I always liked making people laugh. I always loved public speaking. Looking back all the pieces were there.”

Weber grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, where his father, now the principal at St. Michael High School in Fairhope, Alabama, was president of Montgomery Catholic High School. In 2008, when Weber was a junior in high school, his family moved to Hendersonville so his father could take the job at JPII.

He enjoyed his experience at JPII, Weber said. “I remember people being really nice,” he said. “The school got me into a good college. I wouldn’t have gotten into Notre Dame without JPII, for sure.”

The school “had all these extracurriculars I did that probably led me to stand up,” including Youth in Government, Mock Trial and debate, Weber said.

It was at Notre Dame, where he graduated in 2014 with a degree in marketing, that Weber first tried stand-up comedy.

“In college, we had a stand-up group on campus where I dipped my toes in,” Weber said. “I loved it right away and thought I could be good at it right away.”

“I’d always been a fan of stand-up,” Weber said. “I just decided to start doing it. There’s no barrier to entry. You just decide one day I’m going to show up and do it.”

After graduating, Weber returned to Nashville and started pursuing a career in comedy, performing at open mikes at venues around town. “You get four minutes in front of a group of strangers,” Weber said. “Four minutes can be an eternity. You just try to make people laugh in four minutes. Then you do shows of 10 minutes, which is quite a leap.” The show for his comedy album will be an hour long, he noted.

It didn’t take long for Weber to decide to try to make comedy a career. “That was the goal pretty quickly. I realized if I could only do this, that would be pretty amazing.”

He spent nearly five years performing around the country every chance he had. Young comedians are told to never turn down a chance to perform, Weber said. “You’re told to do everything. That puts you in some weird worlds.”

He’s performed in prisons, people’s back yards, and Protestant Churches, he said. “It’s opened a lot of doors in that way.”

Weber has been able to tour with established comedians such as Nate Bargatze and Henry Cho as their opening act. He’s also a regular on the Nateland Podcast with Bargatze, a Nashville based comedian who has had several specials on Comedy Central and has performed on the Tonight Show.

“Nate’s been a mentor,” Weber said. “He’s been a I guy I’ve been a fan of for years. To go from being a fan to a friend to being on a podcast with him is pretty surreal.”

Comedy can be a small world, Weber said. “You get a chance to work with some of the big headliners right away,” he said. “That’s one of the cool things about stand up versus something like music.”

After working day jobs for several years, Weber was able to make the jump to full-time comedy a year ago. “Little did I know a few months later the world would end.”

Weber plans on staying in Nashville as he continues to build his comedy career, rather than moving to Los Angeles or New York. “I think that’s less important now than it used to be,” Weber said.

Nashville has several advantages for comedians, including Zanies, “an A-list, world class comedy club,” Weber said. “Zanies has been a great friend to me since I started,” said Weber, who has performed at the club in a variety of roles, including hosting the show, being a warm-up act, and as a headliner.

It’s easy to go on the road from Nashville, Weber added. Several top comedians live in Nashville, he said. “Seeing those guys do it out of Nashville made me feel better about staying here.”

Weber’s goal is to continue his comedy career, “make a living this way, and gradually start to headline more places.”

British actor/singer/Producer Matthew Marsden began his acting career in the UK and rose to stardom from his role on the long-running ITV series Coronation Street (1960), as Chris Collins. He left the show to pursue a music and acting career in the US and hasn't looked back since.
Since moving to the US, Marsden has been working successfully on feature film, television and music. He starred in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down (2001) and he was the lead in USA's epic movie Helen of Troy (2003)

Marsden's career started in the UK with the series Emmerdale Farm (1972). He soon landed a series regular role on the television series Island (1996) which led to Coronation Street (1960) for which he was voted Top Newcomer at the National Television Awards. He went on to star in the independent drama Shiner (2000), opposite Michael Caine and the film The Sun Sisters (1997). In addition, Marsden signed with Columbia Records and recorded the hit single She's Gone, with Destiny's Child, as well as a solo album called Say Who.

Marsden studied performing arts at Middlesex University. He was also a member of the acclaimed National Youth Theatre.Matt Marsden is a Catholic Hollywood actor, who spoke at World Youth Day 2011 urging young Catholics to get involved in movie-making and other artistic ventures in order to change the culture. Marsden has starred in movies such as Black Hawk Down and Transformers. He took part in a panel discussion on the subject of faith and entertainment at Madrid’s Palacio de Deportes: it is the culture that young people are growing up in that most concerns Marsden, and the lack of impact that Catholicism has upon the movie making process in Hollywood. “There’s not going to be anything left if we don’t fight,” he added. “Pope John Paul was so explicit about… getting involved in culture and movies – and at the moment we’re not.” Marsden also stressed the importance of prayer and the sacraments for inspiration and healing.

Hollywood actor Matt Marsden said that young Catholics need to get involved in movie-making and other artistic ventures if they want to change the culture.

“It’s vitally important for the future,” the 38-year-old actor – who has starred in movies such as “Black Hawk Down” and “Transformers” – told CNA during his World Youth Day visit in Madrid on Aug. 19.  

“There’s not going to be anything left if we don’t fight,” he added. “Pope John Paul was so explicit about it wasn’t he? About getting involved in culture and movies – and at the moment we’re not.” 

Marsden had just taken part in a panel discussion on the subject of faith and entertainment at Madrid’s Palacio de Deportes indoor stadium which, for this week, is a base for English-speaking pilgrims at World Youth Day. 

“There’s so much I wanted to say to the young people – that I’m so proud and inspired by them and that they’re so far along in their faith at such a young age. I think that’s really crucial.” 

But it is the culture that young people are growing up in that most concerns Marsden, and the lack of impact that Catholicism has upon the movie making process in Hollywood. 

“We are the only group that doesn’t have a voice in Hollywood – the only group – and that’s totally down to investment.” 

The solution, said Marsden, is for “high net worth” Catholics to come together to create a film fund that could invest in specific film projects or even buy a studio. Otherwise, film projects that promote or reflect a Christian worldview simply won’t get made, he said. 

“You’ve got to look at something like the 'Passion of the Christ,'” Marsden noted. “To me it always was a slam dunk. You’ve got Mel Gibson who, for me, is a fine actor and is an even better director – the guy is a genius – and he couldn’t get funding for it. That for me is just madness.” 

“Catholics,” he said, “will sit about and complain about the state of the culture but then they’ll go and build a wing of a hospital. That’s great but they’d have much more impact on the culture as a whole if they invested in a film fund.”  

Marsden originally hails from near Birmingham in England but now lives in Los Angeles, despite his ongoing obsession with his favorite English soccer team, West Bromwich Albion. His greatest passions in life, however, are his family and his faith. 

“I get great inspiration from my wife,” said Marsden, who has been married to Maltese-born Nadine for the past six years. They have three children. 

“She is the way that people should live their lives. The way she behaves, she’s amazing. Every time I look at her I see the goodness of God. I really mean that –  because she’s an angel.”

Equally inspirational, he said, are prayer and the sacraments.    

“Confession is very, very important as well. When I was younger I never went to confession and now I go weekly. It is such a great gift and people who don’t go should go.” 

As for future projects, his ambition is to make a film about the 16th century Siege of Malta when the Christian Knights of St. John, vastly outnumbered, defeated the Muslim forces of the Ottoman Empire. 

Marsden explained that “if Malta had gone Christendom would have been wiped out.”

“It is a staggering story of faith, just staggering,” he said, but it would also make “an incredible action film.”

The hero of the story is Jean Parisot de Valette, the Grand Master who was “a 73-year-old man fighting in a suit of armor – I mean it’s just so cool,” Marsden said. 

“And I love Malta because my wife is Maltese and the set is already there – it’s the island. So that is my dream to do that. It would be excellent. And I’d love Mel Gibson to direct it.”

Matthew Marsden is a Hollywood actor, former singer, and native of Great Britain. He has appeared in films including “Rambo” and “Black Hawk Down.” He lives with his wife, Nadine, and their son in Los Angeles. The family is frequently involved in activities with Family Theater Productions, a division of Holy Cross Family Ministries, founded by Father Patrick Peyton. 

“When I met my wife, I knew there was a God”

In a turn of events worthy of a film script, Marsden was playing the role of Paris, the famous lover whom some would say fate introduced to the beautiful Helen of Troy, when God introduced him to his real-life sweetheart.

Marsden was filming in Malta when he got thrown from his horse and began taking a Pilates class to help his back recuperate. There, he met Nadine, a ballet dancer who was also recovering from an injury.

“When I met my wife,” says Marsden, “I knew there was a God. Every person I meet just falls in love with her because she’s such a good person.”

It didn’t hurt that Nadine was Catholic. In May of 2005, they were wed.

“She has really great faith,” says Marsden. “It helps that we go to Mass together. It helps that we can sit and talk about these things. It helps when we can say the Rosary together. It helps that I can sit and say my prayers with my son when he goes to sleep and she does the same.”

Marsden believes it was nothing less than divine intervention that brought Nadine into his life. “She was absolutely chosen for me.”

Once in a while, there comes a time in your life when you get a nagging doubt, a hole in your heart that needs to be filled. Some people try to fill it with sex, drugs, money, other vices. For me, it took God to fill that hole in my life.

I was doing what I do now — working as an actor in Hollywood — when it began. I wasn’t living a terrible life, but I wasn’t living the life I should have been. Reaching out for God’s forgiveness didn’t really occur to me. I grew up in an Irish Catholic family in England, and unfortunately, the Church I experienced was a lot of fire and brimstone. We weren’t taught about the mercy of God. It took a special friend to bring that revelation into my life.

It all started some years back when I was in the States doing a TV pilot and one of my fellow performers gave me the book The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. At the time I was looking at different faiths, searching for answers in my life. When I finished this book, it hit me: This is it. Jesus was real. And He is the Son of God. Not long after, I ended up sitting next to a Catholic priest at a wedding reception who turned out to be Father Willy Raymond of Family Theater Productions. I knew I was probably going to ruin the poor guy’s dinner bending his ear, but I couldn’t resist asking all these questions I had. Finally Father Willy asked if I’d like to come to Mass at St. Monica’s, a parish affiliated with Family Theater. This would have a bigger impact on my life than I could have imagined.

You need more than a knowledge of the Catechism to be a true Catholic; you need an understanding of God’s love and compassion. Father Willy’s got that. He’s never judgmental. He listens. He’s guided me as I discover my faith but never forced the issue. The things I’ve learned from him will stay with me for the rest of my life.
One of the most important things I’ve learned is that the Church is made up of sinners who are offered God’s forgiveness. A lot of the people I heard talking about God when I was younger came across as sanctimonious. That kind of talk just makes people think, I can’t be a part of that; I’m not good enough. But we all have flaws. We all have fallen away from the Lord. That’s why He came down for us. That’s why He’s here.

So I say to people that as I develop in my faith, I know that there are going to be times of doubt. I know there are going to be days when I don’t make God the priority. I am by no means the finished article. I’ve made loads of mistakes in my life, and I’ll continue to make them. But I’m trying. We all just need to keep trying and moving forward.

***

I don’t look at the world in the same way as I did before reconnecting with my faith. I feel so excited about how much there is to discover. All these things have helped me realize what’s really important. Sometimes I would say to Father Willy, “If such-and-such ever happens, I would never forgive myself,” and he would say, “Who are you? Who are you not to forgive yourself when God has forgiven you?” It’s overwhelming. I’m this 6-foot-3, 210-pound guy, and yet when I go to Mass I have to hold back the tears, especially when we say, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive You. But only say the word and I shall be healed.” It just kills me, every single time.

Matt, his wife Nadine, and their eight children live in Texas, where they are extremely active in their local Catholic parish and school.