Bob Odenkirk Bio
Robert John Odenkirk (born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer whose career spans sketch comedy, feature films, and prestige television. He first gained recognition as the co-creator and star of the HBO sketch series Mr. Show with Bob and David alongside David Cross. He later achieved international fame for his portrayal of the morally flexible lawyer Saul Goodman, originally on Breaking Bad and then as the lead of its spin-off Better Call Saul. Over the course of his career, Odenkirk has earned two Primetime Emmy Awards from eighteen nominations, three Critics’ Choice Television Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for five Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award.
Beyond his work in front of the camera, Odenkirk has directed feature films, written books, and produced television through his company Cal-Gold Pictures. He has also taken on dramatic supporting roles in acclaimed films including Nebraska, The Post, Incredibles 2, and Little Women, demonstrating a range that stretches from broad comedy to quiet drama. In recent years he has expanded into action films, headlining the thriller Nobody and its upcoming sequel.
Early Life and Background
Robert John Odenkirk was born on October 22, 1962, in Berwyn, Illinois, and raised in nearby Naperville. He is the second oldest of seven siblings, born to Walter Henry Odenkirk, who worked in the printing business, and Barbara Mary Odenkirk. His parents were Catholics of German and Irish descent, and they eventually divorced in part because of his father’s struggles with alcoholism. Walter Odenkirk died of bone cancer in 1986, and Odenkirk has often spoken about the lasting impact of growing up in a household shaped by those difficulties. His younger brother, Bill Odenkirk, is also a comedy writer who helped guide Bob’s early career.
Odenkirk attended Naperville North High School, where he graduated at sixteen, choosing to leave because he had accumulated enough credits and was eager to move on. He briefly attended the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, then transferred to Marquette University in Milwaukee before settling at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. At SIU he studied communications, hosted a late-night radio comedy show called The Prime Time Special on the campus station WIDB, and completed his bachelor’s degree in 1984. During this period he also discovered improv and stand-up, training with Del Close at the Players Workshop and performing at venues such as the ImprovOlympic alongside future Saturday Night Live cast members Chris Farley and Tim Meadows.
Path to Acting
Odenkirk’s early creative influences included Monty Python’s Flying Circus, SCTV, Steve Martin’s Let’s Get Small, Woody Allen, and the radio comedy team Bob and Ray. After college he continued to perform and write in Chicago, where he met the writer Robert Smigel, a collaboration that would eventually carry him to national television. In 1987 Odenkirk was hired as a writer on Saturday Night Live, where he worked until 1991 alongside Smigel and Conan O’Brien, contributing sketches and occasionally performing small on-screen roles. During the show’s summer breaks he returned to Chicago to develop stage shows, including a Second City Mainstage production where he created the character Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker, later made famous by Chris Farley.
After leaving SNL, Odenkirk moved to Los Angeles and wrote for Get a Life, The Dennis Miller Show, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. His friendship with Ben Stiller led to a role on The Ben Stiller Show in 1992, where he worked as both writer and actor and helped the program win an Emmy Award for writing. It was also on that show that Odenkirk met David Cross, with whom he would soon create the project that defined his early career. These formative years of sketch writing, late-night television, and improv performance laid the groundwork for the multi-hyphenate career he would build over the following decades.
Bob Odenkirk Career
Early Career (1987–1999)
Bob Odenkirk’s first major work in television was as a writer on Saturday Night Live from 1987 to 1991, where he honed his craft and contributed to numerous sketches. He went on to write and perform on The Ben Stiller Show in 1992, helping the program secure an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. In 1993 he began a recurring role on HBO’s The Larry Sanders Show as the agent Stevie Grant, a part he played through 1998, and he also wrote for Late Night with Conan O’Brien during its 1993 and 1994 seasons.
The defining project of this era came in 1995, when Odenkirk and David Cross launched Mr. Show with Bob and David on HBO. The sketch comedy series ran for four seasons and featured early appearances by comics such as Sarah Silverman, Jack Black, Paul F. Tompkins, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Although it never reached a mass audience, Mr. Show earned multiple Emmy nominations for its writing and has since been recognized as one of the most influential sketch shows of its era.
Breakthrough (2000–2022)
Following Mr. Show, Odenkirk directed his first feature, Melvin Goes to Dinner, in 2003, which won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film and Music Festival. He continued to direct with Let’s Go to Prison in 2006 and The Brothers Solomon in 2007, while also taking small roles across television comedies. In 2009 he joined the cast of AMC’s Breaking Bad as the corrupt attorney Saul Goodman, a character originally planned for only a brief guest spot. Odenkirk’s performance proved so compelling that he was promoted to a series regular for the show’s third through fifth seasons, earning him widespread critical recognition.
The success of Breaking Bad led to the spin-off Better Call Saul, which premiered in 2015 and ran for six seasons until 2022. Odenkirk starred as Jimmy McGill, the earlier incarnation of Saul Goodman, and also served as a producer. The role brought him six Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, tying the record for most nominations in the category without a win, along with five Golden Globe nominations and multiple Critics’ Choice and SAG nominations. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 18, 2022, placed next to that of his Breaking Bad co-star Bryan Cranston.
2015–2022: Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul became one of the most acclaimed dramas of its era, with Odenkirk anchoring the series as a complex antihero tracing the slow transformation of Jimmy McGill into Saul Goodman. The show ran for six seasons, each consisting of roughly ten episodes, and earned Odenkirk a producers’ nomination for Outstanding Drama Series in addition to his individual acting recognition. He also reunited with David Cross in 2015 for the Netflix sketch series W/ Bob & David, and published his first book, A Load of Hooey, a collection of comedic sketches and essays, in 2017. In 2021 he starred as Hutch Mansell in the action thriller Nobody, which opened at number one at the United States box office.
2023–Present: Recent Work
After completing Better Call Saul, Odenkirk took on a recurring role as Uncle Lee in the FX series The Bear in 2023, earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. That same year he published Zilot & Other Important Rhymes, a children’s poetry collection written with his daughter Erin, and in 2025 he made his Broadway debut as Shelly Levene in a revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. The performance earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He also leads the action film Normal (2025) as a substitute sheriff, and will appear in the upcoming remake The Room Returns! as the lead character Johnny.
Notable Works and Milestones
Bob Odenkirk’s signature works include the sketch series Mr. Show with Bob and David, the role of Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad, and the lead role of Jimmy McGill on Better Call Saul. His dramatic turn in the action film Nobody and his recent Broadway debut in Glengarry Glen Ross have further expanded his reputation as a versatile performer. He has also been recognized with honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Performing Arts from his alma mater Southern Illinois University in 2019.
Bob Odenkirk Award Nominations
Bob Odenkirk has accumulated a substantial list of award nominations across comedy and drama categories throughout his career. He has been nominated six times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work on Better Call Saul, in addition to nominations for writing on Saturday Night Live and The Ben Stiller Show. He has also received five Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor in a Drama Series, multiple Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his Broadway debut in Glengarry Glen Ross in 2025.
Bob Odenkirk Awards Won
Odenkirk has won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, earned during his time on Saturday Night Live and The Ben Stiller Show. He has also won three Critics’ Choice Television Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series for Better Call Saul, and a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the cast of that series. In 2019 Southern Illinois University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Performing Arts degree, and in 2022 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Bob Odenkirk Family
Bob Odenkirk is the son of Walter Henry Odenkirk and Barbara Mary Odenkirk, and he grew up as the second oldest of seven siblings. His younger brother, Bill Odenkirk, is also a comedy writer and helped support Bob’s early career in entertainment.
Personal Life
In the early 1990s, Odenkirk was romantically linked to fellow comedian and writer Janeane Garofalo, who introduced him to David Cross. He married Naomi Yomtov in 1997, and the couple has two children, a son and a daughter. In July 2021, Odenkirk was hospitalized in Albuquerque after suffering a heart attack on the set of Better Call Saul. He later revealed that the episode was more severe than initially understood, requiring two stents and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and he returned to work later that year.
