Mark O'Brien (actor)

For other people with the same name, see Mark O'Brien.

Mark O'Brien (born May 7, 1984) is a Canadian actor and director best known for his roles as Des Courtney in Republic of Doyle (2010–2014) and Tom Rendon in Halt and Catch Fire (2015–2016).^[1][2][3] He won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor at the 8th Canadian Screen Awards for his performance as Terry Sawchuk in the biographical drama film Goalie (2019).^[4]

Mark O'Brien
O'Brien in 2013
Born	(1984-05-07) May 7, 1984 (age 41) St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
Occupations	Actor, director
Years active	2005–present
Spouse	Georgina Reilly ​ (m. 2013)​
Children	1

At the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022, he received two nominations for his film The Righteous, for both Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay.^[5] The film, which he wrote and directed himself, also won Best Screenplay at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal and Manchester's Grimmfest, as well as Best Cinematography at Grimmfest and the Blood in the Snow Canadian Film Festival.^[6]

Personal life

He is an English major with a Bachelor of Arts from Memorial University of Newfoundland. His mother was a nurse and his father a truck driver. O'Brien also has three older sisters.

O'Brien married actress Georgina Reilly on January 6, 2013, after having met on the set of Republic of Doyle in 2011.^[7] He is friends with fellow Newfoundlander Jonny Harris, who was also guest at his wedding. In November 2017, the couple welcomed their first child, a daughter.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Quiet at Dawn	Watts
	Grown Up Movie Star	Will
2012	Beat Down	Michael
2015	End of Days, Inc.	Jason
	Len and Company	Zach
	How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town	Bruce Buck
2016	Arrival	Captain Marks
2018	Parallel	Josh
	State Like Sleep	Darren
	Anon	Cyrus Frear
	How It Ends	Jeremiah
	The Darkest Minds	Rob Meadows
	Kin	Jake Stanton
	The Front Runner	Billy Shore
	Bad Times at the El Royale	Larsen Rogers
2019	Goalie	Terry Sawchuk
	Ready or Not	Alex Le Domas
	Marriage Story	Carter
	Hammer	Chris Davis
2021	The Righteous	Aaron Smith
	Blue Bayou	Ace
2023	Seven Veils	Paul
2025	Nuremberg	John Amen
TBA	The Embers and the Stars	Daniel	[8]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005–2006	Legends and Lore of the North Atlantic
2005–2007	Kids' CBC	Himself
2006	Above and Beyond	Drake	2 episodes
2008	The One That Got Away	Tommy Palchek	TV movie
2010–2014	Republic of Doyle	Des Courtney	77 episodes
2011	Warehouse 13	Jerry Hoffler	Episode: "Don't Hate the Player"
2012	Diary of a Deadly P.I.	Des Courtney	12 episodes
	Murdoch Mysteries	Jerome Bradley	Episode: "Murdoch Night in Canada"
2013	This Hour Has 22 Minutes	Des Courtney
2014	Hannibal	Randall Tier	2 episodes
	Saving Hope	Marshall Parker	Episode: "Awakenings"
2015–2017	Halt and Catch Fire	Tom Rendon	15 episodes
2016–2017	The Last Tycoon	Max Miner	9 episodes
2019–2021	City on a Hill	Jimmy Ryan	14 episodes
2022–2023	61st Street	Officer Johnny Logan	Main role
2023	Your Honor	Father Jay	3 episodes
	Perry Mason	Thomas Milligan	Recurring role
2025	The Copenhagen Test	Cobb	Post-production

Director, producer and writer

Title	Year	Credited as					Notes	Ref(s)
		Director	Writer	Producer	Actor	Other
Downward Calling	2005	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film Editor
Lying Awake	2006		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film Cinematographer, composer and editor
Pretty Girls	2008		No	No	No	Yes	Short film Editor and cinematographer
Brad	2010	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Short film Editor
Kathy	2011	Yes	No	No	No	No
Better People	2012		Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Sweetieface	2013		No	No	Yes	Yes
Dennis	2015	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Who Is Hanna?		Yes	No	No	No	No	Short film
Wanderer			No	Yes	Yes	No
Threshold	2018		Yes	No	No	No
Goalie	2019	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
The Righteous	2021	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No