Bob Odenkirk Bio
Robert John Odenkirk (born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer whose career spans sketch comedy, television drama, and feature film. He is widely recognized for his portrayal of the morally flexible lawyer Saul Goodman on AMC’s Breaking Bad and the character’s spin-off series Better Call Saul, a performance that earned him sustained critical acclaim and a long string of major award nominations. Beyond drama, Odenkirk built his early reputation as the co-creator and star of the HBO sketch series Mr. Show with Bob and David, and later expanded into action filmmaking with the hit feature Nobody. His varied body of work has made him one of the most distinctive comedic and dramatic performers of his generation.
Early Life and Background
Robert John Odenkirk was born on October 22, 1962, in Berwyn, Illinois, and was raised in the nearby suburb of Naperville. He is the second oldest of seven children born to Walter Henry Odenkirk, who worked in the printing business, and Barbara Mary Odenkirk. The family was Catholic, with German and Irish roots, and his parents later divorced, an experience that shaped his early view of family life. Odenkirk has described his father as remote and unreliable, and he has publicly spoken about avoiding alcohol because of his father’s struggles.
Odenkirk discovered comedy early, watching Monty Python’s Flying Circus as a teenager and later visiting Chicago’s Second City theater at the age of fourteen. He has cited those influences, along with Steve Martin, Steve Dahl, and the radio team Bob and Ray, as central to his comedic sensibility. While still in high school, he began experimenting with performance and writing, eventually graduating from Naperville North High School early and moving on to local and regional colleges.
After attending the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Odenkirk transferred to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. There he studied communications, worked as a radio DJ at the college station WIDB, and developed sketch-writing and performance skills through live shows. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Southern Illinois University in 1984 and went on to study improvisation with Del Close at the Players Workshop in Chicago.
Path to Acting
Odenkirk’s professional path began in Chicago’s comedy scene, where he performed at improv venues alongside future collaborators Chris Farley and Tim Meadows. His friendship with fellow writer Robert Smigel led to a position as a writer on Saturday Night Live in 1987, where he contributed sketches and worked closely with Smigel and Conan O’Brien. During his SNL tenure, Odenkirk helped develop the character Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker for Chris Farley, a role that later became a fan favorite on the show.
After leaving Saturday Night Live in 1991, Odenkirk moved to Los Angeles and quickly built relationships across television comedy. He wrote for The Dennis Miller Show and Get a Life, then joined the cast of The Ben Stiller Show in 1992, working as both writer and performer. The show earned him an Emmy Award for writing, though it had been canceled before the award was given. During this period he also began a recurring role on The Larry Sanders Show as the agent Stevie Grant, a part that ran from 1993 through 1998.
In 1995, Odenkirk joined forces with comedian David Cross to create Mr. Show with Bob and David, a sketch comedy series that ran on HBO for four seasons. The program featured an array of emerging comedy talent and earned multiple Emmy nominations, even though it never reached a wide mainstream audience. Following the end of Mr. Show, Odenkirk turned toward feature directing with Melvin Goes to Dinner in 2003, a film that won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film and Music Festival and helped position him as a multi-hyphenate filmmaker.
Bob Odenkirk Career
Early Career (1987–2008)
Odenkirk’s earliest notable work came behind the scenes as a writer on Saturday Night Live from 1987 to 1991, where he contributed to numerous sketches and collaborated with writers who would shape late-night comedy for years. His transition to on-camera work began with The Ben Stiller Show, where he both wrote and performed, helping the program secure an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. The recognition proved to be a turning point, leading directly to his partnership with David Cross on Mr. Show with Bob and David.
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Odenkirk balanced writing, directing, and acting across television and film. He directed Melvin Goes to Dinner in 2003, wrote the feature Run Ronnie Run in 2002, and later helmed the comedies Let’s Go to Prison in 2006 and The Brothers Solomon in 2007. He also developed pilots, produced shows including The Birthday Boys for IFC, and made guest appearances on series such as Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and How I Met Your Mother.
Breakthrough (2009–2022)
Odenkirk’s dramatic breakthrough arrived in 2009, when he was cast as the corrupt attorney Saul Goodman on AMC’s Breaking Bad. Originally written as a brief guest role in the second season, the character grew into a series regular because of Odenkirk’s performance, and Saul Goodman became one of television’s most memorable supporting figures. The role introduced Odenkirk to a vast new audience and opened the door to a wider range of dramatic work.
In 2015, Odenkirk returned to the character as the lead of Better Call Saul, a spin-off that traced Jimmy McGill’s transformation into Saul Goodman. The series ran for six seasons through 2022 and earned Odenkirk 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. He also collected multiple Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Critics’ Choice nominations, winning the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series three times.
During this period Odenkirk expanded into film with notable supporting roles in Nebraska, The Post, Incredibles 2, Little Women, and The Disaster Artist. In 2021 he starred as Hutch Mansell in the action thriller Nobody, a film that opened at number one at the United States box office and led to a sequel, Nobody 2, in 2025. He also produced both Nobody films and wrote and starred in the Netflix original comedy Girlfriend’s Day in 2017. On April 18, 2022, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, placed beside that of his Breaking Bad co-star Bryan Cranston.
Notable Works and Milestones
Odenkirk’s signature roles include Saul Goodman and Jimmy McGill on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, the sketch work of Mr. Show with Bob and David, and the action hero Hutch Mansell in the Nobody films. His accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards out of eighteen nominations, along with three Critics’ Choice Television Awards and nominations for five Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. In 2019, Southern Illinois University awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Performing Arts in recognition of his contributions to the arts.
Bob Odenkirk Award Nominations
Bob Odenkirk has accumulated a wide array of major nominations across his career, reflecting his work in both comedy and drama. He has received eighteen Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including six for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Better Call Saul and one for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for The Bear in 2024. He has also earned five Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama, multiple Screen Actors Guild nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, six Critics’ Choice Television Award nominations, and three Television Critics Association Award nominations. In 2025 he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his Broadway debut in Glengarry Glen Ross.
Bob Odenkirk Awards Won
Odenkirk has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, the first for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series as part of The Ben Stiller Show in 1993, and the second for the same category tied to his earlier Saturday Night Live work. He has also won three Critics’ Choice Television Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series for Better Call Saul. In film, Melvin Goes to Dinner received the Audience Award at the SXSW Film and Music Festival, and his performance in The Spectacular Now earned the Special Jury Award for Acting at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
Bob Odenkirk Family
Bob Odenkirk was born to Walter Henry Odenkirk and Barbara Mary Odenkirk, and he grew up as the second oldest of seven siblings in the Chicago suburbs. His younger brother, Bill Odenkirk, is also a comedy writer and helped support Bob’s early career. Odenkirk’s family life has long been intertwined with his professional world, with his wife, Naomi Yomtov, working as the executive producer of W/ Bob and David. He and Yomtov have two children, a son and a daughter, and in 2023 he published a children’s poetry collection, Zilot & Other Important Rhymes, written with his daughter Erin.
Personal Life
In 1997, Odenkirk married Naomi Yomtov, and the couple have two children together. He has been open about his health, revealing that in 2021 he suffered a serious heart attack on the set of Better Call Saul that required two stents and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In 2019, the PBS series Finding Your Roots revealed that he is descended from an illegitimate son of Frederick Charles, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön, making him an eleventh cousin of King Charles III. During the run of Better Call Saul, Odenkirk also shared a house in Albuquerque with castmates Rhea Seehorn and Patrick Fabian, an arrangement he described as a way to keep each other company after filming.
