Charlie Day biography

Synopsis

Early Years

Charlie Day was born on February 9, 1976, in New York City, the son of two music teachers. Early on, he and his family moved to Middletown, Rhode Island, where he grew up. Day went to the Pennfield School and Portsmouth Abbey School before enrolling at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, where he played baseball and began exploring the drama world. After graduating from Merrimack, Day began to really embrace acting at the Williamstown Theater Festival and around Boston, and made his on-screen debut in 2000 with a bit part (as "mailroom kid") in a TV movie called Mary and Rhoda, which reunited Mary Tyler Moore and Valerie Harper, co-stars of 1970s hit sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

After getting his feet wet, Day began popping up in various independent films and on other TV shows, such as Madigan Men, Law & Order and the comedy Luis, on which he had his first recurring role, appearing on nine episodes in 2003. In 2004, Day landed another recurring role, this time on the drama Third Watch, on which he made five appearances.

The Breakthrough Role

In 2005, Charlie Day began starring on the comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a show that Day and two of his co-stars developed about a group of friends who run a Philadelphia bar. The first season went well and developed some buzz in the TV-viewing community, but in Season 2 it got a real jolt from a famous fan: Danny DeVito. DeVito joined the cast for the second season, which in turn helped to boost the show's ratings. Like DeVito's character on Taxi from years before, Louie DePalma, the characters on Philadelphia became loved for their gruffness and unwillingness to enter the mainstream. Keeping busy behind the camera as well as in front of it, Day continues to serve as one of the show's producers and writers, and he even writes music for occasional episodes.

In 2004, Day met Mary Elizabeth Ellis on the set of Reno 911, and she joined the cast of Philadelphia the following year, playing "the waitress," a recurring character who becomes Charlie's (Day's character's name as well) love interest. She became his love interest in real life as well, and the pair married in 2006 and had a son, Russell Wallace, in 2011.

Film Roles

With TV success under his belt, Day soon ventured onto the big screen, appearing in such films as A Quiet Little Marriage (2008; co-written by and co-starring Ellis) and Going the Distance (2010; with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long). The latter would mark Day's entrance into mainstream features, and the following year would bring him closer still to the heart of the mainstream, with a large role in Horrible Bosses, a comedy also starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman.