NICE BOY OF THE WEEK: Eric Christian Olsen

The Nice Boy of the Week this week is actor Eric Christian Olsen, who is best known for his current role of Detective Marty Deeks on the CBS spin-off series NCIS: Los Angeles.

Born in Eugene, Oregon, Eric’s mom Jeanne is a chaplain and his dad Paul is a professor of English. He spent most of his childhood in Iowa, though, where he participated in many local theatre performances, training in improv with ComedySportz Quad Cities and then later joined the cast.

Some of Eric’s first TV roles included a guest appearance in an episode of the TV series ER in 1999 as well as the lead role in the made-for-TV movie called Arthur’s Quest. Then he had small roles in the box office movies Pearl Harbor and Not Another Teen Movie both in 2001. He also had a guest appearance that year in Smallville.

Over the next few years, Eric appeared in the box office movies The Hot Chick, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, Cellular, The Last Kiss, Beerfest and License to Wed. He also made guest appearances in the TV shows 24, Tru Calling and the short-lived comedy The Loop.

In 2008, he was part of the cast in the box office films Sunshine Cleaning, Eagle Eye and Fired Up! as well as a guest role in the TV series Brothers & Sisters. The following year Eric appeared in several episodes of Community and followed that up in the next year with roles in the box office movies The Back-Up Plan and providing his voice for the animation series Kick Buttowski.

Over the next two years, he appeared in the remake of the classic horror flick The Thing and the independent film Celeste & Jesse Forever. And, of course, he has appeared in NCIS: Los Angeles since the show’s second season.

In June of 2012, he married his long-time girlfriend Sarah Wright.