John O’Hurley

John O’Hurley Speaker Biography

Beloved Actor, Dancer, and Bestselling Author

One of People magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive,” John O’Hurley has become one of television’s busiest and most versatile actors, show hosts, advertising heroes, and feature film stars.  The award-winning actor is best known as “J. Peterman” on “Seinfeld,” which is now the #1 syndicated series in the world in 85 countries and he has danced his way into the hearts of America as the ultimate champion of the highly rated ABC show “Dancing with the Stars.” After hosting the hugely successful popular syndicated show “Family Feud,” he returned to the stage this Summer to star in front of sold out audiences on Broadway in Chicagoas the male lead “Billy Flynn.” O’Hurley also headlined a two-year stint as the head of the Round Table, King Arthur, in Eric Idle’s hilarious musical comedy “Monty Python’s Spamalot” in Las Vegas. As a follow-up to his Billboard chart topping CD Peace of Our Minds (which was the first independently produced CD to ever reach #13 on the Billboard Music charts), O’Hurley released Secrets from the Lake, a collaboration of his piano compositions with cellist Marston Smith.  O’Hurley has written 2 books including his New York Times Bestseller called It’s OK to Miss the Bed on the First Jump: And Other Life Lessons Learned from Dogs, and Before Your Dog Can Eat Your Homework, First You Have To Do It.

 O’Hurley’s unique portrayal of the wry and witty “J. Peterman” has led to dozens of advertising campaigns for companies such as Xerox, M & M’s, Progressive Insurance and The Travel Channel, earning him multiple advertising and marketing industry awards.  O’Hurley also won a Screen Actors Guild Award for “Best Ensemble” for his work on “Seinfeld.”  After a two-year stint hosting “To Tell The Truth” and a three-year stint hosting USA network’s “Get Golf with the PGA Tour”, O’Hurley is now the regular host of NBC’s annual “National Dog Show presented by Purina,” a Thanksgiving tradition to 21 million viewers. O’Hurley returned to prime-time television twice within the last two years, once as Roger Heidecker on UPN’s “The Mullets” opposite Loni Anderson, and as Blake, the white tiger on NBC’s “Father of the Pride.”

 John’s television career initially began with a twelve-year stint on daytime television.   His daytime credits include “The Young and The Restless,” “All My Children,” “Loving,” “Santa Barbara,” and “The Edge of Night.” John’s other television credits include ABC’s “Over the Top,” opposite Annie Potts and Tim Curry, ABC’s “A Whole New Ballgame,” NBC’s “The Weber Show,” and CBS’s “Scorch.”  O’Hurley’s more than 50 guest starring roles include appearances on “Murder She Wrote,” “Frasier,”  “The X Files,” and “Melrose Place.”   O’Hurley has appeared in several television movies including “Life of the Party” opposite Ann Margaret, “Inner Sanctum” opposite Victoria Principal, “Murder of Thelma Todd” with Loni Anderson, and “Blood on Her Hands” with Susan Lucci.

 In film, O’Hurley starred in “Race to Space” opposite James Woods and “Billy the Kid” with Val Kilmer.   Currently, he is producing “The Richard Petty Story”, along with Dan Halsted (“Any Given Sunday”), about the legendary race car driver.   Dennis Quaid is also attached to the project.   In production development, John is also working on the film version of the New York Times’ bestseller “Ahab’s Wife.”

 John lends his voice to several of America’s most popular cartoons.  He is currently playing “King Neptune” in “SpongeBob SquarePants”, “Captain Star Johnson” in “Duck Dodgers,” “King Wallace II” in “Kim Possible” and will soon begin work as the narrator on Nickelodeon’s new cartoon “Captain Itch.”  Previously, John has worked on “What’s New, Scooby Doo?”, “Lloyd in Space” and “Family Guy.”

 Outside of television and feature films, O’Hurley is an accomplished stage actor.   His love of the theater has led him to starring roles on the national tours of “Pirates of Penzance,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and “Brigadoon.”   Most recently, John has received rave reviews in “Same Time Next Year,” “Chicago,” and “Spamalot.”  O’Hurley has also shown his musical talent on stage in several performances of Broadway songs accompanied by a 60-piece orchestra.

O’Hurley was born in Kittery, Maine, but his career began in West Hartford, CT.  At a very young age, he remembers dressing in a swimsuit, homemade oxygen tank, and goggles to watch episodes of the “Sea Hunt” television series imitating his childhood idol Lloyd Bridges.  “From that point on, acting was in my blood,” says John.  Years later, John received his theater degree from Providence College in Providence, RI.  John was the only graduating senior in the Theater Department that year, he jokingly recalls, thereby, winning the years Theater Award.

 Outside of the entertainment industry, O’Hurley is an entrepreneur and Renaissance man.  Life truly imitates art for him, as he is the real John Peterman’s business partner and part owner of the J. Peterman Company! He is also currently principal partner for two venture capital companies—Round One Investments, in Los Angeles, and Heritage Capital Investments, in Atlanta, GA—as well as Energy Inc., a company dedicated to facilitating clean, green energy production.