Bob Odenkirk had a simple goal when he got into showbiz
Growing up in Naperville, Illinois, he didn’t dream of being rich or famous. Bob Odenkirk craved joy.
“My bargain with show business was to just have enough money to live, so I could wake up each and every morning and say, ‘What do I want to do today to make myself laugh?’ ” the 62-year-old actor says. “I knew finding the laughter in life on a daily basis would be the greatest thing I could ever dream of for myself.
“You know what? I’m in my 60s now, and I still feel that way.”
Odenkirk’s early career was predicated on laughter, first as a writer (“Saturday Night Live,” “Late Night With Conan O’Brien”) and then as a star of the comedy sketch series “Mr. Show With Bob and David.”
Then came a dramatic turn with his acclaimed portrayal of shady lawyer Saul Goodman in “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.”
Next, the two-time Emmy Award winner sprang into action with the 2021 hit film “Nobody.” This weekend, Odenkirk returns in the sequel, “Nobody 2.”
Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell, a suburban dad/workaholic assassin, finally takes his family on a much-needed vacation. But soon he’s back in the thick of things, dealing with a corrupt theme park operator (John Ortiz), a shifty small-town sheriff (Colin Hanks) and a ruthless crime lord (Sharon Stone).
The film also stars Connie Nielsen and Christopher Lloyd.
“It’s a big, fun summer movie, but it also has a theme about taking a break in life and not working constantly,” Odenkirk says. “I think that’s very relatable. I’ve struggled to do that myself.”
The actor lives in Los Angeles with his wife, producer Naomi Odenkirk. They have two grown children, Nate, a comedy writer, and Erin, an artist.
His good life advice:
Surprise them
“No one believed I got myself into an action film in the first place,” Odenkirk says. “Some of my friends originally thought I was pranking them. I heard, ‘They cast you?’ ” But he was fully committed to the role. “I trained for two years plus for the first movie, and it was really hard work. The plus side is I got free exercise training on the side for about two years before the first one, so it was a win because I carried on the exercise afterward,” he adds. “I do all of my own stunts, but I do not fly through the air — that’s too much.”
Fight or flight?
Sure, he’s a tough guy on-screen, but how would Odenkirk fare in a real bar fight? “Every single stunt man I’ve ever worked with has given me the same advice: ‘If it’s a real fight, get the hell out of the room as fast as you can. Life is not a movie.’ ”
Don’t miss it
Odenkirk suffered a near-fatal heart attack while shooting “Better Call Saul” in 2021, requiring CPR and defibrillation to restart his pulse. “It was a doozy. A real full-on situation. I’ve reflected on it a lot, and it influences my life daily now,” he says. “The lesson was to take time in your life to enjoy and take in the people around you and the relationships and the good things. It taught me to be more present. You can’t just race from one thing to the next. You’re missing it.”
‘A real job’
He grew up in the Chicago suburbs, the second of seven children raised by his mother after their father left the family when Bob was young. The lightbulb went off when Odenkirk was 14 and went to see a show at Chicago’s Second City. “It really inspired me to want to be in show business,” he says. “You have to see it to believe it. I saw those actors onstage and thought, ‘This is a real job.’ ”
Write what you know
Odenkirk wrote a book about his life called “Comedy, Comedy, Comedy, Drama” and included the good, bad and ugly parts. “We only hear about people’s big successes or big failures,” he says. “We don’t hear about all the in-between that makes up your life. I tried to write about as much of that as I could without exhausting the reader.”
He has also written a children’s book called “Zilot and Other Important Rhymes” with his daughter. “It’s based on poems I wrote with my kids when they were little before they went to bed,” he says. “We wrote them by our little nightlight. … The book encourages kids to write and parents to write a poem with their kids. Fifteen years later, you will read these things and go right back in time.”
Patience makes perfect
It took Odenkirk a while to hit his stride in “Better Call Saul.” “There was a level of losing yourself in a role that happened with Saul,” he says. “I got more of a handle on him as I worked on him. By Season 3, I knew what I was doing, proving that good things take time.”
Support system
He married his wife, Naomi, in 1997 after they met outside a comedy club in California and started dating. She is also a talent manager with the company she co-founded called Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, producers of the hit Hulu show “PEN15” and the film “No Hard Feelings” with Jennifer Lawrence. She also produced her husband’s Netflix comedy show “W/Bob &David” and the AMC dramedy “Lucky Hank.” “You want your wife or your partner to care about how it’s making you feel,” he says, “and she takes great care of my feelings.”
Let it rip
“I’m a terrible singer, and I love to make people listen to me singing,” Odenkirk says. “A little harmless fun. And it proves you don’t have to be great at things to enjoy them. Make an a-- out of yourself. Who cares? Maybe everyone will have a good laugh.”
