10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About The Awesome Donal Logue

Dating back to his days on MTV in the early ’90s, I’ve been a huge admirer of Donal Logue. For whatever reason, Jimmy the Cab driver left an indelible imprint, and now he’s one of those guys whose projects I will always check out just because Logue is in them. He’s a great actor, but he’s also one of those good guys we see in lots of things — like, say, Greg Grunberg — who we just root for because we feel like we know him in a way.

We all loved him in Terriers, I loved him in Life, you should love him for The Tao of Steve, and I even thought he was fantastic as a recurring character on The Practice. Many know him from Terriers, plenty know him from Grounded for Life, although Logue himself says that he’s most recognized for his role in Blade. He’s been very busy lately, with Sons of Anarchy, Copper (recently cancelled), and he’ll be in the full second season of Vikings, but — as a kind of appreciation for Logue — here are some things you didn’t know about one of the coolest actors on television.

1. He studied history at Harvard, and he’s a very prolific actor, and yet, the Ivy-league educated thespian loves to drive 18-wheelers. Dude drives a big rig. In fact, he owns a trucking company called Aisling Trucking. (He’s got a potential trucking TV show in the works, too).

2. He wrote a novel called Aqua set in El Centro, California in 1980, that Harper Collins is publishing in 2014.

3. He used to be a roadie for The Lemonheads, and road managed another band, Bullet LaVolta, in the late ’80s.

4. He owns/plays on a high-profile amateur soccer team, the Hollywood United, a team that has also included (among many others) Anthony LaPaglia, Dermot Mulroney, Jason Statham, and Brandon Routh.

Hollywood United Owner and Actor Donal Logue Interview from Perfectly Weighted Through Blog on Vimeo.

5. He was originally cast as Phil Stubbs, the Michael Ian Black role, on NBC’s Ed (coincidentally, both Logue and Michael Ian Black were huge presences on VH1’s I Love the 80s specials).

6. Donal Logue is no stranger to cancelled-too-soon series: In addition to Terriers, Logue was a star in Life and the awesome Knights of Prosperity (with co-star Sofia Vergara, and guest stars like Mick Jagger), which was basically shafted by ABC, moved around the schedule several times before it even aired its first episode. He was also in a Steven Bochco show, Public Morals, that was cancelled after airing only one episode (I cannot speak to its quality).

7. He was in the music video for Theory of a Deadman’s “Lowlife,” and he was f***ing awesome in it.

8. I knew him first from his hilarious Jimmy the Cab Driver videos, which were omnipresent on MTV in the 90s. He had actually set up a movie based on the character at Paramount, but the studio killed it before they could get it off the ground.

9. Many years ago, a stranger whose girlfriend often suggested that he looked like Donal Logue contacted Logue on his MySpace page and asked Logue if he’d help him prank his girlfriend as part of an elaborate marriage proposal. Logue agreed, basically meeting this perfect stranger and helping him get engaged to his girlfriend. (via Uproxx)

10. He was cast in, and filmed scenes in Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, but his role was cut from the final film.

Bonus: He has both Canadian and Irish citizenship; he’s been sober since 1984; and he’s married and has two kids. His wife is former actress Kasey Walker.

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