[ television > the o.c. ]

The O.C.
Role: Sandy Cohen
Photos and copy compliments of FOX/Warner Bros.

Gallery - Click to enlarge

Notes

The O.C. was a wonderful experience from the very beginning. My new manager urged me to think about doing more television work and suggested I sit down with some of the people who cast the shows. It was a great idea. After a really nice meeting with the head of casting at the Fox network, Marcia Shulman, whom I hadn't seen in way too many years, she said there was a script she'd like to send me. She sent the script, it was The O.C., and I loved it.

I flew out to Los Angeles and met with Josh Schwartz, the writer and executive producer and his partner in the show, the film director McG. We all got along great and then I met with the network heads and executives and that went very well and I was offered the role of "Sandy Cohen," which I very happily accepted.

The process, which could've been brutal, was anything but, and I was the first fortunate actor to join the cast.

Our directors were terrific. Doug Liman (one of our executive producers, who directed "Go" and "Swingers" and "The Bourne Identitiy") directed the pilot and the first episode, and helped establish the style and tone of the show.

For an actor, the most important thing is a good script, and it helps a lot if there is an audience for it. The O.C. provided us with plenty of both, and it made for a truly remarkable experience.

Reviews

Carina Chocano, Entertainment Weekly
"Gallagher, in particular, is sublime as the Bronx-raised, Beamer-driving fairy godfather whose moral compass is stuck on do-gooder even when he is headed in the opposite direction."

National Public Radio
"What's best about The O.C. is Peter Gallagher as the lawyer, Sandy Cohen."

Robert Bianco, USA Today
"(Peter Gallagher, another cast standout) takes this total stranger home with him."

Monica Collins, Boston Herald
"Gallagher is also great here as the adult role model."

The Orlando Sentinel
"Gallagher embodies those qualities with ease-he's the kind of father that television sorely needs."

Aaron Barnhart, The Kansas City Star
"Thanks to Gallagher's natural performance, we really believe Sandy can see himself as the dad Ryan never had."

Rick Kushman, The Sacramento Bee
"...and Gallagher plays him with earnestness and flashes of a lost boy."