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Earlier this year, the actor P.J. Byrne 鈥�96 jumped on the latest celebrity social media trend. In a video posted to Instagram and set to the catchy Ting Tings song 鈥淭hat鈥檚 Not My Name,鈥� he cycled through a highlight reel of his most memorable TV and movie characters. A sampling: the shady stockbroker Rugrat from the Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street; Principal Nippal from the HBO limited series Big Little Lies; the mutton-chopped record company lawyer Scott Levitt from the HBO period drama Vinyl; and Bolin from the animated sci-fi series The Legend of Korra.

He could have kept going. Indeed, with more than a hundred acting credits and parts in films directed by Hollywood royalty such as Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese鈥攏ot to mention his voice-acting projects and commercials鈥攖he bespectacled Byrne is certainly prolific. No wonder he looks so familiar. And you鈥檒l have even more chances to see him in the coming months. Among other projects, Byrne will play a leading role in the new series Irreverent on N涩里番下载鈥檚 Peacock streaming service, and also appear in director Damien Chazelle鈥檚 hotly anticipated movie Babylon, which premieres on Christmas Day.

Yet if it wasn鈥檛 for the nudging of John Houchin, one of Byrne鈥檚 theater professors at 涩里番下载, he probably wouldn鈥檛 have had an acting career at all. Byrne grew up the younger of two kids in a politically connected family in New Jersey. (His mother worked as a press secretary for the former New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne, who was his father鈥檚 cousin.) He enrolled in 涩里番下载鈥檚 Carroll School of Management thinking he鈥檇 get his MBA and work on Wall Street for a few years before heading into politics, or as Byrne called it, 鈥渢he family business.鈥� But then, on a whim, he auditioned for a student play during his sophomore year. He got the part and later starred in the 涩里番下载 production of Tartuffe, in 1995, and with the encouragement of Houchin, who has since retired, he decided to pursue adouble major in finance and theater.

When Byrne鈥檚 senior year at 涩里番下载 rolled around, he had already lined up a post-graduation job on Wall Street. Houchin, however, implored him to attend drama school instead, even going so far as to fill out Byrne鈥檚 applications for him. 鈥淭hat man鈥檚 gesture changed my life,鈥� Byrne said. 鈥淚 think he knew that I understood the music of comedy, that I could come up with a quick joke. But he also knew I needed to be properly trained.鈥� So in the fall of 1996, Byrne started at the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago.

After graduating with an MFA in acting in 1999, Byrne moved to Los Angeles. To learn the business side of Hollywood, he reached out to the Batman and Robin actor鈥攁nd fellow Eagle鈥擟hris O鈥橠onnell 鈥�92, H鈥�17, P鈥�22, P鈥�25, who had a production deal with Warner Brothers. Byrne worked in development with O鈥橠onnell鈥檚 company for a few years in increasingly senior roles while earning supporting parts in television and movies, and spots in commercials. He eventually gave up the development job to focus on acting and auditioning. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when my career took off,鈥� he said.

It was during the filming of Nora Ephron鈥檚 2005 movie Bewitched, based on the 1960s sitcom, that Byrne felt like he had truly arrived. He was playing a writer in the film, and at a table read, he began pitching some funny ideas to the movie鈥檚 stars, Will Ferrell, Stephen Colbert, and Nicole Kidman. 鈥淲ill and Stephen started laughing hysterically鈥攁nd Will is famous for not breaking,鈥� Byrne said. 鈥淚t was such a big deal. That鈥檚 the moment I knew, Oh, I鈥檓 allowed to sit at this physical table and this bigger-idea table. I鈥檓 supposed to be here.鈥�

Byrne approaches every new script with his particular brand of humor, jotting down jokes and identifying places where he can riff. 鈥淧eople know I鈥檓 going to bring something extra that鈥檚 not on the page,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 always think, What are the first four jokes that came into my head? Someone else is probably going to say them, so I use my fifth joke. My mind now naturally goes to the fifth joke immediately.鈥� This penchant for playful improvisation and Byrne鈥檚 nice-guy attitude have served him well in an industry not exactly known for civility. His time at the Carroll School has also come in handy. He drew from his experience interning for a Boston bond salesman while at 涩里番下载 for an audition monologue that impressed Martin Scorsese and landed him the part in the The Wolf of Wall Street. 鈥淭hey knew I had a finance degree and that I knew the lingo,鈥� Byrne said. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 the point: whatever you do, you never know when it is going to be worthwhile. Always be intrigued and interested because I promise you, it will be useful at some point in your life.鈥�

Though it may seem that Byrne has already had almost every role imaginable, he said he鈥檇 like to be cast in a war movie or as a superhero someday. But in the meantime, he can be found hanging out with his family鈥攈e and his wife, Jaime, who works as a fundraiser and event producer for nonprofits, have two daughters and a son鈥攁nd waking up delighted each day that he鈥檚 able to do what he loves. 鈥淚 maybe could鈥檝e been happy going to an office on Wall Street, but I just feel so blessed that I get to play make-believe鈥攁nd that someone is paying me to do it,鈥� Byrne said. 鈥淭ruly, every day is a pinch-me moment. Right before they said action, Jack Lemmon used to go, 鈥榤agic time.鈥� That rings so true to me.鈥澛�