Actor Alex O'Loughlin Can't Seem to Get a Break

Actor Alex O'Loughlin grew up in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney in 2002.

He landed his first lead role in 2004 in Australia's "Oyster Farmer." A story of a young man who leaves the city to discover life as an oyster farmer with a family of eighth generation oyster farmers.

His other Australian appearances include "Man-Thing" (2005), a run-of-the-mill swamp monster story, "Feed" (2005), where O'Loughlin portrays a man who force feeds women to death and displays the images over the Internet. O'Loughlin co-wrote and co-produced "Feed." He was also cast in an Australian mini-series "The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant." O'Loughlin received two nominations for his performance in the mini-series; one as Best Lead Actor in Television from the Australian Film Institute Awards and one as Most Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series from the Logie Awards.

His attempts to break into American Hollywood have not been quite as successful.

O'Loughlin was a candidate for the role of James Bond in 2005, but that part went to Daniel Craig.

But he landed the role of Kevin Hiatt in "The Shield," a television cable drama which aired on FX Networks.

O'Loughlin left the "Shield" series when he won the role of Detective Mick St. John in "Moonlight." The story centered around St. John, turned vampire by his wife Caroline. Though it was a role that O'Loughlin could sink his teeth into, literally, it was pulled by CBS, even though the ratings were good. Protests by fans brought the series back for a final four episodes.

So immersed in the character of Mick St. John and the series, when fans learned it would not be renewed for a second season, they began a campaign of holding blood drives in an attempt to have the show renewed.

O'Loughlin appeared in the movie "The Invisible" (2007), the story of a teenager who cannot be seen by the living after an attack.

He also appeared in an episode of "Criminal Minds" entitled "The Big Wheel" playing obsessive-compulsive character Vincent, a serial killer who visits the blind son of a woman he murder each year on the boy's birthday.

Once more, O'Loughlin was cast in a short-lived series, medical drama "Three Rivers" in 2009.

O'Loughlin is a good actor. The myriad of roles he has played bears that out. And with his fine-chiseled good looks and sultry voice, his big break is bound to come at any moment.

Sources:

Internet Movie Database
AOL Television