Ed O'Neill, a tenured and veteran actor that has been nominated for two Golden Globes, three Primetime Emmy Awards and won four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Maybe, you know him as that old grump grand dad, named Jay Pritchett, from Modern Family. What you don't know about him is that he received an honorary Doctorate Degree from Ohio's Youngstown State University. Pop Sugar has it that he is a doctor of Fine Arts and it is fitting to call him Dr. O'Neill.
His education started when he enrolled in Ursuline High School. He was able to win a football scholarship to Ohio University. In that school, he majored in history. However, he was not able to finish his four year course. He left after his sophomore year to because he partied more than studied.
He snapped out of that phase and transferred to Youngstown State University. He also joined their football team as a defensive lineman. He was signed on as an undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers but didn't make it after training. Ed O'Neill re-enrolled at Youngstown and joined the school's new theatre program. From there, he started acting on stage and in commercials. His break out role was in Fox's Married...with Children as Al Bundy.
And the rest, as they say, is history. In addition to his role as Jay Pritchett on ABC's Modern Family, he also voiced Hank the Octopus in Pixar's animated film, Finding Dory. He thought it was just a minor role but when he figured out that most of his conversations were with Dory, who is voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, he figured that he played a major part in the movie.
Because of his achievements in theater and the performing arts, he was given a doctorate degree by his alma mater.
Did you know that Ed O'Neill was Ursuline High School's social studies teacher before he became an actor?
Check out O'Neill's interview below regarding his role in Finding Dory:
