Why Captain Don Hart From 9-1-1: Nashville Looks So Familiar
The part of firehouse chief Captain Don Hart in the ABC procedural drama "9-1-1: Nashville" is played by Chris O'Donnell. Much like co-stars Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Season 2 addition Ryan Phillippe, O'Donnell has been a familiar face on both the big and small screen for decades. After getting his start with a guest role in an episode of the '80s comedy drama series "Jack and Mike," he shifted his focus to feature films and set off on a journey that would take him to the A-list.
O'Donnell made his feature debut in the 1990 dramedy "Men Don't Leave" starring Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates, and the following year he played the role of Buddy Threadgoode in the Oscar-nominated drama "Fried Green Tomatoes," reuniting with Bates. His breakout role was right around the corner: O'Donnell's performance as prep school student Charlie Simms in the 1992 Al Pacino film "Scent of a Woman" earned him a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor.
In 1993, O'Donnell continued his rise as D'Artagnan in the swashbuckling adventure "The Three Musketeers" with Kiefer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen. Two years later, he masked up as Dick Grayson (aka Robin) in Joel Schumacher's "Batman Forever" alongside Val Kilmer's Bruce Wayne. He reprised the role in 1997 for the critically slammed "Batman & Robin," which saw George Clooney taking over as the Caped Crusader.
O'Donnell was ready to leave Los Angeles for Nashville
By the mid-2000s, Chris O'Donnell had dipped a toe back into TV, with a memorable guest-starring role in "Two and a Half Men" among the earliest credits from his small screen renaissance era. In the years that followed he charmed viewers as veterinarian Dr. Finn Dandridge — Meredith Grey's beau — in a major arc on "Grey's Anatomy" and he tackled the spy thriller genre as Jack McCauliffe in the acclaimed Cold War miniseries "The Company." Of course, his biggest TV role prior to "9-1-1: Nashville" was Special Agent in Charge Grisha "G" Callen on "NCIS: Los Angeles," a character he originated on the mothership series "NCIS." O'Donnell also appeared in an episode of "NCIS: Hawai'i" during his stint as Callen, which ran from 2009 to 2023.
O'Donnell didn't intend on going straight into another network procedural when "NCIS: Los Angeles" came to an end in 2023, but then Ryan Murphy got in touch about a "9-1-1" spin-off set in Nashville. "Having just done 14 years in Los Angeles — which was the greatest gift of all time, and that show came up when I had five kids in school — and given that my town had just burned to the ground, picking up and moving to Nashville almost sounded too good to be true, frankly," O'Donnell told TV Guide. "I just put my faith in Ryan and his team that they would come up with interesting things, and I was ready to go." O'Donnell also revealed that "9-1-1: Lone Star" alum Rob Lowe helped persuade him to take the "9-1-1: Nashville" gig.