- Born
- Died
- Birth namePatrice Malcolm Oneal
- Nicknames
- Mr. P
- Bruiser
- Height1.93 m
- O'Neal was born in New York in 1969, but moved to Boston when he was just 1 year old. He was educated at West Roxbury High School and went on to attend Northeastern University, both in Boston. After this, various jobs followed including a sausage cart vendor at a train station, flower seller and popcorn seller at the Boston Garden Arena.
In October 1992, O'Neal attended an open microphone comedy night. He heckled one of the comedians, who challenged O'Neal to perform himself at the next open mic night. He did just that and so began his comedy career. Over the next 6 years, O'Neal became a fixture on the Boston comedy circuit. He then relocated to New York, becoming a regular at Manhattan's Comedy Cellar. After this, O'Neal moved to Los Angeles and radio, television and film projects followed.
He appeared in various shows, both in acting roles and as himself. In 2005, he taped his own episode of One Night Stand (2005) and in 2011 he had his own Comedy Central special, 'Patrice O'Neal: Elephant in the Room'. As well as on-screen projects, O'Neal worked on radio and continued as a stand-up in clubs and theaters.
O'Neal's final screen appearance was in September 2011 when he took part in the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen (2011). On November 29, 2011, O'Neal, who suffered from diabetes, passed away, following complications from a stroke. He was 41 years old.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- ChildrenAymilyon O'Neal
- ParentsGeorgia O'Neal
- RelativesZinder O'Neal(Sibling)
- Philosophies on relationships and race relations.
- Confronting audience members.
- His infectious laugh.
- Being Brutally Honest
- Signed a sitcom deal with the FX network shortly before he died.
- He was named after Patrice Lumumba and Malcolm X.
- Was a star football player in high school but quit football in college to major in theatre arts.
- After working on Đường Đến Tội Ác (2002), Spike Lee offered him a holding deal but he turned it down.
- Suffered a stroke on October 19, 2011.
- A lot of people walk out of my show. If I've got 250-300 people in the audience, 20 will walk out. I average about 20 walkouts, which is good. Because everybody else stays, and I love that. That's what comedy is. Not everybody should be laughing at everything at the same time. That's not even natural. My thing is to feel natural, because I don't want to feel like I could just make people laugh at every single joke, every single time, with the same decibel level.
- I like to be loved or hated - I don't like mediocre. So I'd rather have the entire crowd hate me than to have 90% hate me.
- [on why he did not return to Chuyện Văn Phòng (2005)] It was a six-line character. I just couldn't do it.
- [on if he ever considered changing his name] Hell, no. That name made me a man.
- Have your opinion, don't let your opinion have you.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content