Jim O’Heir On His New Film “86 Melrose Avenue,” How “Parks & Recreation” Changed His Life, His Chicago Roots & More
From writer/director Lili Matta and starring Dada Elza (Mystery Incorporated) and Jim O’Heir (Parks & Recreation), action has a new address: 86 Melrose Avenue. Within the Gravitas Ventures film — which also features Emmy Award winner Gregory Zarian, Anastasia Antonia, Terri Ivens, Langstone Fishburne, Michael Polak, Andy Evans, Richard Sabine, Helen Kennedy and Gary Sturm — a diverse group of people at a gallery opening is taken hostage by an ex-Marine suffering with PTSD and forced to confront their cultural differences, their pasts, and their looming mortality as time ticks away.
The aforementioned Jim O’Heir has been working steadily in film and television projects for over 20 years. He first found undeniable success in 2009 when he landed the role of Jerry Gergich on Parks & Recreation, which he was part of for over 120 episodes. But even while appearing on the series widely-nicknamed “Parks & Rec,” O’Heir worked on many other projects. Thus, it is incredibly-difficult to pigeonhole O’Heir to a genre, a role you would expect him to play, or anything really.
On April 21, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jim O’Heir via Zoom, as embedded below. Beyond 86 Melrose Avenue — now out through all key digital and on-demand outlets — we talked about his journey from Chicago’s theater scene to mainstream roles in Los Angeles. More on O’Heir and 86 Melrose Avenue can be found by clicking over to here, here, here, here and here.
