This is the story of Rob McElhenney and his hit show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
“He believes in you maybe a few feet further than you believe in yourself.”
When the future actor was 9 years old, his mother came out as gay and his parents divorced.
McElhenney’s mother would eventually marry her longtime partner Mary Taylor.
Yet we had nothing but love and support and compassion and empathy.
And I think that that allowed us to flourish."
“It is astonishing to them, having known me for ever, that I’m in this position.
I was never the funny guy.”
After graduation he attended Temple University briefly before moving to New York where he got serious about his craft.
“I enrolled in acting classes and really took to it,” he toldPhiladelphia Magazine.
Just ask Rob McElhenney, who took minor roles in major films with mega stars.
“I was cut out of a lot of movies,” he told Philadelphia Magazine.
“I played opposite Katie Holmes [in ‘The Wonder Boys’], and I was her boyfriend.
I got cut out of that, too,” he recalled.
Instead, this group would be made up of egocentric actors living in Tinseltown.
“What happens if five people who don’t have that find each other?
You create the confluence of narcissism, evil and sociopathic behaviour that is ‘Sunny.'”
FX took the bait.
“But it was funny.
He had a voice.”
They also advised them to change the characters from LA actors to Philly bar owners.
The rest is television history.
The original “Sweet Dee” was Rob McElhenney’s then-girlfriend, Jordan Reid.
In between shooting the original homemade pilot and FX picking it up, Reid and McElhenney called it quits.
While they’ve neverplayed on-screen love interests,McElhenney and Olson struck up a real-deal romance behind the scenes.
They began dating during the second season.
“Potentially, we could’ve ruined the dynamic of the TV series, but we jumped in anyway.
I guess because I started to fall in love with her.”
Even though they live and work together, this showbiz couple is still going strong.
What’s their secret?
For Season 7, he packed on approximately 50 pounds.
“Their clothes are getting nicer.
They’re better groomed.
It works for them.
But this show it’s not like that.”
In a Father’s DayInstagrampost, the “Sunny” star paid a moving tribute to his dad.
“This guy sacrificed everything for us.
He gave us love with no conditions.
McElhenney’s sons, Axel and Leo, are growing up under very different circumstances than their father.
McElhenney admitted toBusiness Insiderthat he often turns to co-starDanny DeVito and his ex-wife Rhea Pearlmanfor advice on raising kids.
He said that DeVito’s approach was simple.
Both McElhenney and Olson are determined to not let their sons grow up with a sense of entitlement.
“We can’t retroactively change things,” he said.
“What we’ve done is adjust for them.”
To McElhenney, that adjustment includes adding more women and people of color to the cast.
“At its foundation, it’s a show about five ignorant, white people, right?”
he said of the decision.
Ignorant white men, specifically.”
The show has never been afraid to “go there,” and that’s part of the appeal.
“We started out as the anti-sitcom,” co-creator and star Charlie Day toldThe Washington Post.
I think there’s always going to be an audience for that kind of a show."
That’s no coincidence since he used the same trainer that worked with Channing Tatum.
I don’t know why everyone’s not doing this."
That struck us as an interesting place to position a show."
The pals’ involvement with the club is documented in the ongoing series “Welcome to Wrexham.”
It’s no stretch to say McElhenney and Reynolds clicked immediately.
