Owen Demill Hisle Jr [aka: Big O], was born in Kentucky during the early hours of the morning; just in time to join his mother for breakfast. Owen's father, Owen Demill Hisle Sr, now deceased, was originally from Kentucky. Owen's father moved to New Jersey when he was 21 and it was there he met and married Owen's mother. Owen's father worked as a concrete laborer. Owen's mother, Francis Catherine Gallicchio, now deceased, was originally from New Jersey and due to deathly ill health reasons from birth she could never work. Owen's parents moved back to New Jersey when Owen was a year old because Owen's mother got home sick. Owen's grandparents-(Bernard & Sarah Gallicchio - Owen's mother's parents) migrated to New Jersey from Sicily, Italy in the early 1900's so Owen is the second generation born on American soil Owen was raised and grew up in New Brunswick, New Jersey from the age of 1 up until his 18th birthday. Owen's uncles-(on his mother's side) were mostly rough, tough Italians who worked as car mechanics, construction workers, concrete laborers, and tractor trailer drivers. Owen mostly hung out with two of his uncles-(Bobby and Nick; his mother's brothers) helping them with the cars they worked on and riding along with them during their tractor trailer road trips. Owen also worked as a construction laborer during the summer months when school was out. Owen had a very hard and rough life growing up. Since his father never made it past the 8th grade, worked as a laborer, and since his mother wasn't able to ever work due to her deathly ill heath, Owen and his family lived very poor financially relying only on Owen's father's one job small income, food stamps, and the disability checks his mother received due to her health. Owen is the oldest of 4-(Owen, Greg, Liz, & Gwen). Owen's father was never really there for him because his father spent most of his time away gambling. When Owen's father was around, which Owen never looked forward to, Owen spent most of his younger life-(from a little boy all through his teen years) being badly abused by his father physically, mentally, and emotionally. Many times Owen's father instilled in Owen that he would never amount to anything. Since Owen was the oldest-(with his father not being there and with his mother slowly dying in front of him), Owen had to at many times be the adult at such a very young age by taking care of his younger brother, 2 younger sisters, and his mother. Owen's Grandmother, his Uncle Bob, and his Uncle Ken & Aunt Connie would help out when and where they could. Owen was always treated as an outcast and made fun of and told he would never amount to anything from many of his cousins as well as many of his school mates. Things were so rough for Owen with how financially poor his family was, the abuse he lived with and, due to the responsibilities which were laid upon him at such an early age that when time allowed he found himself hanging out with the wrong crowds on the rough streets of New Jersey. Although Owen never got into trouble with the law, he did find himself, more times then not, getting into street fights-(he lost more then he won however, he never backed down and he became a lot more tougher and street wise). If things weren't hard enough for Owen, his mother who was his best friend, and always instilled in Owen that he would amount to something some day, died at the age of 38-(Owen was 17 and he was devastated). Owen always found his time away from his hard life and troubles by watching movies on TV and going to the cinema to watch even more movies. Movies were Owen's escape from his real life where he could live another life away from his troubles; even if it were only for 2 short hours. Owen knew at a very young age that he wanted to be an actor some day In 1978 at the age of 18 just after graduating from High School, Owen left New Jersey and headed for Kentucky to locate his father's family which he never really knew. Owen ended up traveling 1000 miles from New Jersey. After being away for one year, Owen went back to New Jersey to live with his grandmother for a while. Owen hitch-hiked the 1000 miles back to New Jersey In 1979 Owen gave his heart and life to God. Owen stayed in New Jersey from 1979 til 1983. In 1983 at the age of 23 Owen left New Jersey a second time and headed towards the mid-west. Owen was gone one year. In 1984 Owen went back to New Jersey and again he hitch-hiked another 1000 miles-(by this time Owen had now hitch-hiked a total of 2000 miles). In 1984 Owen joined the United States Army. Because it was known by many of Owen's Military NCO's & Officers that Owen wanted to pursue an acting career, Owen had the awesome opportunity to work OJT-(On The Job Training) outside his regular assigned MOS-(Military Occupational Skill), 11-Mike-(Infantry), as a photographer, film camera operator and director for various military missions, as an assistant director to the director for plays the military put on for soldiers, and as a Chaplain's Assistant. Owen's intentions were to serve 20 years in the military, retire and then allow his military retirement funds help him in pursuing an acting career. In 1993 while serving a one year tour in Korea for the military, Owen sustained a severe back injury when he was crushed by a Bradley-(also known as a Army Tank for you civilians). Owen was placed in medical hold in 1994 for one year, had major spine surgery, spent almost one and a half years post-surgery learning how to walk all over again, and was honorably medically discharged from the Army in July 1996 In September 1996 just two months after being honorably medically discharged from the Army and only serving a total of 12 years which was thought to end up being a hopeful 20 years, the Veterans Association asked Owen if he'd like to earn a four year degree of his choice and they would pick up the entire tab (any major, any college, any location, all tuition, all books, all supplies paid and even tax free money to live off of each month while in college). Although Owen had his heart set on becoming an actor, he made a wise choice by taking the V.A. up on their generous offer and majored in Computer Information Systems, Computer Technician Specialist, and Website Developer due to the fact he started tinkering with computers two years prior to 1996 and computers would be a good thing to fall back on and use while pursuing an acting career. Owen went to college for the next 3 years and graduated 1 year earlier in 1999 on a fast track program with a 3.5 GPA In 1999 just shortly after graduating from college, Owen moved to Colorado. From 1999 to present day Owen has worked in Colorado and various other US States with-in the IT Industry as a Professional PC/Break Fix Hardware/Software/Website Developer Tech, was a Supervisor/Manager for various Computer Repair Chop Shops, and owns his own Home Based Computer Repair Company In 2001 Owen took an assessment of his life and where he was at that time. With the military and college behind him and since he was single and really had no ties or other obligations attached to his life, Owen felt it was as good a time as any to pick up where he left off and continue pursuing his acting career. In July 2001 Owen gave his current employer and landlord a 30 days notice, sold everything he owned, then in August 2001 he hopped on a Greyhound bus and headed for Oklahoma to start pursuing his acting career From August 2001 -to- December 2005 Owen traveled to Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Austin Texas, San Antonio Texas-(Owen hitch-hiked 400 miles from Oklahoma to Texas - By this time Owen had now hitch-hiked a total of 2,400 miles), Portland Oregon, and Indiana working and training full time as a professional film actor. In that time Owen had the awesome opportunity to train with some of the best acting coaches the film industry offered-(Michelle DeLong, Pato Hoffmann, Donise Hardy, Van Brooks, Kristy Martin, Toni Cobb Brock, the late Jimmy Zerda, and Norm Silver), attended hundreds and hundreds of auditions, was casted in many independent films, had numerous roles, worked with some of Hollywood's famous named actors-(Luke Wilson, Terry Crews, Dax Shepard and, William Hurt) as well as directors and production companies-(Corpus LLC & Content Films-Director James Marsh, 20th Century Fox-Director Mike Judge, Roach Productions-Director Jay Roach) In December 2005 Owen permanently moved back to Colorado to work and continue on with his film acting career. Owen still continues to keep in touch with some of the casting agents, acting coaches, film directors, film producers, film writers and, other actors he met and worked with in the film industry through out Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Austin Texas, San Antonio Texas, Portland Oregon, and Indiana Owen started out as an extra, worked his way up the proverbial film ladder taking on more challenging film roles, and is now one of the most marketable actors for principle/lead roles in Colorado today Owen may not be an A-Lister actor from Hollywood-(just yet) however, he did go onto successfully accomplish today what his father, most of his cousins, classmates, and past street gang thugs said he would never do because they said he would never amount to anything - And that is - Owen did graduate from High School, Owen did leave a destructive crime filled dead end life, Owen did serve in the Army, Owen did travel the world, Owen did attend and graduate from college, and last but not least Owen has become one of the most marketable actors in Colorado today. This is an accomplishment that no one can ever take away from Owen, and something most people only dream about doing (whatever their dreams are, and never take the chance or the risks to at least try). But most importantly, Owen is having sooo much fun doing it. Owen has totally forgiven his father, cousins, classmates, and past street gang. If there was one question Owen could provide to all those who said he would never amount to anything, that question would be this: "what do you think of me now?" however, Owen chooses to not be prideful about any of that and has moved on "Thank you God for always looking out for me and keeping me safe" - "Thank you mom for always believing in me; I did it and I'm still doing it and I always will" - "I miss you mom so much" Today, Owen lives happily in Colorado with his beautiful wife Thesa (she's from the Philippines), working his full time job, continuing to work as a professional actor, narrator, voice-over, producer, director, managing his live improv comedy troupe, and providing classes & workshops as an acting coach Owen has two grown daughters, Heather (who is married to her awesome husband, Chad) and Melissa (who is also married to her awesome husband, Louis) - IMDb Mini Biography By: Owen Hisle
