In this business, if you take too long, the landscape changes. So the opportunities that were there when I decided to take a break weren't there when I came back. It's like, 'Wait a second - what happened here?' It was a real learning experience. I've paid my dues, I will tell you that.

At the age of 17 he was offered a chance to audition for a part in the movie Men Don't Leave with Jessica Lange and he won the role. Following Vertical Limit a four-year hiatus led some to believe Batman & Robin had damaged his career. Career
O'Donnell was discovered when he was cast in a McDonald's commercial in which he served Michael Jordan.

Christopher Eugene "Chris" O'Donnell (born June 26 1970) is an American actor. He played Dick Grayson/Robin in two Batman films Batman Forever and Batman & Robin Charlie Simms in Scent of a Woman Finn Dandridge in Grey's Anatomy Peter Garrett in Vertical Limit and more recently Jack McAuliffe in The Company.