Alex O'Loughlin /oʊˈlɒklɪn/ (born 24 August 1976) is an Australian actor, writer and director, who plays Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett on CBS' remake of the TV series Hawaii Five-0. He had starring roles in the films Oyster Farmer (2004) and The Back-up Plan (2010), as well as on such television series as Moonlight (2008) and Three Rivers (2009).

O'Loughlin was born on 24 August 1976,^[1][2] in Canberra, Australia, of Irish and Scottish descent.^[3] His father is a physics and astronomy teacher in Sydney and his mother is a nurse.^[4][5]

O'Loughlin suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder when he was a child.^[6] He enrolled at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney in 1999 and graduated in June 2002 after completing a three-year, full-time Bachelor of Dramatic Art program.^[7][8]

O'Loughlin began working in short films and fringe theatre as a teenager in Sydney. One of his first acting jobs was an extra in a commercial, playing a Marine.^[9] After graduating from NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts), he began his career in Australian television and film productions. Some of his TV credits include roles in BlackJack: Sweet Science, Love Bytes and White Collar Blue.^[9]

In 2004 he landed his first film role, the lead in Oyster Farmer.^[10] He later appeared in Man-Thing, Feed, and in the Australian mini-series The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant, for which he was nominated as Best Lead Actor in Television from the Australian Film Institute Awards in 2005 and as Most Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series from the Logie Awards in 2006.^[11][12] O'Loughlin joined the cast of The Shield in 2007 as Detective Kevin Hiatt, the newest member of the strike team.

In 2005, he screen-tested for the movie role of James Bond. As he told one interviewer: "I met with [director] Martin Campbell here in Los Angeles at his office on the Sony [Pictures] lot and he asked me to fly to London and test and we tested at Pinewood [Studios]. It was the biggest screen test I've ever done. It was very comprehensive. I had tuxedos and suits cut for it and hair cuts."^[13]

He left The Shield in 2007 after he won the lead role on the CBS series Moonlight, where he played private investigator and vampire Mick St. John.^[7][14] The filming of Moonlight was interrupted by the Hollywood writers strike. There was speculation that the series would be dropped but fan pressure prevailed and the show was given four additional episodes to try to regain its audience share. Despite being the highest rated show in its Friday evening slot CBS did not commission a second season. After its cancellation, a fan-based charity campaign to win a second-season renewal for Moonlight by holding blood drives proved unsuccessful.^[15]

In August 2008, CBS signed a talent development deal with O'Loughlin as the star of a TV series to be developed by writer Mark Gordon, but it did not materialise.^[16] He was cast in the lead role of the CBS hospital drama Three Rivers, developed by producer Carol Barbee, which aired Sunday evenings in the 2009–2010 season.^[17]

In April 2009, he guest-starred in an episode of Criminal Minds in the Season Four episode, "The Big Wheel", as an OCD-ridden serial killer, Vincent Rowlings. In December 2009 CBS pulled Three Rivers from its schedule.^[18] O'Loughlin starred alongside Jennifer Lopez in the 2010 romantic comedy film The Back-up Plan.^[19]

O'Loughlin was cast in the CBS remake of Hawaii Five-0 portraying Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett,^[20] which premiered on 20 September 2010. The show won "Favorite New TV Drama" at the 2010–11 People's Choice Awards. Subsequently, BuddyTV ranked him # 2 on its "TV's 100 Sexiest Men of 2010" list^[21] and # 9 in 2011.^[22]

On 2 March 2012, CBS announced that O'Loughlin would miss shooting some episodes of Hawaii Five-0 to seek drug treatment related to pain management medication prescribed after a shoulder injury. He was slated to miss at least one episode from the second season.^[23][24]

In August 2013, the Los Angeles-based non-profit Australians in Film announced that O'Loughlin would be honored with a Breakthrough Award at a ceremony held on 24 October 2013 in Los Angeles.^[25]

O'Loughlin's first child, a son, was born in 1997, to a girlfriend from whom he has since separated.^[26] He separated from his long-time girlfriend, Australian actress/singer Holly Valance, in February 2009.^[7][13][27] He and his then-girlfriend, Malia Jones have a son born in 2012.^[28][29] O'Loughlin and Jones married in Hawaii on 18 April 2014.^[30] They and their three sons (O'Loughlin's son, O'Loughlin and Jones' son, and Jones' son from a previous relationship) live in Hawaii where he films Hawaii Five-0. He is the current ambassador for Donate Life America.^[31]