John McGivney

It was Fathers' Day in Knoxville, Tennessee, when John, the first-born to his parents, made his debut in the world. His dad, having been a former Marine Corps Officer and U.S. Treasury Agent, was a career Special Agent of the FBI; and his mom, initially a homemaker and part-time local fashion model, was a career professional educator of some 30 years. John attended Cedar Bluff Primary and Middle Schools in Knoxville. During those years, he swam for the Crestwood Hills Swim Team, played farm-league and little-league baseball, and later, 8th and 9th grade football; he was a Cub Scout, a Webelos Scout, and then a Boy Scout until age eighteen. He finished Scouting at the rank of Life Scout and was an inductee to the Order of the Arrow. But back at Cedar Bluff Middle, he was in the string orchestra at school where he "played" the viola. He remembers one time in 5th grade when he was not prepared for a school concert because he had missed too many rehearsals. He was allowed to participate in the concert but was told to sit in the back row and simply move his bow back and forth above the strings in sync with everyone else and only pretend to play. So there he was, busy moving his bow back and forth above the strings, shifting and slanting it in sync with everyone else, totally faking it. He moved his fingers around on the neck of his viola for added realism as he "played." But halfway through the concert, some of the older guys in the bleachers behind him noticed what he was doing, and that discovery entertained them a whole lot more than the concert itself! John went on quit orchestra after that. He would later attend Farragut High School where the only thing he would play was freshman football, as center, third string, (yes, third string, his being never the athlete), and where he would later become a student litigator on Farragut's first-ever moot court law team during his senior year. After high school, it was off to the University of Tennessee where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. It was at U.T. where, in need of elective credit for graduation, he took his first-ever acting class during his very last semester there. Though he almost dropped the course at the last minute out of fear, he didn't; and he's been hooked on acting ever since! He was cast in his first acting role shortly after graduation, as "Darry" in Knoxville's Bijou Theatre's production of "The Outsiders." Since then, he has appeared in numerous stage productions, in industrial and promotional videos, in film shorts, and in feature films. His Screen Actors Guild eligibility came with his day-player role in "Morning" by Down Home Entertainment, directed by Ami Canaan Mann, daughter of producer/director Michael Mann. John currently lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, home to UNCW and Screen Gems Studios, itself production home to "One Tree Hill." He has one brother and one sister, both younger. He's held an interesting mix of jobs over the years including lawn cutter, apartment complex maintenance worker, fast food cook, grocery store deli clerk, grocery bagger, vacuum cleaner salesman, dishwasher, jailor, armed bouncer, reservations agent, video store clerk, retail manager, bank teller, banker/loan officer, office temp., postal clerk, hospital patient transporter, pizza delivery dude (in his 280Z), substitute teacher, census taker, and college dining services worker. Oh, and actor!