John McGivney
- Actor
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!