Irish Star FLEES HOLLYWOOD: CHRIS O’DOWD ‘Abandons’ LA After 16 Years

According to Saed News, the actor best known for The IT Crowd and his affable turn in Bridesmaids quietly relocated back to the UK a year ago, citing family, a thirst for normality and fewer local filming opportunities as the reasons for the seismic life-change. O’Dowd — who at 6ft 4in cuts a far taller figure in person than his on-screen comic humility might suggest — told reporters he and Dawn simply “made a run for it” when they realised their parents were aging and that, for their boys, being present mattered more than the glitter of Hollywood.

The move is not the product of scandal or burnout; rather, it reads as a gentle, almost domestic revolt against the peripatetic nature of modern acting life. O’Dowd admits he did plenty of work while in the US — often shooting in Vancouver, Atlanta and Toronto — yet rarely in California itself once the tax incentives dried up. Ultimately, he says, the calculus shifted: “More than anything, the move was about me living in a place where I could also be a parent.”

Far from mourning Tinseltown, the star seems quietly liberated. “Nobody really likes Hollywood, unless you’re a big party person,” he observed, adding with a shrug that he was never that person. The choice to return appears as much about small, lived things — easier visits to grandparents, a steadier home life, and calmer routines — as it is about career recalibration.

Ironically, it is an unexpectedly tender children’s show that cements much of O’Dowd’s present public affection. As the narrator of the soothing preschool hit Puffin Rock, he revealed a genuine love for the resilient seabirds and praised the show’s gentle ethos. “The show forces me to sound lovely and calm. It’s impossible to feel agitated after a recording,” he said, describing how the role’s soft rhythms translate into real domestic comfort — for him and countless families who use the programme as a bedtime ritual.

O’Dowd’s narration, he believes, benefits from the Irish voice’s “elongated vowels,” a cadence studies have praised as particularly soothing. For parents who dread screen-time clamor, Puffin Rock represents a rare, restorative counterpoint: quiet storytelling that teaches kindness, curiosity and care for the world. O’Dowd confessed to being moved by messages from families — including one mother who said her formerly non-verbal son began singing the theme tune — and admitted he was reduced to tears reading the fan mail.

Professionally, O’Dowd’s career has run the gamut from Channel 4’s cult comedy to mainstream Hollywood fare. He remembers The IT Crowd fondly: the show launched him to wider recognition and remains a proud chapter. Yet the realities of modern TV and film production — tax breaks, location shoots and the endless travel — ultimately made his U.S. life more transitory than the stability he sought for his family.

At home in Britain, the actor is rediscovering landscapes reminiscent of his youth. The fictional Puffin Island mirrors the wild beauty of places like Inishbofin, County Galway, where family ties run deep and the pace is more measured. His sons, now mixing American, English and Irish accents, are thriving in the blend of cultures; one, Valentine, is even obsessed with terrariums — a curious, wholesome hobby that delights his father.

O’Dowd’s return is notable not because it signals retreat, but because it signals choice: a deliberate prioritising of family and calm over constant career churn. He’s not vanishing from screens — narrating beloved children’s series and taking on roles will likely continue — but he’s doing it on terms that let him be present at home.

For fans and onlookers, the story reads as a reminder that stardom need not be synonymous with exile. Sometimes, after years in the glare, even successful actors choose the quieter life — and, in O’Dowd’s case, they bring a little of the wild Atlantic back with them, one puffin tale at a time.