Brian O'Halloran

Brian Christopher O'Halloran (born December 20, 1969) is an American actor, producer, and podcaster best known for playing Dante Hicks in Kevin Smith's debut 1994 film Clerks and its 2006 and 2022 sequels Clerks II and Clerks III. He has also made appearances in most of Smith's View Askewniverse films, either as Dante Hicks or one of Dante's cousins. Career O'Halloran's first role was as main character Dante Hicks in Kevin Smith's film Clerks, in 1994. He has returned many times as Dante or another of the Hicks family in films by Smith. O'Halloran is the lead actor in the 2000 film Vulgar, about a small town clown who is traumatized after he is attacked during one of his performances. Writer/director Bryan Johnson wrote the lead specifically with O'Halloran in mind. He has worked on theatre productions since high school. He has said on the subject of doing theatre: Oh, yeah. It's the best training you can do, as an actor. To be in front of a live audience. There's no 'Stop, wait, oh geez, what was that line again?' It just sharpens your reflexes. It sharpens your interaction. And it definitely sharpens your memory because you have to know an entire show from beginning to end.