Originally a stage actor, Brian O'Halloran achieved fame as one of View Askew Productions' "usual suspects." Brian has appeared in all of Kevin Smith's films, but he is most notable for his role in Smith's breakthrough 1994 black-and-white independent film Clerks.
In Clerks, O'Halloran plays the luckless Dante Hicks who faces a hellish day as the clerk at a Quick Stop convenience store. Somehow, a mundane day in the life of Dante quickly turns into a strange series of chronologically connected vignettes in which Dante confronts his future, his friends, his customers, death, fellatio, Star Wars, and ultimately, himself.
O'Halloran, unlike many of the recurring actors in Smith's films had no personal ties to Kevin Smith prior to Clerks, and he actually auditioned for the role.
After the film achieved widespread success following the Sundance Film Festival, O'Halloran returned to play a role in every Kevin Smith film since Clerks-- an honor held only by he, Jason Mewes, and Smith himself.
Interestingly enough, Brian has yet to play a named character in a Kevin Smith film without the last name Hicks. In Mallrats he played Gil Hicks, the inauthentic suitor #3 on a Dating Game ripoff. In Chasing Amy, his character had no actual name, but he returned in Dogma to play television news reporter Grant Hicks.
He is slated both to star as the View Askew mascot, Vulgar in the upcoming View Askew production of the same title, and to reprise his breakthrough role as Dante Hicks in Kevin Smith's upcoming release Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, supposedly the ultimate Jersey film.