RYAN O’CONNELL is an Emmy®-nominated and Writers Guild Award-winning writer, actor, and producer who can currently be seen starring SPECIAL, a four-time Emmy®-nominated and Writers Guild Award-winning short form series on Netflix, which he wrote and executive produced. SPECIAL, which is also executive produced by Jim Parsons, is loosely based on O’Connell’s own upbringing and experience as a gay man navigating the world with cerebral palsy and is set to return May 20, 2021 for its second and final season.
Next, O’Connell will re-team with Jim Parsons, Todd Spiewak and That’s Wonderful Productions to create the HBO Max original series, ACCESSIBLE, which will follow Clare, a 15-year-old girl who’s recently been in an accident and is forced to attend a boarding school for people with all kinds of disabilities while coping with the usual teenage dilemmas.
O’Connell is also the author of I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves, and the forthcoming debut novel Just By Looking At Him will be published in Spring 2022. O’Connell’s writing career spans television as well. He previously served on the writing staff on NBC’s revival of WILL & GRACE, MTV’s AWKWARD, and NETFLIX’s THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB.
