NEED TO KNOW
Jerry O’Connell is sharing his real name
The Talk alum explained on Live with Kelly and Mark on Friday, May 8, how he ended up with the name Jerry, despite it not being his birth name
“Sometimes I look at myself and go, ‘Yeah, I am a Jerry! I don’t look like a Michael, actually,’ ” he said
Jerry O’Connell wasn’t born Jerry O’Connell.
The Talk alum, 52, explained the history of his name while appearing on Live with Kelly and Mark with his mom, Linda O’Connell, on Friday, May 8, for a special Mother’s Day epsisode.
After host Kelly Ripa told the actor that she “heard through the grapevine” that she’d been calling him a “fake name,” Jerry confirmed that his real name is actually Michael Jeremiah O’Connell — but he’s “always Jerry.”
“His grandfather is Jeremiah and our favorite cousin is Jerry DeScipio,” Linda said. “But actually, his real name is Michael Jeremiah Witkowski O’Connell.”
Jerry O’Connell and his mom, Linda on ‘Live with Kelly and Mark’
Credit: ABC
Witkowski, Jerry said, is his mom’s maiden name. Mark Consuelos then asked Jerry if his full name ever came into play when he got “in trouble” as a kid.
“No, I was always a Jerry,” he said.
The actor added, “And by the way, sometimes I look at myself and go, ‘Yeah, I am a Jerry! I don’t look like a Michael, actually.’ “
As for how he was as a child, Jerry’s mom told Ripa, 55, and Consuelos, 55, that he was “very active, very energetic and always in trouble.” Energetic, Jerry joked, was just “code word for annoying.”
“He did get in a little bit of trouble in school because all of his teachers — especially one who stands out — said ‘he talks too much and he never sits still and he’s always raising his hand and he never stops talking,’ ” Linda recalled. “So I said, ‘You don’t realize, you’re trying to stifle the very things we’re trying to encourage in this boy.’ So she shut up!”
Jerry added, “I believe the term was ‘hyperactive.’ I don’t know if they use it anymore and I’m sorry if anyone’s offended by that.”
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The actor, who got his start in Hollywood in the 1986 film Stand by Me, opened up to PEOPLE in December 2025 about the film’s 40th anniversary and how it “helped me become who I am.” He was 11 years old at the time of filming and starred alongside Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix and Corey Feldman.
“For me personally, I was what they called a hyperactive kid. I was always getting in trouble at school for making jokes or speaking out of turn,” he said, adding that late director Rob Reiner encouraged him to act up and be loud on set as a kid.
“I heard Rob Reiner come over to where we were filming and be like, ‘Jerry! Jerry!’ And he was yelling and he was a big dude,” Jerry added. “And I was like, ‘Oh, God. I forgot. I was supposed to sit on my hands and shut up. I totally forgot. I just got in the moment. I can’t believe it. Oh, God. Here we go again.’ And Rob Reiner came into set, and all four of us were there, and he went, ‘Hey, Jerry, more of that. Keep going, dude. Keep going. Go farther.’ “
Live with Kelly and Mark airs weekdays in syndication (check local listings).
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