47 Fun Facts About Oz (HBO)

Oz was created and principally written by whom?

Tom Fontana got his start in television writing for St. Elsewhere, after producer Bruce Paltrow hired him.

Oz holds what distinction in HBO's history?

HBO made Oz its first one-hour drama series, following inmates in an experimental prison unit built around rehabilitation.

Which Shakespeare play turns deadly when Oz's inmates stage it?

Macbeth turned deadly when Keller swapped a prop knife for a real one, so Beecher, playing Macduff, really stabbed Schillinger in the title role.

'Oz' is the nickname of which fictional prison?

Oswald State Correctional Facility, formerly Oswald State Penitentiary, is the fictional level 4 maximum-security prison the show nicknames Oz.

Which Oscar-winning film director was an executive producer of HBO's Oz?

Barry Levinson won his Best Director Oscar for Rain Man, and he runs a television production company with Oz's creator.

Which unit manager runs Em City with an emphasis on rehabilitation?

Tim McManus runs Emerald City as an experiment, carefully balancing each racial and social group to ease tensions.

Who is the warden of Oz?

Leo Glynn's actor co-starred with his own son, who played the inmate Hamid Khan.

Which inmate narrates HBO's prison drama Oz?

Augustus Hill narrates from a wheelchair, explaining the show and adding context, thematic analysis and a sense of humour.

Who played the narrator of HBO's Oz?

Harold Perrineau later led the MGM+ horror series From as Sheriff Boyd Stevens, a role that won him critical acclaim.

How did the narrator of HBO's Oz end up in a wheelchair?

Police threw him off a roof after he killed one of their officers during his arrest, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

Which Oz gang is led by Schillinger?

The Aryan Brotherhood is one of Emerald City's factions, led by Schillinger, the show's sadistic neo-Nazi inmate.

Who played Vern Schillinger?

J. K. Simmons also played police psychiatrist Emil Skoda across three Law & Order series and J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man.

Which Shakespeare role did an Oz regular play in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 Romeo + Juliet?

Mercutio, Romeo's best friend, is killed by John Leguizamo's Tybalt in the film, released in November 1996.

Who played the Harvard-educated lawyer Tobias Beecher?

Lee Tergesen also played Wayne and Garth's hug-happy cameraman, who keeps telling them 'I love you, man', in Wayne's World.

Beecher was sent to Oz for what crime?

Drunk-driving manslaughter, for killing a child, sends the lawyer Beecher among hardened killers as the show's usually law-abiding everyman.

Which Showtime series later cast two Oz regulars as Miami police colleagues?

Dexter, about a serial-killing blood-spatter analyst, cast them as Lieutenant María LaGuerta and Detective Angel Batista.

Who played the sociopathic Keller in HBO's Oz?

Christopher Meloni played the bisexual criminal Chris Keller from 1998 until Oz ended in 2003.

Which Law & Order spin-off did Chris Keller's actor star in while still appearing on Oz?

Special Victims Unit signed him as Detective Elliot Stabler in 1999, a role he later took back for Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Who played the Irish schemer Ryan O'Reily?

Dean Winters survived cardiac arrest after a bacterial infection in 2009, though he lost two toes and half a thumb.

What was O'Reily's actor doing when Oz's creator met him and later wrote the part for him?

Working as a bartender when the creator met him, he was later written into Oz as Ryan O'Reily and appeared in all 56 episodes.

The actor behind O'Reily later became famous as which insurance-ad character?

Mayhem joined Allstate's television and radio ads in 2010, the same year Tina Fey brought the actor back to 30 Rock.

Who played the Nigerian inmate Simon Adebisi?

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was fostered as a baby by a white working-class family in Tilbury, the childhood behind his film Farming.

Which ABC drama later made two Oz regulars part of its plane-crash survivors?

Lost cast them as Mr. Eko, a fake Catholic priest, and Michael Dawson, a construction worker and aspiring artist.

Adebisi led which Em City faction?

The Homeboys, the African-American gang Adebisi leads, are one of the factions Emerald City is built to keep in balance.

Which British actor played Muslim leader Kareem Saïd?

Eamonn Walker later spent twelve seasons as Battalion Chief Wallace Boden on NBC's Chicago Fire.

Who played the warden of HBO's Oz?

Ernie Hudson auditioned to voice his own movie role in a spin-off cartoon, but the part went to Arsenio Hall.

Which EGOT-winning actress played the nun-psychologist Sister Peter Marie?

Rita Moreno won ALMA Awards for Oz, decades after becoming the first Hispanic woman to win an Oscar, for West Side Story.

Who played Em City's idealistic unit manager?

Terry Kinney also directed two Oz episodes, 'Cruel and Unusual Punishments' in 1999 and 'Wheel of Fortune' in 2002.

The actor who played Em City's unit manager was married to which Oz co-star?

Kathryn Erbe played death-row inmate Shirley Bellinger, then starred as Detective Alexandra Eames on Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Who played the Latino inmate Miguel Alvarez?

Kirk Acevedo joined Oz's regular cast in season two and later played Charlie Francis on Fringe, who was killed off in its second-season premiere.

Edie Falco played which corrections officer on Oz?

Diane Whittlesey was Edie Falco's role from 1997 to 2000, and Falco later won an Emmy in the title role of Nurse Jackie.

BD Wong played which character on all six seasons of Oz?

Father Ray Mukada is Oz's prison priest, and BD Wong also voiced Captain Li Shang in Disney's Mulan.

Which Beverly Hills, 90210 star played Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier in 2001-02?

Luke Perry played Cloutier after his teen-idol years as Dylan McKay, and he later played Fred Andrews on Riverdale.

Which Wu-Tang Clan rapper played Tug Daniels on Oz?

Method Man later played Cheese on The Wire and Rodney on The Deuce, both also for HBO.

Who played the Italian mobster Pancamo on Oz?

Chuck Zito, a former Hells Angels chapter president and celebrity bodyguard, punched Jean-Claude Van Damme at a Manhattan strip club in 1998.

Which former New York police officer played Latino leader Enrique Morales on Oz?

David Zayas joined the US Air Force at 19 and spent almost 15 years with the New York City Police Department before acting.

Luis Guzmán played which inmate from 1998 to 2000?

Raoul 'El Cid' Hernandez was Luis Guzmán's role in seasons two to four, and Guzmán had worked as a youth counselor before acting.

Željko Ivanek played which recurring Oz character?

Governor James Devlin was Željko Ivanek's role, and the Slovenian-born actor later won an Emmy for Damages.

Who played Dr. Gloria Nathan, the prison physician?

Lauren Vélez later played Elena on Ugly Betty, and she had earlier starred as Detective Nina Moreno on New York Undercover.

Seth Gilliam, later The Wire's Carver, played which Oz guard?

Clayton Hughes was Seth Gilliam's recurring role in seasons three and four, after he played Sergeant Altameyer in Courage Under Fire.

Which zombie drama later cast Oz's Seth Gilliam as the priest Gabriel Stokes?

The Walking Dead cast him in 2014 as Father Gabriel Stokes, a priest who struggles with his faith after joining Rick's group.

Where in HBO's Oz does its creator's Oz logo tattoo appear?

In the opening credits the creator is shown getting the Oz logo tattooed on his upper right arm.

Which NBC drama had the Oz creator run before creating Oz?

Homicide: Life on the Street ran on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and Oz's Edie Falco had a recurring role on it as an injured officer's wife.

Which TV provider bought Oz's reruns for its 101 Network?

DirecTV bought the rights in 2009 and aired every Oz episode uncut, commercial-free and upscaled to HD on The 101 Network.

Which guest actor earned Oz one of its only two Primetime Emmy nominations?

Charles S. Dutton, who played riot investigator Alvah Case, discovered acting while serving prison time for manslaughter.

Which Chicago theatre company did an Oz regular co-found with Gary Sinise?

Steppenwolf Theatre Company began in 1974 in a Highland Park school and took up residence in a church basement in 1976.

Which film won an Oz regular the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor?

Whiplash won him the Oscar for playing Terence Fletcher, a relentlessly abusive jazz instructor, and the film took two more for editing and sound mixing.