George O'Hanlon, Jr. appeared in play productions at Agoura High School in California. After he signed with an agent, he was cast in the romantic drama Our Time (1974) on his first audition by producer Richard Roth. George comes from a family of actors: his father, George O'Hanlon, is a film actor, and his mother, Nancy O'Hanlon, was an actress before her marriage. George's paternal grandparents were a prominent vaudeville team known as Sam Rice and Lulu Beasly.