Breckin Meyer | |
|---|---|
| File:Breckin Meyer by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg Meyer at the 2011 Comic Con in San Diego | |
| Born | Breckin Erin Meyer May 7, 1974 |
| Occupation | Actor, voice actor, writer, producer, drummer |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Spouse(s) | Deborah Kaplan (m. 2001; d. 2014) |
| Children | 2 |
Breckin Erin Meyer[1] (born May 7, 1974) is an American actor, voice actor, writer, producer and drummer known for his roles in films such as Clueless, Road Trip, Rat Race and Garfield: The Movie.
Early life[]
Meyer was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Dorothy Ann (née Vial), a travel agent and former microbiologist, and Christopher William Meyer, a management consultant.[2] He has lived in California, Texas, West Virginia, and New Jersey. He has an older brother, Frank, and a younger brother, Adam. Meyer attended elementary school with Drew Barrymore (and was apparently her first kiss)[3] and also attended Beverly Hills High School.[4] Through his elementary school, he came into contact with Barrymore's agent, who signed Meyer. As a little boy, he was mostly seen in television advertisements. He also slept in a closed coffin for several years in high school.[5]
Career[]
Meyer played several roles as a druggie, starting with his debut in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), in which he was dispatched in a video game. His breakthrough screen role was in the teen hit Clueless (1995) as the skateboarding stoner. Meyer offered similar characterizations in The Craft and John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. (both 1996). He played the best friend of an Olympic hopeful in the biopic Prefontaine (1997) and as a high-school student yearning to leave his hometown in Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 (1998).
In 54 (also 1998), a look at life in the famous '70s nightspot Studio 54, the actor was cast as a busboy married to the coat check girl (Salma Hayek) and pursued by a bartender (Ryan Phillippe). Meyer is close friends with Phillippe, with whom he and Seth Green share a production company.
Meyer would subsequently appear in films including Go (1999) and The Insider (1999) before graduating to a full-fledged leading role in the DreamWorks hit Road Trip (2000), in which he again played a character travelling cross country, a college student hoping desperately to retrieve a videotape of himself having sex with another girl, which was accidentally mailed to his long-distance girlfriend. Road Trip marked the first indication that Meyer's well-developed slacker sidekick persona had matured and could be tweaked to make him a full-fledged leading man.
Meyer in February 2007
He was reteamed with Amy Smart in yet another racing cross country film, this time as part of the multi-plot ensemble of Rat Race (2001), a sort-of homage to the all-star screwball chase films of the 1960s, such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Meyer put in a winning supporting turn as Meg Ryan's character's brother in the whimsical fantasy-comedy Kate & Leopold (2001). Meyer also took on the role of Jon, the hapless owner of the famed comic book cat in the film adaptation of Garfield (2004).
Meyer also starred in Blue State with Anna Paquin in which he plays a passionately liberal guy on the campaign trail for John Kerry in the 2004 elections. He drunkenly pledges to move to Canada if Bush wins the election, and on his journey meets a mysterious young woman, played by Paquin. He co-starred with Matthew McConaughey in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009).
Meyer regularly does writing and voice work on Robot Chicken, and was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on the Robot Chicken: Star Wars specials. He also voiced the adolescent Joseph Gribble on the animated series King of the Hill and starred on the Adult Swim series Titan Maximum.
Meyer is also a musician, playing drums in the punk band The Street Walkin' Cheetahs and with Tom Morello's The Nightwatchman, as well as Ben Harper, Cypress Hill, Slash and Perry Farrell at L.A.'s Hotel Café.
Meyer is the drummer for Tom Morello's alter ego The Nightwatchman's back-up band The Freedom Fighter Orchestra. He toured with Morello on The Nightwatchman's 2008 Justice Tour. He appears in Street Sweeper Social Club's video for "100 Little Curses"[6] and "Promenade".
Personal life[]
Meyer married screenwriter and film director Deborah Kaplan on October 14, 2001, and has two daughters with her.[7] The two separated several times before they finally divorced in 2014.[8]
His brother, Frank Meyer, is a staffer and producer of Fresh Ink Online at G4tv.com.[9]
Filmography[]
Film[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Camp Cucamonga | Cody | |
| 1991 | Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare | Spencer Lewis | |
| 1995 | Clueless | Travis Birkenstock | |
| Payback | Jim's Son | ||
| 1996 | The Craft | Mitt | |
| Escape from L.A. | Surfer | ||
| 1997 | Prefontaine | Pat Tyson | |
| Touch | Greg Czarnicki | ||
| 1998 | Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 | Keller Coleman | |
| Can't Hardly Wait | Walter | Uncredited | |
| 54 | Greg Randazzo | ||
| 1999 | Go | Tiny | |
| The Insider | Sharon's Son | ||
| Tail Lights Fade | Cole | ||
| 2000 | Road Trip | Josh Parker | |
| 2001 | Josie and the Pussycats | Marco | |
| Rat Race | Nick Schaffer | ||
| Kate & Leopold | Charlie McKay | ||
| 2002 | Pinocchio | Pinocchio (voice) | English dub |
| 2004 | Garfield: The Movie | Jon Arbuckle | |
| Blast | Jamal | ||
| 2005 | Herbie: Fully Loaded | Ray Peyton | |
| Rebound | Tim Fink | ||
| 2006 | Caffeine | Dylan | |
| Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties | Jon Arbuckle | ||
| Ted's MBA | Ted Meyers | Also known as Corporate Affairs | |
| 2007 | Blue State | John Logue | |
| 2008 | Stag Night | Tony | |
| 2009 | Ghosts of Girlfriends Past | Paul Mead | |
| 2012 | 3 Geezers! | Breckin | |
| 2017 | The California No | Famous Actor | Post-production |
| TBA | Changeland | Filming |
Television[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Potato Head Kids | Spud (voice) | 23 episodes |
| 1988 | The Wonder Years | Gary Cosey | Episode: "The Heart of Darkness" |
| 1989 | Chicken Soup | Glen | Episode: "The Dinner" |
| 1990 | L.A. Law | Brian Campbell | Episode: "Whatever Happened to Hannah?" |
| 1992–93 | The Jackie Thomas Show | Chas Walker | 18 episodes |
| 1993 | CBS Schoolbreak Special | Eddie | Episode: "Crosses on the Lawn" |
| 1995–96 | The Home Court | Mike Solomon | 20 episodes |
| 1996 | Clueless | Harrison | Episode: "Do We with Bad Haircuts Not Feel?" |
| Party of Five | Alec Brody | Episode: "Gimme Shelter" | |
| 2000–09 | King of the Hill | Joseph Gribble (voice) | 60 episodes |
| 2001–02 | Inside Schwartz | Adam Schwartz | 13 episodes |
| 2002 | Kim Possible | Josh Mankey (voice) | Episode: "Crush" |
| 2003 | Coupling | Jeff Clancy | Episode: "Original Pilot" |
| 2003–04 | Married to the Kellys | Tom Wagner | 22 episodes |
| 2005–present | Robot Chicken | Various Voices | Also writer and producer |
| 2007 | Robot Chicken: Star Wars | Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar, Janitor, Space Slug #1 (voices) | Special |
| 2008 | House | Brandon | Episode: "Adverse Events" |
| Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II | Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar, Wampa (voices) | Special | |
| Heroes | Frack | 2 episodes | |
| 2009 | Party Down | Michael | Episode: "Taylor Stiltskin Sweet Sixteen" |
| Titan Maximum | Commander Palmer (voice) | 9 episodes | |
| 2010 | Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III | Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar, Rebel (voices) | Special |
| 2011 | Mad | Prince Zuko, Sean Parker, Green Arrow (voices) | Episode: "The Social Netjerk/Smallville: Turn Off the Clark" |
| 2011–14 | Franklin & Bash | Jared Franklin | 40 episodes |
| 2012–14 | Men at Work | N/A | Creator, writer and executive producer |
| 2012 | Robot Chicken DC Comics Special | Superman, Mirror Master (voices) | Special |
| 2014 | Robot Chicken DC Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise | Superman, Bizarro (voices) | Special |
| 2015 | Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Magical Friendship | Superman, Plastic Man (voices) | Special |
| 2015–17 | SuperMansion | Courtney / Ringler, Johnny Scanlon, Reggie (voices) | 11 episodes |
| 2016 | Second Chance | Wally Luskin | Episode: "That Time in The Car" |
| Family Guy | S&M Guy (voice) | Episode: "A Lot Going on Upstairs" | |
| 2018 | Designated Survivor | Trey Kirkman | 6 episodes[10] |
| 2019 | The Fix | Charlie West |
Video games[]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Titanfall 2 | Dr. Jefferson Boyle |
References[]
- ↑ According to the State of Minnesota. Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002. Searchable at ancestry.com
- ↑ Breckin Meyer Biography (1974-)
- ↑ according to an extra on the 50 First Dates DVD
- ↑ Breckin Meyer Biography - Yahoo! Movies Archived March 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ according to an interview on Conan, retrieved September 24, 2014
- ↑ "New video from Street Sweeper Social Club for "100 Little Curses"". TheyWillRockYou.com. June 18, 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2015.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ "Breckin and Keaton Meyer: Tennis for Two!". Archived from the original on May 16, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2009. Unknown parameter
|dead-url=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles> - ↑ Breckin Meyer and wife split up
- ↑ "G4's Frank Meyer Interviews His Brother Breckin Meyer".<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ Petski, Denise (November 20, 2017). "'Designated Survivor': Breckin Meyer Set To Recur In Season 2". Deadline.com. Retrieved November 24, 2017.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
External links[]
- Breckin Meyer at the Internet Movie Database
- Breckin Meyer at the TCM Movie Database