Clueless Travis

Background:

Acting by age 11 with the encouragement of his grade school pal Drew Barrymore, Breckin Meyer made his feature debut in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) and was later seen as a skateboarder named Travis in the hit teen romantic comedy movie Clueless (1995; starring Alicia Silverstone). He played significant roles in such films as Prefontaine (1997), Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 (1998), Can't Hardly Wait (1998), The Insider (1999), Road Trip (2000), Rat Race (2001), Kate & Leopold (2001) and Pinocchio (2002; voice). The actor, who played Jennifer Love Hewitt love interest/boyfriend in the Garfield films, Garfield (2004) and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006), recently starred in Caffeine (2006) and Blue State (2007). Next, he will play the lead role, opposite Adam Scott, in Corporate Affairs, a comedy by writer/director Dan Cohen.

On the small screen, Meyer was a regular on “The Jackie Thomas Show” (1992) and "The Home Court" (1995). He also has starred in the comedy series "Inside Schwartz" (2001-2002), "Married to the Kellys" (2003-2004), "King of the Hill" (voice of Joseph Gribble; 2000-2005) and "Robot Chicken" (various voices 2005-2006). As a guest, Meyer could be seen in "The Wonder Years," "L.A. Law," "Clueless" and "Party of Five."

More personally, the 5' 5½" actor has been married to screenwriter and film director Deborah Kaplan (of the teen movie Can't Hardly Wait, 1998) since 2001. They have one daughter.

Drew Barrymore's First Kiss

Childhood and Family:

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 7, 1974, Breckin Meyer was raised in Los Angeles, where his family moved to when he was 2 years old. There, he went to elementary school with Drew Barrymore (in Barrymore's teen biography "Little Girl Lost," she credits Breckin as having given her a first kiss at age 10 while Breckin was age 11). He also attended Beverly Hills High School, in Beverly Hills, California, alongside Alicia Silverstone and Branden Williams. The high school is the same school once attended by Angelina Jolie, Michael Klesic, Nicolas Cage, Corbin Bernsen, Lenny Kravitz, David Schwimmer, Jonathan Silverman and Richard Dreyfuss.

“We were 11, so this isn't Caligula that we're talking here. I probably just put down my Smurf toys and went for it.” Breckin Meyer (on his first kiss with Drew Barrymore)

Meyer's mother, Dorothy Ann Vial, is a microbiologist-turned-travel agent, and his father, Christopher William Meyer, is a management consultant. He has an older brother, Frank, and a younger brother named Adam. Brekin was accepted to California State University at Northridge, but decided to put school on hold and pursue an acting career.

“I can't pick up girls for shit, so I followed her about for a bit. It was borderline stalking, really.” Breckin Meyer (on meeting his wife)

In 1995, Meyer met screenwriter and film director Deborah Kaplan (of the teen movie Can't Hardly Wait (1998) at a party at his actor friend Ryan Phillippe's house. They fell in love and exchanged wedding vows on October 14, 2001. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Caitlin Willow, on December 31, 2003.

“Let's just say my dancing skills are right below my basketball, which are right below my pottery skills.” Breckin Meyer

When he is not busy filming, Meyer enjoys playing drums (he plays the drums in a punk band with a few friends), video games and basketball (he plays for the NBAE team the Celtics with actors Don Cheadle, James Denton, Dean Cain and James Lafferty). He also loves to spend most of his free time with his wife and also with his friends, actors Seth Green and Ryan Phillippe. Breckin later founded a production company with Green and Phillippe.

"My friend Breckin Meyer and I were really bad kids. We drove past this tire store that had a 40-foot inflatable King Kong on the roof and said, “We gotta take him down.’ So one night we scaled the Blockbuster under construction next door, walked across to the roof on some planks, and sent Kong into the middle of the street. And once we had a taste for it, we refined our skills, put together a crack team, and started doing it all around the city. If anybody put up inflatables—a big pumpkin, a snowman—it was coming down because nothing’s funnier than a giant snowman bouncing down Ventura Boulevard at 3 a.m." Seth Green

Breckin is allergic to cats and says, “Yeah, I get watery eyes and sneeze. I just get really unattractive... even more so!"

He has two dogs named Monkey and Scarlet. His favorite actors are Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Richard Dreyfuss.

Inside Schwartz

Career:

At age 11, Breckin Meyer auditioned for an agent with the encouragement of his grade school pal Drew Barrymore. Subsequently, he began appearing in a number of commercials and did voice-overs for the syndicated cartoon series "Potato Head Kids," which earned him a nomination at the Young Artist Awards. His voice could also be heard in the animated feature film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, An American Tail (1986).

Afterward, he branched out into playing roles in guest appearances on such TV shows as ABC’s Emmy winning "The Wonder Years" and NBC’s legal drama "L.A. Law." He also had a recurring role as Lynn Redgrave's nephew on the ABC sitcom "Chicken Soup."

Meyer made his first made-for-television movie appearance in the family comedy Camp Cucamonga (1990; starring John Ratzenberger, Chad Allen and Jennifer Aniston). The next year, he got his first film role, as Spencer, a troubled teenager who simply does not want to conform to his father's lifestyle, in the slasher film written by Wes Craven, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991), starring Robert Englund.

"Oh geez, it was fun. I was a big fan of Freddy at the time, so working in a Freddy movie was pretty much a dream come true for me." Breckin Meyer (on working in the film Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, 1991)

Retreating to the small screen, Meyer played Chas Walker, the son of Tom Arnold's titular character, on ABC’s short-lived comedy series "The Jackie Thomas Show" (1992) and appeared in the episode Crosses on the Lawn of the "CBS Schoolbreak Special" in 1993. He also had the regular role of Mike Solomon on the NBC sitcom "The Home Court" (1995-1996) and played Meredith Baxter's son in the dramatic television movie Betrayed: A Story of Three Women (1995; also starring Swoosie Kurtz).

In the mid 1990s, Meyer returned to the big screen in Anthony Hickox's independent thriller Payback (1995; starring C. Thomas Howell and Joan Severance) and reunited with his high school friend Alicia Silverstone in writer/director Amy Heckerling's teen romantic comedy Clueless (1995; also starring Stacey Dash and Brittany Murphy), in which he won praise for his turn as a skateboarder named Travis. The following year, he was cast in Andrew Fleming's teen drama The Craft, starring Robin Tunney, Rachel True, Fairuza Balk and Neve Campbell, and John Carpenter's Escape From L.A., the sequel to the action film Escape from New York, starring Kurt Russell. He was also spotted as a guest in an episode of the ABC/UPN sitcom based on the 1995 teen movie, "Clueless," and Fox’s dramatic series "Party of Five."

Meyer added to his film-acting resume roles in Steve James' biopic about the track and field star who died in a car wreck at the age of 24 just before the 1976 Olympics, Prefontaine (1997), in which he played the title role's best friend Pat Tyson, and Paul Schrader's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, Touch (1997), starring Christopher Walken, Bridget Fonda, Skeet Ulrich, Tom Arnold, Gina Gershon and Janeane Garofalo. The subsequent year, he co-starred with Peter Facinelli, Ethan Embry and Eddie Mills in Tim McCanlies' ensemble drama comedy Dancer, Texas Pop, 81 and had a featured role as a busboy in writer/director Mark Christopher's dramatic film, 54, starring real-life best friend Ryan Phillippe.

After playing the unaccredited role of Walter in the romantic teen comedy movie directed and written by real-life girlfriend-turned-wife Deborah Kaplan, Can't Hardly Wait (1998; starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Lauren Ambrose, and Meyer's best friend Seth Green), Meyer starred, opposite Tanya Allen, Jake Busey and Denise Richards, in Malcolm Ingram's comedy movie Tail Lights Fade (1999). He then supported Katie Holmes and Sarah Polley in Doug Liman's crime/comedy Go (1999) and shared the screen with Al Pacino and Russell Crowe in Michael Mann's Oscar-nominated drama/thriller The Insider (1999), based on the true story of a 60 Minutes television series exposé of the tobacco industry.

Entering the new millennium, Meyer returned to television. He provided the voice of Joseph Gribble (2000-2005), the 13-year-old son to Dale (voiced by Johnny Hardwick) and one of Bobby's (voiced by Pamela Segall) best friends, on the Fox long-running animated sitcom "King of the Hill," and played the title role of a minor-league sportscaster in the short-lived NBC fall sitcom "Inside Schwartz" (2001-2002). He also starred as Tom, a New Yorker adjusting to life with his wife's (played by Kiele Sanchez) country family in Kansas, in the short-lived ABC sitcom "Married to the Kellys" (2003-2004).

Meanwhile, he also starred in the made-for-television movies Rocky Times (2000) and The Near Future (2000), as well as guest starred in an episode of Disney Channel's children’s animated series "Kim Possible" and the American remake of the British television sitcom "Coupling" (NBC). He also starred as Josh, a university student who tried to save his lifelong, long-distance romance with his girlfriend (played by Rachel Blanchard), in Todd Phillips' teen comedy Road Trip (2000; earned him a nomination at the Teen Choice Awards), and co-starred as Meg Ryan's brother in James Mangold's romantic comedy Kate & Leopold (2001; also starring Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber).

Meyer was cast as a straight-laced lawyer in Jerry Zucker's comedy movie Rat Race (2001; alongside Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Seth Rogen) and provided his voice to the title role of the animated marionette in the disappointing live-action film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, Pinocchio (2002), which “won” Meyer Razzie's Worst Actor award. He was also in a deleted scene from Old School (2003) and co-starred with Eddie Griffin, Vivica A. Fox and Vinnie Jones in Anthony Hickox's action/comedy Blast (2004).

Meyer then co-starred with Jennifer Love Hewitt in Peter Hewitt's live-action movie based on the Jim Davis comic strip, Garfield (2004), with Bill Murray as the voice of the titular loveable feline. Meyer later reprised his role in its second sequel, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006), this time helmed by Tim Hill.

About the sequel, Meyer said, “I think the goal was bigger and better on this one. I think we were going for definitely bigger with the animals and going to London and shooting in the castle and then the addition of Billy Connolly and the addition of Tim Curry as the prince was just fantastic.”

From 2005 to 2006, Meyer provided his voice for various characters in "Robot Chicken," which was created by his best friend Seth Green. Green once said about Meyer, "Breckin Meyer, who I think is one of the best young actors around. Definitely one of the most underused talents around. He is up and coming, just a huge sex symbol. And if there were a man that I was going to be in love with, it would be Breckin Meyer."

During that time, moviegoers could catch Meyer play Michael Keaton's son and Lindsay Lohan's half-brother in the Disney feature Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005). He also supported Martin Lawrence and Megan Mullally in Steve Carr's basketball comedy movie Rebound (2005) and teamed up with Marsha Thomason, Mena Suvari, Callum Blue and Mark Pellegrino in John Cosgrove's comedy movie Caffeine (2006).

“It’s about a British pub and a day in the life of the British pub workers. I’m an American novelist who’s working as a waiter.” Breckin Meyer (on the film Caffeine, 2006)

Recently, TV audiences heard Meyer's voice in the animated made-for-television movie Robot Chicken: Star Wars (2007). His latest film work, Blue State, a romantic comedy film by writer/director Marshall Lewy and starring Anna Paquin, was released in 2007.

As for his upcoming film project, Meyer has wrapped up a comedy film titled Corporate Affairs, written and directed by Dan Cohen. He will play the lead role of Ted, a family man who immerses himself in a world of questionable personal and professional ethics by a colleague (played by Adam Scott).

Adding to his acting talent, Meyer is also a prolific drummer and sometimes singer. He was the drummer in the band Streetwalking Cheetahs with his brother, Frank, which recorded a demo in 1995 and was the lead vocal on two songs, "Carnival" and "Dave." With the band, he played about 10 gigs around Los Angeles during 1995-1996. They later released the albums "Overdrive" and "Live on KXLU." After the Streetwalking Cheetahs, Meyer started his own band, Bellyroom, with Seth Green and Alexander Martin, Dean Martin's grandson. In 1996, they played a few gigs around Los Angeles.

Awards:

• Razzie: Worst Actor, Pinocchio, 2003