Michael Schoeffling
| Michael Schoeffling | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Earl Schoeffling December 10, 1960 Wilkes-Barre, PA, United States |
| Years active | 1984-91 |
Michael Schoeffling (born December 10, 1960) is an American former actor, and male model, best known for playing Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles, Kuch in Vision Quest, and Joe in Mermaids.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life & education
Schoeffling was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and raised in South Jersey. He graduated from Cherokee High School in New Jersey, and majored in Liberal Arts at Temple University in Philadelphia. In the mid-1980s he began modeling for GQ, and star photographer Bruce Weber paid for his acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan.[1] Michael Schoeffling was found in a mall by a famous designer.
[edit] Wrestling
An accomplished youth and collegiate wrestler, Michael has won medals in various national and international tournaments. He won a gold medal for the United States in freestyle wrestling, as a member of the National Junior Wrestling Team in a meet held in Munich, Germany in 1978.[2] His considerable wrestling skills were downplayed as 'Kuch' in Vision Quest, where he wrestled Matthew Modine, his teammate in the movie, and lost by fall in a wrestle off.
[edit] Jake Ryan
Schoeffling came to international prominence in his role as 'Jake Ryan' in Sixteen Candles, playing the popular yet sensitive high school athlete Molly Ringwald's character has a crush on. For Valentine's Day in 2004, twenty years after the film's American premiere, the Washington Post ran an article entitled "Real Men Can't Hold a Match to Jake Ryan of Sixteen Candles", which discussed the enduring appeal of the character.[3]
On set Schoeffling used risers in his boots to appear taller than Ringwald and the other actresses in Sixteen Candles. Schoeffling stood 5'8" and several camera angles were used to give the appearance of a 6' tall jock.
[edit] Life after Sixteen Candles
Schoeffling never duplicated the success of Sixteen Candles, and in various magazine and newspaper interviews stated the lack of roles and a growing family to feed were his reasons for retiring from acting. He now lives with his wife, Valerie L. Robinson of Virginia, also a former model, and their two teenage children Scarlet and Zane, in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, producing handcrafted furniture as the owner of a woodworking shop.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Movies
- Racing with the Moon (1984) as Amputee soldier (uncredited)
- Sixteen Candles (1984) as Jake Ryan
- Vision Quest (1985) as Kuch
- Sylvester (1985) as Matt
- Belizaire the Cajun (1986) as Hypolite Leger
- Let's Get Harry (1986) as Corey Burck
- Slaves of New York (1989) as Jan
- Longtime Companion (1990) as Michael
- Mermaids (1990) as Joe Porretti
- Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (1991) as Al Carver
[edit] Television
- The Hitchhiker (1986) "Dead Man's Curve" episode, as Lance
