Breckin Meyer

Breckin Meyer
Meyer at the 2009 Comic Con in San Diego
Born	Breckin Erin Meyer
Occupation(s)	Actor, writer, producer, drummer
Years active	1986–present
Spouse	Deborah Kaplan (October 14, 2001-present)

Breckin Erin Meyer (born May 7, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer and drummer.

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. As a child of divorced parents, he 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) and also attended Beverly Hills High School. Through his elementary school, he came into contact with Barrymore's agent, who signed Meyer. As a child, he was mostly seen in television advertisements.

Career

Meyer lent his screen presence to 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 as the skateboarding stoner (a homage to Sean Penn in 1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High) in the teen hit Clueless (1995). 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 the highly touted 54 (also 1998), a look at life in the famous 70s nightspot, 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 full-fledged leading roles in Dreamworks hit Road Trip (2000), in which he again travels across country as a college student hoping desperately to retrieve a videotape of himself having sex with another girl, which was inadvertently 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 star.

He was re-teamed 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 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).

He 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 Anna Paquin. Meyer costars with Matthew McConaughey in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009). He also plays the rich antagonist in the music video "100 Little Curses" by Street Sweeper Social Club (2009).

Adult Swim

Meyer was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on "Robot Chicken: Star Wars", and regularly does voice work on Robot Chicken. He also supplies the voice for the adolescent Joseph Gribble on the animated series King of the Hill. Meyer currently stars on the Adult Swim series Titan Maximum.

He's 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 LA's Hotel Cafe.

Breckin Meyer is the drummer for Tom Morello's alter ego The Nightwatchman's back up band The Freedom Fighter Orchestra. Meyer toured with Morello on The Nightwatchman's 2008 Justice Tour. He also recently completed the thriller Stag Night. He also appears in Street Sweeper Social Club's video for 100 Little Curses and Promenade.

Personal life

Meyer married screenwriter and film director Deborah Kaplan on October 14, 2001 and has one child with her, a daughter named Caitlin Willow who was born December 31, 2003.

Filmography

• King Of The Hill (TV series) (1997-2009)
• Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
• Clueless (1995)
• Payback (1995)
• The Craft (1996)
• Escape from L.A. (1996)
• Prefontaine (1997)
• Touch (1997)
• Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 (1998)
• Can't Hardly Wait (1998) (uncredited)
• 54 (1998)
• Go (1999)
• The Insider (1999)
• Tail Lights Fade (1999)
• Road Trip (2000)
• Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
• Inside Schwartz (2001) (TV Series)
• Rat Race (2001)
• Kate & Leopold (2001)
• Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio... as Pinocchio's English voice
• Married to the Kellys (2003) (TV Series)
• Garfield: The Movie (2004)
• Blast! (2004)
• Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)
• Rebound (2005)
• Caffeine (2006)
• Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties (2006)
• Ted's MBA (or Corporate Affairs) (2006)
• Blue State (2007)
• Stag Night (2008)
• House, M.D. (2008) (TV Series)
• Heroes (2008) (TV Series) as Frack
• Party Down (2009) as Michael
• Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)
• Titan Maximum (2009)