Eric Schaeffer
Eric Schaeffer | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 22, 1962 New York City, New York, United States |
| Alma mater | Bard College |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1993–2014 |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[1] |
Eric Schaeffer (born January 22, 1962) is an American actor, writer and director.[2]
Early life and education
Schaeffer was born in New York City, New York and later graduated with a degree in drama and dance from Bard College. After graduating, he drove a New York City taxi for nine years, during which time he wrote two stage plays, a novel, twenty screenplays and various other works.
Career
Schaeffer rose to fame with fellow actor/writer/director Donal Lardner Ward on the independent film, My Life's in Turnaround (1993), which was made in fifteen days for only $200,000. Schaeffer and Ward parlayed the film's success into Too Something (1995–1996), a short-lived sitcom that was briefly renamed New York Daze.
He signed on as a client of Creative Artists Agency and made a deal to direct the 1996 romantic comedy If Lucy Fell for a budget of $3.5 million for Columbia TriStar.[3][4]
Schaeffer starred opposite model Amanda de Cadenet in the 1997 romantic drama Fall, about a cab driver who begins a passionate affair with a model he first met in his cab.
In 2000, he released the comedy Wirey Spindell, a semi-autobiographical tale. This was followed by the romantic comedy Never Again in 2001, starring Jill Clayburgh and Jeffrey Tambor, and Mind the Gap in 2004.
In recent years Schaeffer has been writing an autobiographical blog, I Can't Believe I'm Still Single, about his relationships and ongoing search for love. Schaeffer has turned the blog into a book, I Can't Believe I'm Still Single – Sane, Slightly Neurotic (But in a Sane Way) Filmmaker into Good Yoga, Bad Reality TV, Too Much Chocolate, and a Little Kinky Sex Seeks Smart, Emotionally Evolved ... Oh Hell, At This Point Anyone Who'll Let Me Watch Football.
In 2008, Schaeffer debuted a reality television series on Showtime, also called, I Can't Believe I'm Still Single.[5]
In 2009, Schaeffer and Jill Franklyn created the half-hour dramedy series Gravity for Starz. The series about people who have failed at suicide – originally titled Failure to Fly – stars Schaeffer along with Krysten Ritter, Ivan Sergei, Ving Rhames and Rachel Hunter. It began airing in April 2010 and on June 30, 2010, the show was cancelled.[6][7][8]
Filmography and television work
Actor, director and screenwriter
| Year | Title | Genre | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | My Life's in Turnaround | romantic comedy-drama | Splick | |
| 1995–1996 | Too Something | situation comedy | Eric McDougal | television series |
| 1996 | If Lucy Fell | romantic comedy | Joe MacGonaughgill | |
| 1997 | Fall | romantic drama | Michael Shiver | |
| 2000 | Wirey Spindell | comedy | Wirey Spindell | |
| 2001 | Never Again | romantic comedy | – | no acting |
| 2004 | Mind the Gap | comedy-drama | Sam Blue | |
| 2005 | Starved | situation comedy | Sam | television series |
| 2008-2011 | I Can't Believe I'm Still Single | reality television | Himself | television series |
| 2010 | Gravity | comedy-drama | Detective Miller | television series |
| 2011 | They're Out of the Business | comedy | Splick | sequel |
| 2011 | After Fall, Winter | romantic drama | Michael Shiver | sequel |
| 2012 | Eric Schaeffer: Life Coach | situation comedy | Eric Schaeffer | web series |
| 2014 | Boy Meets Girl | romantic comedy-drama | Police Officer | |
| God the Worm | drama | – | no acting |
Actor (only)
| Year | Title | Genre | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | Rich Prentiss | ||
| 1998 | Gunshy | crime drama | Gwynne | |
| 1999 | Everything's Relative | Marty Gorelick | television series | |
| 2001 | First Years | Sam O'Donnell | television series | |
| 2001 | One Night at McCool's | dark comedy neo-noir | Greg Spradling | |
| 2003 | The Dead Zone | science-fiction suspense | Francis Ritter | television series episode: "Valley of the Shadow" (January 5, 2003) |
| 2004 | Century City | science-fiction legal drama | Darwin McNeil | television series |
| 2004 | Marmalade | comedy | Dan | |
| 2004 | Spanglish | comedy-drama | Rabid Sports Fan |
Books
- Schaeffer, Eric (2007). I Can't Believe I'm Still Single – Sane, Slightly Neurotic (But in a Sane Way) Filmmaker into Good Yoga, Bad Reality TV, Too Much Chocolate, and a Little Kinky Sex Seeks Smart, Emotionally Evolved ... Oh Hell, At This Point Anyone Who'll Let Me Watch Football. New York City: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 978-1-56858-337-2.
See also
References
- ^ "Eric Schaeffer IMDB Bio". IMDb.
- ^ "Eric Schaeffer". The New York Times.
- ^ Janet Maslin (March 8, 1996). "If They Haven't Found Love by 30, They'll Jump. Well, O.K." The New York Times.
- ^ The Los Angeles Times
- ^ Vulture.com
- ^ Avclub.com
- ^ Variety
- ^ Nypress.com
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1962 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- Male actors from New York City
- American bloggers
- American male film actors
- American film directors
- American male screenwriters
- American male television actors
- Bard College alumni
- Screenwriters from New York (state)
- American male bloggers
- 21st-century American screenwriters