FREDDIE PRINZE, JR.

'Freddie James Prinze' (born March 8, 1976) is an American actor, perhaps best known for his leading roles in teen-oriented films.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Selected filmography

See also

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Prinze was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Katherine Elaine Cochran (a real-estate agent) and Freddie Prinze a half German-American and half Puerto Rican-American actor and comedian who died in 1977, after Elaine left him and filed a restraining order against him. (Prinze was just 10 months old at the time). His father's death was originally termed a suicide but later ruled an accident, as he was under the influence of quaaludes. Prinze's paternal grandfather Karl Pruetzel was a German immigrant and his paternal grandmother was Puerto Rican; he was raised a Roman Catholic ^[1] and embraces his Puerto Rican heritage ^[2].
Prinze grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico. He learned about Spanish and Puerto Rican culture from his paternal grandmother's Puerto Rican family. He showed an interest in acting from an early age and attended La Cueva High School in Albuquerque, which he described in interviews as a painful experience. Having an interest in drama, he joined the Albuquerque Children's Theatre and the Duo Drama Company. His interest in acting led to his first job as a puppeteer at a local nursing home, where Prinze spent hours critiquing the art of entertainment. As one elderly man later said to reporters, "[Freddy] was a natural. He breathed life into those puppets." After graduating from high school in 1994, Prinze moved to Los Angeles to audition for television roles.

Career

Prinze was cast in a guest role on the ABC TV series ''Family Matters'' in 1995. He then appeared on a few special programs and made-for-TV movies, before making his motion picture debut in ''To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday'' in 1996.In subsequent years, Prinze experienced much success appearing in youth-oriented movies. ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1997) and its sequel, ''I Still Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1998), made him well-known among teenage audiences and his first leading role, the romantic comedy ''She's All That'' (1999), was very successful at the box office, grossing $63 million ^[3] in the United States.
Subsequently, Prinze had leading roles in ''Wing Commander'' (1999), ''Down to You'' (2000), ''Boys and Girls'' (2000), ''Head Over Heels'' (2001) and ''Summer Catch'' (2001), most of which were generally disliked by critics ^[4] and had moderate box office performances ^[5]. In 2000, he was named one of ''People'' magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World".
In 2002, he played Fred Jones in the live film version of the popular cartoon, ''Scooby-Doo'', and repeated the role in the 2004 sequel, ''. He starred in both Scooby-Doo movies alongside his wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar. He guest starred on the popular NBC show, ''Friends'', as a sensitive male nanny named Sandy. He also appeared as Donny Crane, a character believed to be Denny Crane's son in the ABC legal drama ''Boston Legal''.
Prinze starred in his own television sitcom, titled ''Freddie''. The sitcom is said to depict some actual events from his life. The show lasted one season (fall 2005 - spring 2006) before being canceled in May 2006.
Prinze is also featured in the ''Marvel Comics'' series ''The Ultimates'', though his face is always obscured. His date with Betty Banner, the Hulk's ex-wife, infuriates the Hulk, prompting him to go on a destructive rampage through New York City that results in the deaths of approximately 800 people.

Personal life

In the mid-1990s Prinze dated actress Kimberly McCullough for more than three years. Prinze married actress Sarah Michelle Gellar on September 1, 2002, in Jalisco, Mexico, south of Puerto Vallarta. The couple met several years beforehand, while filming ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' ^[6] but started dating in 2000 and were engaged in April 2001.
Prinze is trained in several forms of martial arts, and enjoys tap dancing and collecting comic books. He is an avid soccer fan and supports the team Arsenal F.C., and is a fan of East Asian cinema. Prinze received a katana from Gellar in 2004 that she bought in Japan while filming ''The Grudge''.

Selected filmography

'Year'	'Title'	'Role'	'Other notes'
1997	''The House of Yes''	Anthony Pascal
1997	''I Know What You Did Last Summer''	Ray Bronson
1998	''I Still Know What You Did Last Summer''	Ray Bronson
1999	''She's All That''	Zach Siler
1999	''Wing Commander''	1st Lt. Christopher Blair
2000	''Down to You''	Alfred 'Al' Connelly
2000	''Boys and Girls''	Ryan Walker
2001	''Head Over Heels''	Jim Winston
2001	''Summer Catch''	Ryan Dunne
2002	''Scooby-Doo''	Fred Jones
2004	''	Fred Jones
2006	''Shooting Gallery''	Jericho
2006	''Shark Bait''	Pi	Voice only
2007	''Brooklyn Rules''	Michael
2007	''Happily N'Ever After''	Rick	Voice only
2007	''Delgo''	Delgo	Voice only

See also

★ List of famous Puerto Ricans

References

1. http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2005/10/05/pf-1248526.html
2. http://www.hispaniconline.com/magazine/2005/September/CoverStory/
3. [1]
4. rottentomatoes.com
5. [2]
6. [3]

External links

★ Jam! Movies interview (October 5, 2005)

★ Hispanic Magazine interview (September, 2005)

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