Breckin Meyer Biography

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. He has 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 played 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 in the teen hit Clueless (1995) as the skateboarding stoner. 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 54 (also 1998), a look at life in the famous '70s nightspot Studio 54, 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 the 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 reteamed 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 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).

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 L.A.'s Hotel Café.

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. Official plans to divorce were announced 1 October 2012, after "months of separation". His brother, Frank Meyer, is a staffer and producer of Fresh Ink Online at G4.com.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990	Camp Cucamonga	Cody
1991	Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare	Spencer
1995	Clueless	Travis Birkenstock
1995	Payback	Jim's Son
1996	'	Mitt
1996	Escape from L.A.	Surfer
1997	Prefontaine	Pat Tyson
1997	Touch	Greg Czarnicki
1998	Dancer, Texas Pop. 81	Keller Coleman
1998	Can't Hardly Wait	Walter, Lovebürger Lead Singer	Uncredited
1998	54	Greg Randazzo
1999	Go	Tiny
1999	'	Sharon's Son
1999	Tail Lights Fade	Cole
2000	Road Trip	Josh Parker
2001	Josie and the Pussycats	Marco
2001	Rat Race	Nick Schaffer
2001	Kate & Leopold	Charlie McKay
2002	Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio	Pinocchio	Voice acting
2004	Garfield: The Movie	Jon Arbuckle
2004	Blast	Jamal
2005	Herbie: Fully Loaded	Ray Peyton
2005	Rebound	Tim Fink
2006	Caffeine	Dylan
2006	Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties	Jon Arbuckle
2006	Ted's MBA	Ted Meyers	Also known as Corporate Affairs
2007	Blue State	John Logue
2008	Stag Night	Tony
2009	Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	Paul Mead
2012	Geezers!	Breckin

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Potato Head Kids	Spud	Voice acting
1988	'	Gary Cosey	Episode: "The Heart of Darkness"
1995	The Home Court	Mike Solomon
2000"2009	King of The Hill	Joseph Gribble	Voice acting
2001	Inside Schwartz	Adam Schwartz
2003	Married to the Kellys	Tom Wagner
2005"present	Robot Chicken	Various Characters	Voice acting, producer
2008	House	Brandon	Episode: "Adverse Events"
2008	Heroes	Frack
2008	Phineas and Ferb	Lil	Voice acting
2009	Party Down	Michael
2009	Titan Maximum	Commander Palmer	Voice acting
2011"present	Franklin & Bash	Jared Franklin	lead role
2012"present	Men at Work		Creator, writer