Eric Schaeffer
{{short description|American actor, writer, and director (born 1962)}}
{{About|the independent filmmaker|the film historian/professor|Eric Schaefer|the theater director|Eric D. Schaeffer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Eric Schaeffer
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|01|22}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
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| alma_mater = Bard College
| occupation = Actor, film director, screenwriter
| height = {{height|ft=5|in=8}}[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0769703/bio "Eric Schaeffer IMDB Bio"]. IMDb.
| years_active = 1993–present
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Eric Schaeffer (born January 22, 1962) is an American actor, writer, and director.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080506033757/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/531667/Eric-Schaeffer "Eric Schaeffer"]. The New York Times.
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.{{cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9904EEDA1F39F93BA35750C0A960958260|date=March 8, 1996|work=The New York Times|title=If They Haven't Found Love by 30, They'll Jump. Well, O.K.|author=Janet Maslin}}{{cite web |title=Believable Chemistry Helps to Carry 'Fall' |date=June 27, 1997 |website=Los Angeles Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513150331/https://articles.latimes.com/1997-06-27/entertainment/ca-7250_1_eric-schaeffer |archive-date=May 13, 2016 |url-status=live |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-06-27-ca-7250-story.html}}
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 2001 romantic comedy Never Again, 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.[https://www.vulture.com/2010/04/eric_schaeffer_on_gravity_his.html Vulture.com]
In 2009, Schaeffer and Jill Franklyn created the half-hour dramedy series Gravity for Starz. The series, which was about people who survived suicide attempts – originally titled Failure to Fly – starred 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.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090730230714/http://www.avclub.com/articles/eric-schaeffer-sadistically-inexplicably-given-new,31049/ Avclub.com][https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118006607?refCatId=14 Variety][http://nypress.com/sorry-girls-hes-single/ Nypress.com]
Filmography and television work
=Actor, director and screenwriter=
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year !! Title !! Genre !! Role !! class="unsortable" | 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 | |
| 2021 | Before I Go | comedy drama | – | uncredited cameo |
=Actor (only)=
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year !! Title !! Genre !! Role !! class="unsortable" | 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
{{portal bar|Biography|Film|New York City|Television|Writing}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0769703}}
- [http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/investing/20001012b.asp?prodtype=grn Bankrate.com interview]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080213210013/http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/features/ericschaeffer/ UGO interview]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaeffer, Eric}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:Male actors from New York City
Category:American male film actors
Category:Film directors from New York City
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:American male television actors
Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)