Freddie Prinze, Jr.

Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Prinze in April 2007
Born	Freddie James Prinze, Jr. March 8, 1976 (1976-03-08) (age 34) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1995–present
Spouse	Sarah Michelle Gellar (2002-present) 1 child
Website
http://www.freddieprinzejr.org

Freddie James Prinze, Jr. (born March 8, 1976) is an American actor. He rose to fame during the late 1990s and early 2000s, after starring in several Hollywood films aimed at teenage audiences, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and its sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), as well as She's All That (1999), Summer Catch (2001), Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004). Prinze has also had acting roles in television shows, including Friends and 24. He is a former member of World Wrestling Entertainment's creative team as the SmackDown brand writer. He is married to actress Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Early life

Prinze was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Kathy Elaine Cochran (née Barber), a real estate agent, and Freddie Prinze, an actor and comedian^[1] who died in 1977. Prinze, Jr.'s father was of Puerto Rican^[2] and Hungarian Jewish^[3][4] descent. In a 1999 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Prinze, Jr. stated that his mother is of English, Irish and Native American ancestry (adding that "My grandma and grandpa, who raised me for the first few years, were straight-up English and Irish");^[5] in a 2007 interview, however, Prinze, Jr. described his mother as coming from an Italian American family.^[6] Prinze, Jr. was raised Roman Catholic^[7][8] and embraces his Puerto Rican heritage.^[6][9] He grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico and spent summers in Puerto Rico,^[6] where he learned about Spanish and Puerto Rican culture from his paternal grandmother.^[10] He speaks fluent Spanish and Italian.^[6] He showed an interest in acting from an early age and attended La Cueva High School in Albuquerque. After graduating in 1994, Prinze moved to Los Angeles to audition for television roles.^[11]

Career

Prinze and wife Sarah Michelle Gellar at the Tribeca Film Festival

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 success with appearances 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^[12] in the United States.

Subsequently, he 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^[13] and had moderate box office success.^[14] 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 reprised the role in the 2004 sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. 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 on the series 200th episode. He also appeared as Donny Crane, a character believed to be Denny Crane's son in the ABC legal drama-comedy 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 before being canceled in May 2006. He guest starred on George Lopez for a crossover with Freddie. In 2004, the actor accepted a special award from TV Land on behalf of his late father. He thanked his father's former co-star, Della Reese, for her continued advice and support. In 2006, he lent his voice to the character of Pi in the computer-animated film Shark Bait. Also, in 2007, he lent his voice to the character of Rick in Happily N'Ever After along with his wife Sarah Michelle Gellar, Wallace Shawn, Andy Dick and Sigourney Weaver.

In March 2009, it was announced the Prinze had signed on to star as Bradley, aka Ultimatum in the ABC show No Heroics, a US remake of the British show of the same name.^[15][16][17] The show was not picked up, but shortly after Prinze was cast as a series regular for the eighth season of the megahit television show 24, where he played a new CTU operative.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2008-2009)

Prinze is a known fan of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was shown on television in attendance at the March 2008 WrestleMania XXIV pay-per-view and its preceding Hall of Fame ceremony. He also made a cameo on an episode of The Dirt Sheet, an online program hosted by wrestlers John Morrison and The Miz, ^view and created an official profile on WWE's "Universe" blog community where he regularly writes his thoughts on the current going-ons in the world of the WWE. His relationship with the company was furthered when he was hired as a member of the creative staff to contributing to weekly television and pay-per-view program^[18] for the SmackDown brand.^[19] It was later reported on February 22, 2009 that Freddie Prinze Jr and WWE parted ways. On August 17, Prinze appeared on WWE Raw as a Special Guest Host, and in the show, he was assaulted by WWE Champion Randy Orton.^[20]

Personal life

Prinze married actress Sarah Michelle Gellar on September 1, 2002, in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, in the southwest of Mexico. The couple met several years before, while filming I Know What You Did Last Summer,^[21] started dating in 2000 and were engaged in April 2001. In 2007, for their fifth year of marriage, Gellar legally changed her name to Sarah Michelle Prinze.^[22][23]

It was reported by People Magazine that Prinze and his wife welcomed a daughter named Charlotte Prinze, on September 19, 2009.^[24]

Filmography

See also

• List of Puerto Ricans

References

External links

• Freddie Prinze, Jr. at the Internet Movie Database
• Jam! Movies interview (October 5, 2005)
• Hispanic Magazine interview (September, 2005)
• Freddie Prinze Jr Fansite