Breckin Meyer

Breckin Erin Meyer[1] (born May 7, 1974) is an American actor, voice actor, writer, producer, and drummer, known for his roles in films such as Clueless, Road Trip, Rat Race, and Garfield: The Movie, for providing voices for the television series Robot Chicken and for playing Joseph Gribble in King of The Hill (2000–2010).

Breckin Meyer
Meyer in 2011
Born
Breckin Erin Meyer

(1974-05-07) May 7, 1974
Occupation
  • Actor
  • voice actor
  • writer
  • producer
  • drummer
Years active1983–present
Spouse(s)
(m. 2001; div. 2014)
Children2

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.[2] 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)[3][4] and also attended Beverly Hills High School.[5] Through his elementary school, he came into contact with Barrymore's agent, who signed Meyer. As a little boy, he was mostly seen in television advertisements, and also appeared as a child participant in the game show Child's Play. [6] He also slept in a closed coffin for several years in high school.[7]

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 a full-fledged leading role in the DreamWorks hit Road Trip (2000), in which he again played a character travelling cross country, a college student hoping desperately to retrieve a videotape of himself having sex with another girl, which was accidentally 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 leading man.

Meyer in February 2007

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 supporting turn as Meg Ryan's character's brother in the whimsical fantasy-comedy Kate & Leopold (2001). Meyer also took on the role of Jon Arbuckle, the hapless owner of the famed comic book cat in the film adaptation of Garfield (2004).

Meyer 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. He co-starred with Matthew McConaughey in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009).

Meyer regularly does writing and voice work on Robot Chicken, and was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on the Robot Chicken: Star Wars specials. He also voiced the adolescent Joseph Gribble on the animated series King of the Hill and starred on the Adult Swim series Titan Maximum.

Meyer is 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. He toured with Morello on The Nightwatchman's 2008 Justice Tour. He appears in Street Sweeper Social Club's video for "100 Little Curses"[8] and "Promenade".

Personal life

Meyer married screenwriter and film director Deborah Kaplan on October 14, 2001, and has two daughters with her.[9] The two separated several times before they finally divorced in 2014.[10] In late 2017, he began dating actress Linsey Godfrey.[11] The two split up in July 2020.

His brother, Frank Meyer, is a staffer and producer of Fresh Ink Online at G4tv.com.[12]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Camp Cucamonga Cody
1991 Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare Spencer Lewis
1995 Clueless Travis Birkenstock
Payback Jim's Son
1996 The Craft Mitt
Escape from L.A. Surfer
1997 Prefontaine Pat Tyson
Touch Greg Czarnicki
1998 Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 Keller Coleman
Can't Hardly Wait Walter Uncredited
54 Greg Randazzo
1999 Go Tiny
The Insider Sharon's Son
Tail Lights Fade Cole
2000 Road Trip Josh Parker
2001 Josie and the Pussycats Marco
Rat Race Nick Schaffer
Kate & Leopold Charlie McKay
2002 Pinocchio Pinocchio (voice) English dub
2004 Garfield: The Movie Jon Arbuckle
Blast Jamal
2005 Herbie: Fully Loaded Ray Peyton
Rebound Tim Fink
2006 Caffeine Dylan
Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties Jon Arbuckle
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
2013 3 Geezers! Breckin
2013 I Know That Voice Himself Documentary[13][14]
2019 Changeland Dan
2020 Unpregnant Mark
TBA Happily Richard Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1983 Child's Play Himself Child contestant
1986 Potato Head Kids Spud (voice) 23 episodes
1988 The Wonder Years Gary Cosey Episode: "The Heart of Darkness"
1989 Chicken Soup Glen Episode: "The Dinner"
1990 L.A. Law Brian Campbell Episode: "Whatever Happened to Hannah?"
1992–93 The Jackie Thomas Show Chas Walker 18 episodes
1993 CBS Schoolbreak Special Eddie Episode: "Crosses on the Lawn"
1995–96 The Home Court Mike Solomon 20 episodes
1996 Clueless Harrison Episode: "Do We with Bad Haircuts Not Feel?"
Party of Five Alec Brody Episode: "Gimme Shelter"
2000–10 King of the Hill Joseph Gribble (voice) 62 episodes
2001–02 Inside Schwartz Adam Schwartz 13 episodes
2002 Kim Possible Josh Mankey (voice) Episode: "Crush"
2003 Coupling Jeff Clancy Episode: "Original Pilot"
2003–04 Married to the Kellys Tom Wagner 22 episodes
2005–present Robot Chicken Various voices Also writer and producer
2007 Robot Chicken: Star Wars Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar (voices) Television special
2008 House Brandon Episode: "Adverse Events"
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar (voices) Television special
Heroes Frack 2 episodes
2009 Party Down Michael Episode: "Taylor Stiltskin Sweet Sixteen"
Titan Maximum Commander Palmer (voice) 9 episodes
2010 Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar (voices) Television special
2011 Mad Various Voices Episode: "The Social Netjerk/Smallville: Turn Off the Clark"
2011–14 Franklin & Bash Jared Franklin 40 episodes
2012–14 Men at Work N/A Creator, writer and executive producer
2012 Robot Chicken DC Comics Special Superman, Mirror Master (voices) Television special
2014 Robot Chicken DC Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise Superman, Bizarro (voices) Television special
2015 Robot Chicken DC Comics Special III: Magical Friendship Superman, Plastic Man (voices) Television special
2015–17 SuperMansion Courtney / Ringler, Various Voices 11 episodes
2016 Second Chance Wally Luskin Episode: "That Time in The Car"
Family Guy S&M Guy (voice) Episode: "A Lot Going on Upstairs"
2018 Designated Survivor Trey Kirkman 6 episodes[15]
2019 The Fix Charlie West 10 episodes
2020 American Dad! Himself Episode: "A Starboy Is Born"
2020 Crossing Swords Glenn (voice) 4 episodes

Video games

Year Title Role
2016 Titanfall 2 Dr. Jefferson Boyle

References

  1. According to the State of Minnesota. Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002. Searchable at ancestry.com
  2. Breckin Meyer Biography (1974–)
  3. according to an extra on the 50 First Dates DVD
  4. Drew Barrymore on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (Jan 23, 2019), retrieved January 24, 2019
  5. Breckin Meyer Biography – Yahoo! Movies Archived March 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Breckin Meyer is a Child's Play STAR!, retrieved October 2, 2019
  7. according to an interview on Conan, retrieved September 24, 2014
  8. "New video from Street Sweeper Social Club for "100 Little Curses"". TheyWillRockYou.com. June 18, 2009. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  9. "Breckin and Keaton Meyer: Tennis for Two!". Archived from the original on May 16, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2009.
  10. Breckin Meyer and wife split up
  11. "ICYMI: Linsey Godfrey Interview". Soap Opera Digest. December 18, 2018. Retrieved February 6, 2019.
  12. "G4's Frank Meyer Interviews His Brother Breckin Meyer".
  13. I Know That Voice. 2013.
  14. Blazenhoff, Rusty (October 3, 2013). "I Know That Voice, A Documentary About the World of Voice Acting". Laughing Squid.
  15. Petski, Denise (November 20, 2017). "'Designated Survivor': Breckin Meyer Set To Recur In Season 2". Deadline.com. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
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