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Breckin Meyer
The actor Breckin Meyer was born on 7th May 1974 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Over the years, he’s gained scores of fans thanks to his stellar performances in “Clueless”, “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”, and “Road Trip”; he is also known for his starring role in “Franklin & Bash” and his portrayal of Jon Arbuckle in the live-action “Garfield” movies.
The Meyer family moved around during Breckin’s childhood, living in New Jersey, Texas, California, and West Virginia. Christopher William Meyer, the patriarch of the family, worked as a management consultant, whereas his wife, Dorothy Ann was a travel agent and former microbiologist. Breckin, who is the middle child between two brothers named Frank and Adam.
While attending elementary school with Drew Barrymore, Breckin was signed by Drew’s agent and began appearing in TV commercials. Later, he furthered his studies at Beverly Hills High School; from ages 15 to 18, Breckin was so interested in vampires that he slept in a homemade coffin, but little else is known about his adolescent years.
Notable Roles: TV
Breckin’s first TV appearance was in 1983, when he was a contestant on the game show “Child’s Play”. Three years later, he voiced Spud in 26 episodes of the animated series “Potato Head Kids”, which was created to accompany “My Little Pony ‘n Friends”. After guest-starring in a couple of sitcoms and drama series, Breckin landed his first recurring role as Chas Walker in “The Jackie Thomas Show”, which was written and produced by Tom and Roseanne Arnold.
From 1995 to 1996, Breckin played Mike Solomon in “The Home Court”, starring Pamela Reed as a frazzled judge and mother struggling to find a healthy work-life balance. Breckin was Pamela’s on-screen son; his siblings were played by Meghann Haldeman and Robert Gorman. Although the show only ran for one season, there was plenty of drama packed in just 20 episodes, from Breckin’s character dropping out of college to Pamela’s trying – and failing – to find love.
In 2000, Breckin joined the cast of the animated sitcom “King of the Hill”, bringing the character Joseph Gribble to life with his voiceover work – Lasting a decade, this was the “Clueless” star’s longest role to date. Next, from 2003 to 2004, he played Tom Wagner in the brief-lived sitcom “Married to the Kellys”; seven years later, the Minnesotan was cast as Jared Franklin in the comedy-drama series “Franklin & Bash”.
Breckin’s character was the self-confident son of a famous trial lawyer, whereas Peter Bash (played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar), was his mature and level-headed best friend. Together, Franklin and Bash made an unlikely dream team: although the show was cancelled after four seasons due to diminishing ratings, but was staple viewing in millions of American households from 2011 to 2014.
Since then, Breckin has had recurring roles in “The Fix”, “SuperMansion”, and “Good Girls”. Since 2005, he has done regular voicework and writing on “Robot Chicken”, and was even nominated for an Emmy for his writing on the “Robot Chicken: Star Wars” specials.
Notable Roles: Film
Although many fans of Breckin believe his film debut to be playing Spencer Lewis in “Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare”, his first credited movie role was playing Cody in “Camp Cucamonga”. His breakthrough movie role was as a skateboarding stoner named Travis Birkenstock in the 1995 teen classic “Clueless”; although Travis didn’t get as much screentime as other characters, he was an important part of the movie as Brittany Murphy’s on-screen love interest. Breckin later portrayed similar roles in “Escape from L.A.” and “The Craft”. In 1997, he played Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine’s best friend in the biographical film “Prefontaine”, followed by a role in the comedy-drama “Dancer, Texas Pop. 81”.
From L to R: Killed a LOT of walkers, Took a naughty Road Trip, Is too young to watch either. pic.twitter.com/h6wWDoEB3X
— Breckin Meyer (@breckinmeyer) May 9, 2018
Over the next couple of years, he worked alongside Salma Hayek, his close friend Ryan Phillippe – with whom he shares a production company – and other Hollywood stars, eventually starring in the 2000 DreamWorks production “Road Trip”. Josh Parker, Breckin’s character in the movie, was a bumbling college student forced to go on a 1,800 mile road trip after mistakenly mailing his long-distance girlfriend an explicit videotape featuring himself and another girl. Along the way, he was accompanied by his friends Rubin, Kyle, and E.L; the movie was an unlikely box office success, raking in almost $120 million against a $16 million budget.
Just a year later, Breckin and his “Road Trip” co-star Amy Smart reunited in yet another cross country comedy, “Rat Race”. The movie, which was directed and produced by Jerry Zucker, paid homage to the outlandish comedies of the 1960s such as “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”. Breckin’s character, Nick Schaffer, was a strait-laced young attorney who went on a wild goose chase against five other teams in order to reach a storage locker containing $2 million.
As well as being a box office success, “Rat Race” developed a cult following years after its release, and also received glowing reviews from most critics. Six years later, Breckin and Anna Paquin starred in “Blue State”; he then had a co-starring role alongside Matthew McConaughey in “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past”, and appeared in the independent dark comedy “The Enormity of Life”, playing a suicidal man.
Personal Life
In his free time, Breckin puts his musical talents to good use playing drums in the punk band The Street Walkin’ Cheetahs. He is also the drummer for The Freedom Fighter Orchestra, and toured with the band in 2008.
Regarding the actor’s personal life, he married the film director and screenwriter Deborah Kaplan in October 2001 and subsequently welcomed two daughters to the world, but the couple divorced quietly in 2014 after being separated for two years. Since then, Breckin and Deborah have refused to discuss the divorce, and they have yet to be spotted in public with other possible love interests. They are also committed to raising their daughters out of the public eye.
In March 2023, Breckin was part of the Clueless panel at the 90s Con, where he and his former castmates fondly shared anecdotes and remembered Brittany Murphy. Since then, the actor hasn’t been promoting any projects, due to the ongoing Writer’s Guild of America strike.
