Freddie Prinze Jr.

Frederick James Prinze Jr. (born March 8, 1976) is an American actor. He has starred in films such as I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), She's All That (1999), Summer Catch (2001), Scooby-Doo (2002), and its sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004). Prinze has also had recurring and starring roles in television shows, including Friends (2002), Boston Legal (2004), Freddie (2005–06) and 24 (2010), and voiced Kanan Jarrus in the Disney XD series Star Wars Rebels.

Early life

Prinze was born in Los Angeles, California, the only child of actor-comedian Freddie Prinze and real estate agent Katherine (Kathy) Elaine Barber (née Cochran). On January 29, 1977, Prinze's father died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, less than a year after Prinze was born. Prinze grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was raised Catholic, embraces his Hispanic ancestry, as his paternal grandmother was a Puerto Rican from Boquerón, and speaks Spanish as part of his heritage. After graduating from high school in 1994, Prinze moved to Los Angeles to audition for television roles.

Career

Television and film

Prinze was cast in a guest role on the ABC TV series Family Matters in 1995. He then appeared in a few 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 appeared 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 known to teenage audiences. His first leading role, the romantic comedy She's All That (1999), grossed $63 million 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 disliked by critics and had moderate box office success.

He played Fred Jones in the 2002 live-action film version of the popular cartoon Scooby-Doo, and reprised the role in the 2004 sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, both alongside his wife Sarah Michelle Gellar and along with Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini. 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, and was cancelled after one season in May 2006. He guest starred on George Lopez for a crossover with Freddie. In 2004, Prinze 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 Gellar, Wallace Shawn, Andy Dick, George Carlin, and Sigourney Weaver. In 2008, he auditioned for Jigsaw in Punisher: War Zone, but was not given the part at the decision of Lionsgate Studios. He later was the voice of the titular character in the animated movie Delgo. In 2010, Prinze guest starred on Psych as Dennis, a grade school friend of Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster. In March 2019, Prinze was cast as Nancy Drew's father, Carson Drew, in The CW mystery pilot Nancy Drew, but was later replaced by Scott Wolf. He also voiced Tim and Jim Possible in the Kim Possible movie Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time.

In March 2009, it was announced that Prinze had signed on to star as Bradley, aka Ultimatum in the ABC show No Heroics, a U.S. remake of the British show of the same name. The show was not picked up, but Prinze was cast as a series regular for the eighth season of the television show 24, where he played Cole Ortiz, a new CTU operative.

Voice acting

He voiced a pilot in a Vatta's War: Trading in Danger graphic audio book. Prinze voiced different characters in BioWare video games: Lieutenant James Vega in Mass Effect 3 and The Iron Bull in Dragon Age: Inquisition. He returned to the role of James Vega again for the animated feature film Mass Effect: Paragon Lost, dubbed by FUNimation. From 2014 until 2018, he was the voice of Kanan Jarrus, one of the last surviving Jedi Knights, on the Disney XD series Star Wars Rebels.

Work with WWE

First stint (2008–2009)

Prinze is a WWE fan and was seen 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 and had created an official profile on WWE's "Universe" blog community where he would regularly write his thoughts about the current goings-on 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 contribute to weekly television and pay-per-view programming for the SmackDown brand. It was reported on February 22, 2009, that Prinze and WWE had parted ways.

On August 17, Prinze appeared on Raw as a special guest host, where he was assaulted by then WWE Champion Randy Orton after refusing to bail Orton out of his tag team match with John Cena, who was due to challenge him in the upcoming SummerSlam. Prinze later returned to the program and got his payback during Orton's match with Cena against Big Show and Chris Jericho, by setting up a lumberjack match involving Mark Henry, Primo, Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston, MVP and Jamie Noble.

Second stint (2010–2012)

Prinze returned to WWE on October 1, 2010, in a role as producer and director. On the November 1, 2010 episode of Monday Night RAW, Prinze made an on-screen appearance as Vince McMahon's doctor, a dream sequence scene that coincided with Linda McMahon's attempt to win a seat in the Senate for the state of Connecticut.

Personal life

Prinze married actress Sarah Michelle Gellar on September 1, 2002 in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Western Mexico. The couple met several years before, while filming I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), started dating in 2000 and were engaged in April 2001. They also co-starred in Scooby-Doo (2002), Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), Happily N'Ever After (2006), and Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018). Gellar also made a non-speaking cameo on Prinze's film She's All That. They have two children together: a daughter born in September 2009 and a son born in September 2012, and live in Los Angeles.

Awards and nominations