Rider King Strong (born December 11, 1979) is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Shawn Hunter on the 1990s sitcom Boy Meets World.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Rider King Strong was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Lin (née Warner), a teacher and nutritionist, and King Strong, a firefighter. He graduated from High School in Sebastopol, California in 1997. His brother is Shiloh Strong, an actor and still photographer.[1]
Career[]
Strong began his acting career at the young age of nine, when he starred as Gavroche in the San Francisco production of Les Misérables. After the stage production, he appeared in small screen roles on television. In 1992, he received his first regular television series role as Julie Andrews's son on Julie. When the series was canceled, Strong made his debut on film as Amy Irving's son in Benefit of the Doubt. It was not until he was chosen for the role of Shawn Hunter in the ABC series Boy Meets World that he received widespread recognition.[2]
During the seven year run he was nominated twice for the Young Artist Award and nominated for a Hollywood Reporter YoungStar Award. When the series ended, Strong returned to the big screen to star as Paul in the indie horror film Cabin Fever, directed by Eli Roth. In 2006, he returned to television for a regular series role in Pepper Dennis on the WB. The show was short-lived and was not chosen as one of the transferring shows to The CW Television Network. He has a brief cameo appearance in Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, the sequel to Cabin Fever. It was released in 2009.
Along with his brother, Shiloh Strong, he wrote and directed the short film, Irish Twins, which premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. It went on to win both the Jury Award and Audience Award at the Woods Hole Film Festival, a Special Jury Prize in the Action/Cut Short Film Competition and Best First-Time Director at DC Shorts. Speaking to Pure Movies in 2010 he expressed that he wanted to expand his writing and directing career: 'Acting is always there and I enjoy it but it’s kind of got a little unfulfilling lately. You know, I’m in the low budget horror world… I have a whole lot of other stuff I want to do.'[3]
In April 2008, Strong co-created (with his brother and his girlfriend, actress Alexandra Barreto) a 30-second television ad in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, titled "It Could Happen to You." The ad, submitted to MoveOn.org, became one of 15 finalists from a pool of over 1,100 submitted ads, and was chosen as the funniest ad in May 2008. In August, MoveOn raised $200,000 to air the ad on MTV and Comedy Central; it was the first political commercial to ever appear on Comedy Central. In early 2009, Strong performed the audiobook of The Obama Revolution by Alan Kennedy-Shaffer. Strong stars 2010 in the Science Fiction-Thriller film "The Darkening Sky" alongside Ezra Buzzington, Charley Rossman, Sally Berman, Daniel Kirschner and LaShan Anderson under the direction from Victor Bornia.[4]
Personal life[]
In 2004, Strong graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University as an English major. While a student at Columbia, he wrote the foreword for fellow Columbian Steve Hofstetter's "Student Body Shots". Before Columbia, Strong attended Occidental College. He completed his Master of Fine Arts degree in June 2009 at Bennington College.[5]
Filmography[]
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
| 1993 | Benefit of the Doubt | Pete Braswell | |
| 1998 | My Giant | Justin Allen | |
| 2001 | Buck Naked Arson | Willy | Producer |
| The Secret Pact | Lenny B. Dalton | ||
| 2002 | Cabin Fever | Paul | |
| 2004 | Death Valley | Daniel | |
| 2005 | Paradise, Texas | Charlie | |
| 2007 | Cosmic Radio | Justin | |
| Borderland | Phil | ||
| Tooth and Nail | Ford | ||
| 2008 | Irish Twins | Michael Sullivan | Director, writer |
| Spy School | Mr. Randall | Alternative title: Doubting Thomas | |
| H2O Extreme | Greg | ||
| Pulse 2: Afterlife | Adam (Cameo) | Direct-to-DVD release | |
| Pulse 3: Invasion | Adam | Direct-to-DVD release | |
| 2009 | Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever | Paul | |
| Darkening Sky | Eric Rainer | ||
| 2010 | The Penthouse | Kieran | Alternative title: Erica, Kieran and Lexi |
| Your Lucky Day | Young Man | Shown at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival[6] | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1991 | Long Road Home | Benjy Robertson | NBC TV-Movie |
| Going Places | David | Episode: "The Camping Show" | |
| 1992 | Julie | Adam | Unknown episodes |
| Empty Nest | Philip Logan | Episode: "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" | |
| Home Improvement | Danny | Episode: "The Haunting of Taylor House" | |
| 1993 | Nurses | Max Kaplan | Episode: "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" |
| Time Trax | William Peterman | Episode: "The Prodigy" | |
| The Last Hit | Jimmy Dunne | NBC TV-Movie | |
| Evening Shade | Jimmy | Episode: "The Diary of Molly Newton" | |
| 1993–2000 | Boy Meets World | Shawn Hunter | 158 episodes[citation needed] |
| 1994 | Summertime Switch | Frederick Egan III | ABC TV-Movie |
| 1996 | Maybe This Time | Shawn Hunter | Episode: "Acting Out" |
| Party of Five | Byron | Episodes: "Summer Fun, Summer Not" "Going, Going, Gone" | |
| 1997 | Oddville, MTV | Episode: July 7, 1997 | |
| 1998 | Hercules: The Animated Series | Pollux (Voice) | Episode: "Hercules and the Trojan War" |
| Invasion America | Jim Bailey (Voice) | The WB Miniseries | |
| 1999 | The Practice | Gary Armbrust | Episodes: "Home Invasions" "Infected" |
| Batman Beyond | Bobby Vance (Voice) | Episode: "Lost Soul" | |
| 1999–2000 | Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles | Special Operations Tactician Carl Jenkins (Voice) | 6 episodes |
| 2002 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Ethan Edwards | Episode: "The Pilgrim" |
| 2002–2004 | Kim Possible | Brick Flagg (Voice) | 5 episodes |
| 2005 | Kim Possible: So the Drama | Brick Flagg (Voice) | Disney Channel TV-Movie |
| 2006 | Crumbs | Dennis | Episode: "Six Feet Blunder" |
| Pepper Dennis | Chick Dirka | 13 episodes | |
| Veronica Mars | Rafe | Episode: "My Big Fat Greek Rush Week" | |
| 2007 | Bones | Greg | Episode: "Mummy in the Maze" |
| 2009 | Castle | Rocco | Episode: "The Fifth Bullet" |
Awards and nominations[]
| Year | Award | Result | Category | Film or series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | Won | Favorite Television Friends | Boy Meets World (Shared with Ben Savage) |
| 2008 | Washington DC Shorts Film Festival | Nominated | Best First Time Filmmaker | Irish Twins (Shared with Shiloh Strong) |
| 1994 | Young Artist Award | Nominated | Best Youth Comedian | Boy Meets World |
| 1994 | Best Performance in a TV Comedy - Supporting Young Actor | Boy Meets World |
References[]
- ↑ Rider Strong Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- ↑ Rider Strong Talks Cabin Fever, its Sequel and Darkening Sky
- ↑ Pure Movies interview with Rider Strong about Borderland
- ↑ Trailer: The Darkening Sky
- ↑ MySpace - Rider - 30 - Man - Hollywood, CALIFORNIA - myspace.com/riderkingstrong
- ↑ Your Lucky Day | 2010 Seattle International Film Festival
External links[]
- Rider Strong at the Internet Movie Database
- Rider Strong at TV.com
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