Freddie Prinze Jr. -Articles

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From lonely boy to leading man
Aug.1999

No one can say that Freddie Prinze Jr. is pursuing the wrong profession. Although this now 23-year-old actor didn't make his acting debut until he was 18 [he had a four-line scene on the former Family Matters in 1994], Freddie has been practicing his craft ever since he was a little boy. Unfortunately, however, his penchant for acting wasn't necessarily born out of the happiest of circumstances. "I didn't have tons of friends, so I always used to pretend," he's revealed. "When I was in school I read a lot of comic books and pretended I was in them and kids would tease me and call me names."

Despite how sad that sounds, don't feel bad for Freddie -- he certainly doesn't. Even though he admits he was a lonely boy, at least his time to himself enabled him to realize his creative potential, and by the time he was in high school, he was putting his "pretending" to practice as a member of the school speech and drama teams. "In acting you pretend, but there a bunch of other people pretending with you," he's shared of his much more positive experiences with other like-minded schoolmates.

By the time Freddie had finished high school, he knew for sure that acting was his calling. So he packed up his bags and moved from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California to pursue his dream for real. And once he was in the acting capital of the world, he didn't leave anything up to chance. "I went to acting classes 5 million times a week," he's recalled of his early days in Hollywood.

As his career today attests, Freddie's eager desire to act was more than just a fleeting fantasy -- this guy's got something special and Hollywood knows it. In the last three years he's starred in six feature films, including both I Know What You Did Last Summer movies and this year's She's All That and Wing Commander, and he has four more upcoming films, Sparkler, Vig, Down To You, and Head Over Heels. Yet no matter how fast his career is moving, this natural-born entertainer can't seem to get enough of acting. "I'd love to be a bad guy; I'd love to be a cowboy; I'd love to be a husband, a big brother, a little brother -- there are so many roles out there that I haven't ever gotten to touch," he's rattled off, revealing the little kid inside of him who still wants more time to play.

And play it is for Freddie. "I don't do drugs, but I'm high every day," he's beamed about his acting career. "I'm playing cowboys and Indians and getting paid to do it." You can bet those meanies from school are now wishing they'd joined him during recess!