Eric Schaeffer (born January 22, 1962) is an American actor, writer, and director.

Early life and education

Schaeffer was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, New York, and later graduated with a degree in drama and dance from

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

. After graduating, he drove a New York City taxi for nine years, during which time he wrote two stage plays, a novel, twenty screenplays and various other works.

Career

Schaeffer rose to fame with fellow actor/writer/director Donal Lardner Ward on the independent film, ''My Life's in Turnaround'' (1993), which was made in fifteen days for only $200,000. Schaeffer and Ward parlayed the film's success into ''

Too Something ''Too Something'' (also known as ''New York Daze'') is an American sitcom that aired Sunday at 8:30 on the Fox network in October 1995 and again from May 26 to June 30, 1996. Premise The show centered on Eric McDougal, a would-be author, and Don ...

'' (1995–1996), a short-lived

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

that was briefly renamed ''New York Daze''. He signed on as a client of

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 emplo ...

and made a deal to direct the 1996 romantic comedy ''

If Lucy Fell ''If Lucy Fell'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Eric Schaeffer, who also co-stars in the film alongside Sarah Jessica Parker, Ben Stiller and Elle Macpherson. It was released on DVD January 30, 2001. Plot Joe Ma ...

'' for a budget of $3.5 million for Columbia TriStar. Schaeffer starred opposite model

Amanda de Cadenet Amanda de Cadenet (; born 19 May 1972) is an English photographer, author, and media personality based in Los Angeles, United States. She began her entertainment career in the 1990s, first as a presenter for British series '' The Word'' and ''The ...

in the 1997 romantic drama ''

Fall Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southe ...

'', about a cab driver who begins a passionate affair with a model he first met in his cab. In 2000, he released the comedy '' Wirey Spindell'', a semi-autobiographical tale. This was followed by the romantic comedy '' Never Again'' in 2001, starring

Jill Clayburgh Jill Clayburgh (April 30, 1944 – November 5, 2010) was an American actress known for her work in theater, television, and cinema. She received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Ac ...

and

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...

, and ''

Mind the Gap "Mind the gap" () or sometimes "watch the gap" is an audible or visual warning phrase issued to rail passengers to take caution while crossing the horizontal, and in some cases vertical, spatial gap between the train door and the station ...

'' in 2004. In recent years Schaeffer has been writing an autobiographical blog, ''I Can't Believe I'm Still Single'', about his relationships and ongoing search for love. Schaeffer has turned the blog into a book, ''I Can't Believe I'm Still Single – Sane, Slightly Neurotic (But in a Sane Way) Filmmaker into Good Yoga, Bad Reality TV, Too Much Chocolate, and a Little Kinky Sex Seeks Smart, Emotionally Evolved ... Oh Hell, At This Point Anyone Who'll Let Me Watch Football''. In 2008, Schaeffer debuted a

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

series on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

, also called, ''I Can't Believe I'm Still Single''. In 2009, Schaeffer and Jill Franklyn created the half-hour

dramedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

series ''

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

'' for Starz. The series about people who have failed at suicide – originally titled ''Failure to Fly'' – stars Schaeffer along with

Krysten Ritter Krysten Alyce Ritter (born December 16, 1981) is an American actress and model. She came to prominence when she appeared as Jane Margolis in the AMC drama series ''Breaking Bad'' (2009–2010) and its spinoff film '' El Camino'' (2019). She th ...

, Ivan Sergei,

Ving Rhames Irving Rameses Rhames (born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles as IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the ''Mission: Impossible'' film series and gang kingpin Marsellus Wallace in ''Pulp Fiction''. He also a ...

and

Rachel Hunter Rachel Hunter (born 8 September 1969) is a New Zealand model, actress and the host of Imagination Television's ''Rachel Hunter's Tour of Beauty''. She has appeared on several magazine covers, including ''Vogue'', ''Elle'', ''Rolling Stone'', ' ...

. It began airing in April 2010 and on June 30, 2010, the show was cancelled.Nypress.com
/ref>

Filmography and television work

Actor, director and screenwriter

Actor (only)

Books

* Schaeffer, Eric (2007). ''I Can't Believe I'm Still Single – Sane, Slightly Neurotic (But in a Sane Way) Filmmaker into Good Yoga, Bad Reality TV, Too Much Chocolate, and a Little Kinky Sex Seeks Smart, Emotionally Evolved ... Oh Hell, At This Point Anyone Who'll Let Me Watch Football''. New York City:

Thunder's Mouth Press Perseus Books Group was an American publishing company founded in 1996 by investor Frank Pearl. Perseus acquired the trade publishing division of Addison-Wesley (including the Merloyd Lawrence imprint) in 1997. It was named Publisher of the Y ...

. .

References

External links

* *
Bankrate.com interview

UGO interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaeffer, Eric 1962 births Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Male actors from New York City American bloggers American male film actors American film directors American male screenwriters American male television actors Bard College alumni Screenwriters from New York (state) American male bloggers 21st-century American screenwriters