Robert Rusler (born September 20, 1965) is an American film and television actor. He made his film debut in the teen comedy '' Weird Science'' (1985) and subsequently appeared in the horror films '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge'' (1985) and '' Vamp'' (1986). He starred as Tommy Hook in the skateboarding cult film '' Thrashin''' (1986) and as "Buzz" in the 1989 film ''

Shag Shag or Shags may refer to: Animals * Shag or cormorant, a bird family ** European shag, a specific species of the shag or cormorant family ** Great cormorant another species of the family Persons * Shag (artist), stage name of the American a ...

''.

Life and career

Rusler was born in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in Allen County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 at the 2020 census ...

, the son of Maria Elena (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Varela) and Richard C. Rusler. He moved to Waikiki Beach in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, where he started

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

and

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

on a semi-professional level, competing in local tournaments. Then he and his family moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he studied

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

and entered many competitions. After high school, Robert wanted to try his hand as an actor and began taking acting classes at the ''Loft Studio'' with Peggy Feury and William Traylor. His first film role was Max in the 1985 hit comedy '' Weird Science''. He appeared later that year in the

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

'' A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge'' as Grady. While filming the movie, Rob and the star of the movie, Mark Patton became close friends. In 1986, he co-starred with Chris Makepeace in the horror comedy '' Vamp'' and with

Josh Brolin Josh James Brolin (; born February 12, 1968) is an American actor. A son of actor James Brolin, he gained fame in his youth for his role in the adventure film ''The Goonies'' (1985). After years of decline, Brolin had a resurgence with his starr ...

in the teen sports drama '' Thrashin'''. He also played Richard Lawson in the 1991 TV film ''Stephen King's Sometimes They Come Back''. Rusler has appeared in television series, such as the short lived 1990 series '' The Outsiders'' as Tim Shepard, and in the 1993 series ''Angel Falls'', but his best known TV role was in the 1990s hit

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

series ''

Babylon 5 ''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...

'' as Warren Keffer in season 2 (1994–1995). He has acted in the 1995 sci-fi video game flight simulator, ''

Wing Commander IV ''Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom'' is the fourth main game in the ''Wing Commander'' science fiction space combat simulator video game series, produced by Origin Systems and released by Electronic Arts for the PC in 1996 and the Sony ...

'' which starred

Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill (; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor. He is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, and the Joker (character), Joker in various animated DC Comics projects, starting with ''Batm ...

and

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is an English actor. He first became known for portraying Mick Travis in Lindsay Anderson's ''if....'' (1968), a role he later reprised in ''O Lucky Man!'' (1973) and ''Britannia Hospital ...

. He also appeared in an episode of the TV series ''The Unit''. Rusler has made guest appearances on television shows ranging from '' The Facts of Life'', '' Snoops'', ''

Cold Case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

'', ''

Medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

'', ''

The Unit ''The Unit'' is an American action-drama television series created by David Mamet that aired on CBS from March 7, 2006, to May 10, 2009, with the total of four seasons and 69 episodes. The series focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled ...

'', ''

The Closer ''The Closer'' is an American police procedural television series starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department Chief of police#United States, deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, G ...

'', '' 24'', '' Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service'', and ''

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

'' in the season 3 episode " Anomaly" as Orgoth. He has appeared in a

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...

commercial directed by

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

Filmography

Film and television credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rusler, Robert 1965 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American bisexual male actors American male film actors American male television actors Living people Male actors from Fort Wayne, Indiana