| Freddie Prinze Jr. | |
| Birth Name: | Freddie James Prinze Jr. |
| Birth Date: | 8 March 1976 |
| Birth Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Years Active: | 1995–present |
| Children: | 2 |
| Father: | Freddie Prinze |
Freddie James Prinze Jr. (born March 8, 1976)[1] is an American actor. He has starred in films such as I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and its sequel (1998), She's All That (1999), Down to You, Boys and Girls (both 2000), Summer Catch (2001), Scooby-Doo (2002), and (2004). Alongside recurring roles on Boston Legal (2004) and 24 (2010), Prinze starred on the self-titled ABC sitcom Freddie (2005–2006)—which he co-created and executive produced—and voiced Kanan Jarrus in the Disney XD series Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018). He is the only child of actor and comedian Freddie Prinze.
Freddie James Prinze Jr. was born in Los Angeles on March 8, 1976, the only child of Katherine Elaine Prinze (née Cochran) and actor and stand-up comedian Freddie Prinze.[2] [3]
On January 29, 1977, Freddie Prinze died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, after which Prinze Jr. relocated with his mother to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Prinze was raised Catholic.[4] His paternal grandmother was from Puerto Rico[5] [6] and he is fluent in Spanish.[7] Prinze had "enjoyed acting in school productions" as a child and participated in Albuquerque Children's Theatre, though he originally planned to become a civil engineer before getting roles on Family Matters and The Watcher.[8] Soon after that he saw Neil Patrick Harris at his high school getting kids excited about getting into acting, and he decided to do that.[9] After graduating from La Cueva High School in 1994, Prinze moved to Los Angeles to audition for television roles.[10] [11] [12]
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[13] and had moderate box office success.[14] 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, , 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 took the role of Sandy after Tom Hanks could not do it due to scheduling.[15] 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 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 , 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.[16] 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.[17] He also voiced the future version of Tim and Jim Possible in the Kim Possible movie .[18]
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.[19] [20] [21] The show was not picked up, but Prinze was cast as a series regular for the eighth season of the television show 24; he played Cole Ortiz, a new CTU operative.[22]
In 2021, Prinze joined the reboot of Punky Brewster on Peacock, playing the title character's ex-husband.[23]
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 .[24] [25] He returned to the role of James Vega again for the animated feature film , 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.[26] He reprised the role for the opening scene of the pilot episode of the Disney+ series The Bad Batch in May 2021.[27] In March, 2023, he launched a new podcast, That Was Pretty Scary, with cohost Jon Lee Brody. [28]
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.[29] He 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.[30] [31] It was reported on February 22, 2009 that Prinze and WWE had parted ways, but in January 2021, Prinze explained that he had actually chosen to leave the company at that time.[32] [33]
On August 17, 2009, 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.
Prinze returned to WWE on October 1, 2010 in a role as a producer and director.[34] 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.[35] [36] Prinze left WWE for a second time due to a comment made by Stone Cold Steve Austin to a contestant while taping an episode of the fifth season of WWE Tough Enough.[37]
In November 2021, Prinze started his own podcast Wrestling With Freddie with cohost Jeff Dye.[38]
In April 2023, Freddie Prinze Jr. joined the ownership team of Premier Streaming Network, a streaming platform focused on wrestling, sports, and entertainment content.[39]
In June 2024, Freddie Prinze Jr. was announced as part of the ownership team behind MyFandom, an iOS app co-founded by brothers Fred and Josh Shernoff. MyFandom allows sports fans to contribute personal media to a collective archive of sporting events, creating a user-generated historical record while enabling individuals to curate their own attendance history.[40]
Prinze dated actress Kimberly McCullough from 1996 until 1999.[41]
He married actress Sarah Michelle Gellar on September 1, 2002, in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. The couple met several years before, while filming I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997),[42] started dating in 2000 and were engaged in April 2001. They co-starred in Scooby-Doo (2002), Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), Happily N'Ever After (2006), and Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018). Gellar made a non-speaking cameo in Prinze's film She's All That. They have two children together: a daughter born September 2009, and a son born September 2012,[43] [44] and live in Los Angeles.[45]
Prinze is an avid practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has reached the rank of purple belt in the sport, having been promoted under Jean Jacques Machado.[46]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday | Joey Bost | ||
| 1997 | The House of Yes | Anthony Pascal | ||
| Sparkler | Brad | |||
| I Know What You Did Last Summer | Ray Bronson | |||
| 1998 | I Still Know What You Did Last Summer | |||
| 1999 | She's All That | Zachary "Zack" Siler | ||
| Wing Commander | Lt. Christopher Blair | |||
| 2000 | Down to You | Alfred "Al" Connelly | ||
| Boys and Girls | Ryan Walker | |||
| 2001 | Head over Heels | Jim Winston/Bob Smoot | ||
| Summer Catch | Ryan Dunne | |||
| 2002 | Scooby-Doo | Fred Jones | ||
| 2004 | ||||
| 2005 | Shooting Gallery | Jericho Hudson | Also producer | |
| 2006 | Shark Bait | Pisces "Pi" (voice) | ||
| Happily N'Ever After | Rick (voice) | |||
| 2007 | Brooklyn Rules | Michael Turner | ||
| New York City Serenade | Owen | |||
| 2008 | Jack and Jill vs. the World | Jack | ||
| Delgo | Delgo (voice) | |||
| 2012 | Lt. James Vega (voice) | |||
| 2015 | Misery Loves Comedy | Himself | Documentary | |
| 2019 | Kanan Jarrus (voice)[47] | |||
| Killer Skin | Masked Killer | Short film | ||
| 2022 | Clerks III | Auditioner 15 | ||
| Christmas with You | Miguel Torres | |||
| 2023 | Glisten and the Merry Mission | Crumble Starsnaps (voice) | ||
| 2024 | The Girl in the Pool | Thomas |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Family Matters | Tough Guy | Episode: "The Gun" | |
| The Watcher | Billy | Episode: "The Human Condition: The Blood of Our Children/Rita/The Comic" | ||
| 1996 | ABC Afterschool Special | Jeff | Episode: "Too Soon for Jeff" | |
| 1997 | Aaron Sullivan | Television film | ||
| 1998 | Vig | Tony | Television film | |
| 2000 | Saturday Night Live | Himself | Host; Episode: "Freddie Prinze Jr./Macy Gray" | |
| Brak Presents the Brak Show Starring Brak | Episode #1.1 | |||
| 2002 | Frasier | Mike (voice) | Episode: "Juvenilia" | |
| Friends | Sandy | Episode: "The One with the Male Nanny" | ||
| 2003 | Future Jim / Future Tim (voice) | Television film | ||
| 2004–2006 | Boston Legal | Donny Crane | 3 episodes | |
| 2005–2006 | Freddie | Freddie Moreno | Main role; 22 episodes Also co-creator and executive producer | |
| 2006 | George Lopez | Episode: "George Gets Cross Over Freddie" | ||
| 2007 | Atlanta | Eric | Television film | |
| 2008–2009 | WWE SmackDown | Writer; 26 episodes | ||
| 2009 | No Heroics | Bradley (aka Infinitum) | Unaired pilot | |
| 2010 | 24 | Cole Ortiz | 24 episodes | |
| Psych | Dennis | Episode: "Not Even Close... Encounters" | ||
| 2012 | Happy Valley | Noah | Unaired pilot | |
| 2005–2022 | Robot Chicken | Fred Jones / Various (voice) | 7 episodes | |
| 2013 | Witches of East End | Leo Wingate | 2 episodes | |
| 2013–2014 | Bones | Danny Beck | 2 episodes | |
| 2014–2018 | Star Wars Rebels | Kanan Jarrus (voice) | 70 episodes | |
| 2016 | Bordertown | Tut (voice) | Episode: "The Engagement" | |
| First Impressions | Himself | Host; 6 episodes | ||
| 2016–2017 | Movie Trivia Schmoedown | Himself | Commentator; 4 episodes | |
| 2019–2020 | GEGG WARS | Pash / O'rak Adalani | 6 episodes | |
| 2021 | Caleb Dume (voice) | Episode: "Aftermath" | ||
| Punky Brewster | Travis | 10 episodes | ||
| 2022–2024 | WWE Rivals | Himself | Host; 16 episodes |
| Year | Title | Voice role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Mass Effect 3 | Lt. James Vega | |
| 2014 | The Iron Bull | ||
| 2015 | Disney Infinity 3.0 | Kanan Jarrus | |
| Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions | |||
| 2021 | Mass Effect Legendary Edition | Lt. James Vega |
| Year | Song | Artist | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "Kiss Me" (She's All That version) | Sixpence None the Richer | Directed by Randee St. Nicholas | |
| 2004 | "Don't Wanna Think About You" | Simple Plan | Directed by Frank Borin and Ryan Smith |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–present | Wrestling with Freddie | Himself | Host Also executive producer | |
| 2023–present | That Was Pretty Scary | Himself | Host Also executive producer |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Golden Globe Awards | |||
| 1998 | ALMA Award | Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film | I Know What You Did Last Summer | rowspan=4 |
| Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a Feature Film – Supporting Young Actor | |||
| Best Performance in a TV Movie or Feature Film – Young Ensemble | ||||
| Blockbuster Entertainment Awards | Favorite Actor – Horror | |||
| 1999 | Favorite Supporting Actor – Horror | I Still Know What You Did Last Summer | rowspan=2 | |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Actor | She's All That | ||
| ALMA Award | Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film in a Crossover Role | I Still Know What You Did Last Summer | ||
| Teen Choice Awards | Sexiest Love Scene | She's All That | ||
| MTV Movie Awards | ||||
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Actor | Down to You | ||
| Choice Chemistry | rowspan=6 | |||
| Bravo Otto | Best Actor | |||
| 2000 | ||||
| ALMA Award | Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film | She's All That | ||
| Blockbuster Entertainment Awards | Favorite Actor – Comedy/Romance | |||
| Imagen Awards | Best Actor – Feature Film | |||
| Kids' Choice Awards | Favorite Movie Couple (shared with Rachael Leigh Cook) | |||
| 2001 | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Male Hottie | rowspan=4 | |
| 2002 | Choice Movie: Comedy Actor | Scooby-Doo | ||
| Choice Chemistry | ||||
| Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Supporting Actor | |||
| 2013 | Behind the Voice Actors Awards | Best Vocal Ensemble in a Video Game (People's Choice) | Mass Effect 3 | |
| Best Vocal Ensemble in a Video Game | ||||
| 2015 | Best Vocal Ensemble in a Video Game | |||
| Best Vocal Ensemble in a New Television Series | Star Wars Rebels | rowspan=3 | ||
| Golden Joystick Awards | Best Performer | |||
| 2018 | Behind the Voice Actors Awards | Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Series | Star Wars Rebels |