| Johnathon Schaech | |
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Johnathon Schaech in 2009 |
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| Born | September 10, 1969 Edgewood, Maryland, US |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actor, writer |
| Years active | 1993-present |
| Spouse | Christina Applegate (2001–2007; divorced) Jana Kramer (2010; separated) |
Johnathon Schaech (pronounced Shek; born September 10, 1969) is an American actor, writer, and director.
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Schaech was born in Edgewood, Maryland to Joseph, a Baltimore City law enforcement officer, and Joanne Schaech, a human resources executive.[1] He is of German and Italian descent,[2] and was raised Roman Catholic.[3][4] Schaech has a sister Renee, who now lives in Cumberland and is director of Western Maryland's agency on aging.[5]
Schaech began his acting career doing commercials in Baltimore. Johnathon packed up his Toyota truck and moved out to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue his dream. He immediately met legendary acting coach, Roy London. He studied with Roy for four years, getting bit parts here and there till he won the lead role in Franco Zeffirelli's period feature Storia di una Capinera (Sparrow) opposite academy award winner, Vanessa Redgrave. Johnathon was sent to London to study dialect prior to production. The feature would be filmed in parts of Sicily and Cinecittà studios in Rome.[5]
After over a year working on the movie, Johnathon went back to Hollywood only to discover his acting teacher Roy London had become ill and soon would pass away. He was also greatly disappointed to discover Franco dubbed his entire performance without giving Johnathon an opportunity to loop the film himself.
But Johnathon did not allow these personal challenges to interfere with his career, instead he used them to motivate him. He immediately went out and won pivotal roles in How to Make an American Quilt opposite Winona Ryder; and also the role of Xavier Red in Greg Araki's controversial indie, The Doom Generation.
Two time Oscar winner Tom Hanks would cast him next as the ambitious lead singer of The Wonders in That Thing You Do, which was Tom's writing and directing debut. He then took the male lead opposite Academy Award winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Lange in the thriller HUSH.
Johnathon was finally on the Hollywood map and he was featured as one of the most promising leading men of tomorrow on the 1996's Vanity Fair cover opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith and Benicio del Toro.
But major film stardom eluded Johnathon, because instead of taking more studio jobs he would follow his heart back to independent films. The indies allowed him to play more diverse challenging characters in unique scripts. He took the lead opposite Harvey Keitel in Finding Graceland and tried his comedic chops in Stephan Elliott's Welcome to Woop Woop. Woop Woop was Stephan's follow up film to his highly praised, Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
Johnathon would then take on the legendary role of Harry Houdini in TNT'S HOUDINI in 1998. Johnathon received much praise for his performance, Variety wrote, "An exceptional performance by Johnathon Schaech." However, most reviewers focused more on his hunky qualities then his talents. Again major stardom and success eluded him.
Johnathon then went back to England taking on yet another challenging role of an English Sergeant in the independent feature WOUNDINGS opposite Ray Winstone and Guy Pearce. It was a personal achievement for Johnathon when he received glowing reviews and praise for his acting work and his English dialect. Variety wrote," Johnathon is a standout, limning a character with a complex moral credo." Yet the film itself was never seen by audiences outside the festival circuit.
Johnathon went on to work in various TV movies alongside some of Hollywood's biggest stars James Caan (Blood Crime), Christina Applegate (James Paterson's Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas), and Heather Locklear (Nora Robert's Angels Fall). He then took on his first TV Series playing opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt in the Party of Five spin off TIME OF YOUR LIFE in 2001. The series lasted less than one season having only 12 of the 19 filmed episodes aired.
After which Johnathon took on the title character in Tom Fontana's feature JUDAS for ABC. The film would be highly controversial and it found itself being shelved for several years until the Mel Gibson's the Passion of Christ was released in 2004, opening a window for the network to air the film.
Johnathon attempted two more television series...in the Carl Franklin's 2000 pilot titled Partners opposite Marg Helgenberger and in 2004 titled Commuters opposite David Arquette. Neither pilot was picked up.
Johnathon continued with his passion for Independent film roles starring in award winning indies such as Mummy and the Armadillo, Sea of Dreams and Little Chenier (2006) opposite Clifton Collins Jr.
In 2008 to 2010 Johnathon found himself cast in a string of Blockbuster hits. Prom Night, Quarantine and Takers collectively made approximately 150 Million at the US Box Office. In 2009 Johnathon received an MTV award nomination for best villain in Prom Night.
Little known to most of his fans, Johnathon has a passion for writing. His business partner and childhood friend Richard Chizmar and Schaech have written over nine screenplays together. Their passion project is their adaptation of Stephen King's FROM A BUICK 8. They've had horror legends Tobe Hooper and George Romero attached to direct at different times over the last six years. They've adapted King's BLACK HOUSE for Akiva Goldsman in 2005 and The Hour Before Dark for Pen Densham in 2006. Johnathon and Rich co wrote the sequel to Roadhouse (Roadhouse2) for Sony as well as the Ed Gorman adaptation, The Poker Club, which they both also produced and Johnathon starred in.
The Schaech/ Chizmar duo wrote for 2008's Showtime's Masters of Horror series. And from there they went on to write the pilot for NBC's Fear Itself, titled EATER. Eater was directed by horror legend Stuart Gordon and starred Mad Men's Elizabeth Moss.
In 2011 Johnathon penned his first comedy for Adam Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison and Columbia pictures. The screenplay is titled Caught Stealing and is based around a 1963 little league coach who was robbing banks to fund his son's little league team's journey to the first ever Pony League World Series. The story is based around Baltimore Oriole’s great Rick Dempsey's recapping of events. (he was a member of that 1963 team.) Rick and Johnathon are also writing a book around the same subject matter.
Johnathon has three independent features to be released in 2011 and 2012. Renny Harlin's 5 Days of War, Paul Soter's Dark Circles and Pepe Bojorquez's Hidden Moon.
Schaech was married to actress Christina Applegate from October 2001 to August 10, 2007. In December 2009 Schaech became engaged to One Tree Hill actress Jana Kramer.[6] They wed on July 4, 2010 in Michigan.[7] They are now divorced. [8]