Rider Strong

Rider Strong
Strong at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Rider King Strong (1979-12-11) December 11, 1979 San Francisco
Occupation	Actor, screenwriter, director, producer
Years active	1990–present
Spouse(s)	Alexandra Barreto (m. 2013)

Rider King Strong (born December 11, 1979) is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Shawn Hunter on the 1990s sitcom Boy Meets World.

Biography

Early life

Rider King Strong was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Lin (née Warner), a teacher and nutritionist, and King Strong, a firefighter. He graduated from high school in Sebastopol, California in 1997. His brother is Shiloh Strong, an actor and still photographer.^[1]

Career

Strong began his acting career at the young age of nine, when he starred as Gavroche in the San Francisco production of Les Misérables. After the stage production, he appeared in small screen roles on television. In 1992, he received his first regular television series role as Julie Andrews's son on Julie. When the series was canceled, Strong made his debut on film as Amy Irving's son in Benefit of the Doubt. It was not until he was chosen for the role of Shawn Hunter in the ABC series Boy Meets World that he received widespread recognition.

During the seven-year run he was nominated twice for the Young Artist Award and nominated for a Hollywood Reporter YoungStar Award. When the series ended, Strong returned to the big screen to star as Paul in the indie horror film Cabin Fever, directed by Eli Roth. In 2006, he returned to television for a regular series role in Pepper Dennis on the WB. The show was short-lived and was not chosen as one of the transferring shows to The CW Television Network. He has a brief cameo appearance in Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, the sequel to Cabin Fever. It was released in 2009.

Along with his brother, Shiloh Strong, he wrote and directed the short film, Irish Twins, which premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. It went on to win both the Jury Award and Audience Award at the Woods Hole Film Festival, a Special Jury Prize in the Action/Cut Short Film Competition and Best First-Time Director at DC Shorts. Speaking to Pure Movies in 2010 he expressed that he wanted to expand his writing and directing career: 'Acting is always there and I enjoy it but it’s kind of got a little unfulfilling lately. You know, I’m in the low budget horror world… I have a whole lot of other stuff I want to do.'^[2]

In April 2008, Strong co-created (with his brother and his then-girlfriend, actress Alexandra Barreto) a 30-second television ad in support of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, titled "It Could Happen to You." The ad, submitted to MoveOn.org, became one of 15 finalists from a pool of over 1,100 submitted ads, and was chosen as the funniest ad in May 2008. In August, MoveOn raised $200,000 to air the ad on MTV and Comedy Central; it was the first political commercial to ever appear on Comedy Central. In early 2009, Strong narrated the audiobook of The Obama Revolution by Alan Kennedy-Shaffer. In 2010, Strong starred in the science fiction-thriller film The Darkening Sky alongside Ezra Buzzington, Charley Rossman, Sally Berman, Daniel Kirschner and LaShan Anderson under the direction of Victor Bornia.^[3]

In late 2012, Strong declined an offer to reprise his role as Shawn Hunter in the upcoming spinoff, Girl Meets World however during production of the pilot in March 2013, Strong along with other cast members, who were also unconfirmed to return, appeared on the set sparking rumors of a cameo or return to the new series. Creator Michael Jacobs stated "I think there's more than a chance, I think there's a strong chance" when commenting on Strong and other original series cast members returning. Other current cast members commented on Strong's return indicating that his return might be a secret not ready to be revealed. In June 2013, a Boy Meets World reunion was held with Strong attending along with many of his former cast members.^[4]

Personal life

In 2004, Strong graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University as an English major. While a student at Columbia, he wrote the foreword for fellow Columbian Steve Hofstetter's "Student Body Shots". Before Columbia, Strong attended Occidental College. He completed his Master of Fine Arts degree in June 2009 at Bennington College.

Strong began dating actress Alexandra Barreto after they met while filming the 2006 television series Pepper Dennis.^[5] They became engaged in December 2012,^[5] and married on October 20, 2013 in Oregon.^[6]

Filmography

Awards/Nominations

References

External links

• Rider Strong at the Internet Movie Database