Freddie Prinze Jr. Essay, Research Paper

Introduction

Freddie Prinze Jr. was born on March 8, 1976 in Las Angeles, California. He would have lived a dream life in Hollywood fame. But when he was only ten months old, his father, Freddie Sr. had his sitcom ?Chico and the Man? canceled and got high on prescription drugs and shot himself. Freddie Jr.?s mother, Kathy Cochran, moved her family back to Albuquerque, New Mexico, knowing that if they stayed in Hollywood her son would be haunted by his father?s death.

In New Mexico he met his best friend Chris Sandoval at Sandia Prep where he went for sixth to eighth grade. At his high-school, La Cueva he constantly cut classes and hardly ever studied, however he never got into drugs, for as he said, ?My dad taught me one of the most valuable lessons in the world through his death, because he accidentally killed himself while using drugs. That?s why I will never use them.?

After he graduated from high school, he started to think about acting. He started thinking about his father?s life and how he would want to live a similar life. His mother would tell him things about his father like this line from Freddie Prinze Jr., ?She told me about how much he loved me, the way his face light up when he held me, about how he called me ?Pie?, she told me I brought him a lot of joy as a baby.? He took an acting class and in 1994 (the year that he graduated) he got his first acting job.

Acting

Freddie?s first acting job was on the hit sitcom ?Family Matters? where he had a four line part in an episode called The Gun. He knew just what to do, ?I went to my father?s grave in Forest Lawn, I put my hand on his plaque and I said, ?Thank you. I hope you?re watching now. I hope to make you proud.?? Soon he was starring on after school specials like Too Soon For Jeff, Detention: Siege At Johnson High, and The Watcher.

Freddie got his first big break in To Gillian On Her 37th birthday alongside Claire Danes, Peter Gallagher, and Michelle Pfeiffer. He played Joey Bost, Claire Danes? rugged boy friend. Freddie then played a part in Mar Waters black comedy The House of Yes, about a twisted family preparing for a Thanksgiving Feast, or so we are to believe. The movie premiered at The Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for several awards including the Golden Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival.

The role which first brought Freddie to the attention of the world was in the hit horror hit I Know What You Did Last Summer. Freddie plays Julie?s (Jennifer Love Hewitt) boy friend Ray. ?It?s a situation where Ray starts from being somebody who really lets you down, because he helps convince Julie the right thing to do is get rid of this, because he?s the one who was driving. He comes full circle. He goes from somebody who really lets you down to somebody who wants to do right, to somebody who ends up saving the day. So it?s a thing where he goes on a long journey, and that?s the main reason I wanted to do this role.?

Freddie?s first main role in a movie came with the hit movie, She?s All That where he co-starred with Rachel Leigh Cook, Paul Walker and Usher. In She?s All That Freddie plays Zach, a popular guy who gets dumped by his long time girlfriend. On a bet he asks out the school nerd and has to make her prom queen in six weeks. ?This lady shaded me, and I looked up and yo! I had a chest! They make it look like you have muscles. And it looked real!? But Freddie isn?t worried about his looks, ?Hopefully people will say, ?well, he?s fat, but he?s cool??

His last film Wing Commander wasn?t a big hit, but he has four upcoming films, Sparkler, Vig, Down To You, and Head Over Heels. Freddie is not done acting, ?I?d love to play the bad guy; I?d love to be a cowboy; I?d love to be a husband, a big brother, a little brother ? there are so many roles out there that I haven?t ever gotten to touch.?

Family Life

Freddie lives in a house in North Hollywood, which he shares with two other people. The house is decorated with momentos of Freddie Sr. Freddie?s mom lives in Las Vegas, where she works as a real estate agent. Freddie loves his mom and visits frequently. His mom is one of his only keys to his father besides watching old comedy shows with his father in them. Freddie feels very connected to his father and only wants to make him proud.

When Freddie was growing up he had a surrogate dad named Don Sandoval, Chris Sandoval?s father? ?He?s like another son I didn?t have,? says Don, now a forty-nine year old office supply company manager. ?It was very frustrating. It hurt growing up. As I got older, sometimes I became angry at almost everybody I knew had an old man except me. That wears on you after a while. It becomes like a rock that you have to push up a hill, which eventually rolls you over.?

As you can tell not having a father was very hard on Freddie. But acting is a way for him to feel closer to his father. ?My mother didn?t want meet to go down the same road as my father.? Now his mother is supportive of his career choice, in fact, basically the whole world is. His father would be very proud of Freddie!

Fame!

Freddie is now a famous actor who is in demand all the time. In 1998 YM put Freddie in their Fox Files section. This was taken after I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, at the time he and his girlfriend, Kimberly McCullough had been together for two and a half years (now it is about three and a half). He talked all about his most embarrassing moments, ?At a restaurant in France I tried to order steak, but I don?t speak French. To make the waiter understand, I mooed like a cow til he figured it out.? And he admitted his crush on Claire Danes when they were both in To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday.

Future

Freddie wants to continue acting, and wants to be a father soon. ?I know one day I?m going to be the best father in the world. Not having a father makes me want to be a great one. I have so much love I wanted to give him, and I?ll be damned if I don?t give it to a child.? Good thing he has girlfriend Kimberly McCullough, she played Robin Scorpio on ?General Hospital? until last April. She left to study film at New York University, ?I can only describe her as an angel. I can?t stop thinking about her.?

Freddie Prinze Jr.?s career is skyrocketing, ever since She?s All That Freddie has been a major star. With his less than perfect childhood and a future still untold. With his four upcoming movies and him always being in demand, I am sure that Freddie Prinze Jr. will be a legend of an actor just like his father.

Bibliography

Biography http://www.freddieprinzejr.com

Biography-Freddie Prinze Jr. http://www.members.xoom.com/_XMCM/fpjshrine/bio.htm

Freddie Prinze Biography Page http://www.gecities.com/Hollywood/Makeup/7866/Biography.html

Freddie Prinze Jr., A Biography http://moviething.com/bios/freddie prinze/

?Fox Files-YM Loves Freddie Prinze Jr.? YM October 1998 pg. 15

?He?s All That! Freddie Prinze Jr.? Teen November 1999 pg. 34

Some History about our Fresh Prinze http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Makeup/7866/history.html