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Johnathon Schaech

Tall, dark, and handsome, Johnathon Schaech has all of the physical attributes one would expect of a leading man. Despite his appearance, however, true stardom has eluded Schaech, as he appears in films that allow him to showcase his talent without providing the opportunity for the actor to make a solid splash in the mainstream. Born in Edgewood, Maryland, Schaech attended UMBC to study economics, but abruptly changed career paths and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Upon arrival, he studied with famed coach Roy London for four years. He got his first role in a 1993 film called The Webbers. Co-starring David Arquette and Jennifer Tilly, the film was mired in obscurity, much like Schaech's next effort, Franco Zefferelli's Storia Di Una Capinera or Sparrows(1993). It was director Gregg Araki who gave Schaech his first real break when he cast him as a dangerous, perpetually aroused drifter in his 1995 film The Doom Generation. Ecstatically bad-mannered and filled with an abundance of sex, violence, and severed heads, the film became something of a cult classic and gave Schaech a limited dose of fame. The scope of his fame was widened a little bit with his next significant picture, How To Make An American Quilt (1995). As one of the token Y-chromosome bearers in a virtually all-female cast, Schaech made a favorable impression with many filmgoers in his role asWinona Ryder's lifeguard suitor. His notices were favorable enough to get him a leading part in Tom Hanks's 1996 film That Thing You Do! and the title role of the made-for-cable Houdini (1998). Along with these relative successes came the requisite flops, among them 1997's Welcome To Woop Woop, which featured a memorably bizarre title and little else, and Hush (1998), in which Schaech played the son of a completely crackers Jessica Lange. In 1999, Schaech had another shot at cult stardom when he again collaborated with Araki on Splendor, which had its debut at the Sundance Film Festival. The same year, he was also cast in the Jennifer Love Hewitt series, Fox's The Time of Your Life. The series ended in 2001, and since then he's kept busy with made-for-TV movies and independent films, but has gone on to appear in several mainstream blockbusters, such as Prom Night, Takers and Quarantine. In 2014, Johnathon reinvented himself as a leading man to watch. Making a movie star turn on the first season of Showtime's hit series RAY DONOVAN. Todd Robinson would hire Schaech for the submarine thriller Phantom opposite Ed Harris and David Duchovny. Schaech portrayed Colonel Sidney Sherman opposite Bill Paxton's Sam Houston in History channel's Texas Rising. Followed by a string of action-thrillers HERCULES, MARAUDERS, ACTS OF VENGEANCE, ARSENAL and REPRISAL in which he stars opposite Antonio Banderas, Nicholas Cage, Bruce Willis and Frank Grillo. His favorable notices in Marauders and Arsenal would lead to his casting as the self-absorbed narcissistic Double d in the award-winning independent feature, BUTTERFLY CAUGHT. In 2016. Schaech put on four hours of make up a day to take the lead role of Bub, the confused half-dead creature in George Romero's Day of the Dead. Notable credits for TV; CBS BLUE BLOODS, NBC CHICAGO P.D., History's TEXAS RISING, Lifetime's THE CLIENT LIST, Fox's SLEEPY HOLLOW and he finished his third season on DC's LEGENDS OF TOMORROW as comic book legend, Jonah Hex. iN 2018, Schaech can be seen as a Johnathon is now comfortable talking openly about his struggles with dyslexia. He's working with NoticeAbility.org; a nonprofit dedicated to helping students with the brain-based difference identify their unique strengths and build their self-esteem. Schaech has been featured in these major media outlets including People, Forbes, The Talk, Huff Post, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Andy Cohen show, Home and Family, The Talk, E!, Access Hollywood, Muscle and Fitness, Washington Post, Billboard, FOX, US Weekly, Variety, Deadline, The Advocate, Entertainment Weekly, Elle, TV Guide, LA times.
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