Please Rewind Talent Wall

Andrew Shue

Andrew Shue has always brought an unusual perspective to acting: his screen career developed alongside a serious life in soccer. Born on February 20, 1967, in Wilmington, Delaware, he played the sport at Dartmouth College, spent time with Queen’s Park FC in Glasgow and later played and taught high school mathematics in Zimbabwe. His professional soccer experience eventually included appearances for the Los Angeles Galaxy while he was still working on television. Shue’s central acting role came in May 1992, when he was cast as Billy Campbell on the Aaron Spelling soap opera Melrose Place. He remained with the series for six years, giving him a sustained television presence throughout much of the 1990s. That long run established the steady, approachable screen persona most closely associated with his work, while also allowing him to take on a markedly darker part as an abusive husband in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker, opposite Matt Damon and Claire Danes. His connection to film began earlier through uncredited appearances alongside his sister, actress Elisabeth Shue, in The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting and Cocktail. The siblings later worked together more directly on Gracie, a 2007 feature loosely based on Elisabeth’s childhood experience as the only girl on an all-boys soccer team. Andrew co-produced the film and appeared in a minor role. Made with members of the Shue family, it also paid tribute to their elder brother Will, who died in an accident in 1988. Away from acting and soccer, Shue co-founded DoSomething with his childhood friend Michael Sanchez and later co-founded the social networking website CafeMom. It is a career that has moved between television, film, production, sport and entrepreneurship rather than following a conventional Hollywood route. Shue’s screen work may be anchored by Melrose Place, but the wider story is defined by how consistently acting and soccer have overlapped.