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Breckin Meyer

Breckin Meyer has built a screen career around an easygoing comic presence, often playing characters who seem caught somewhere between genuine good intentions and total disarray. Born in Minneapolis on May 7, 1974, Meyer began appearing in television advertisements as a child and was also a participant on the game show Child's Play. His film debut came in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, but his breakthrough arrived with Clueless, where he played Travis Birkenstock, the skateboarding stoner whose laid-back charm fit neatly into the film's sharp portrait of teenage life. That role established a familiar side of Meyer's screen persona, echoed in The Craft and Escape from L.A., but his film work soon widened. He played the best friend of an Olympic hopeful in Prefontaine, a restless high-school student in Dancer, Texas Pop., and a Studio 54 busboy in 54. Appearances in Go and The Insider followed before Meyer took the lead in Road Trip as a college student racing across the country to intercept a disastrously misdirected videotape. Rat Race gave him another cross-country comedy, this time within a sprawling ensemble, while Kate & Leopold cast him as the brother of Meg Ryan's character. Meyer later stepped into comic-strip territory as Jon Arbuckle in Garfield. In Blue State, he played a committed liberal who promises to move to Canada after the 2004 election, while later roles included Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and the independent dark comedy The Enormity of Life, in which he portrayed a suicidal man struggling with life and love. His work extends well beyond live-action film. Meyer has regularly written and performed voices for Robot Chicken, receiving an Emmy nomination for writing on its Star Wars specials. He also voiced the adolescent Joseph Gribble on King of the Hill and starred in Titan Maximum. Add his work as a drummer—including touring with Tom Morello's Nightwatchman project—and Meyer emerges as a versatile performer whose career moves comfortably between broad comedy, darker material, animation and music.