Summary
- Freddie Prinze Jr.'s career peaked in the late '90s and early 2000s with high-profile romantic comedies like "She's All That," but his subsequent films flopped at the box office.
- Prinze Jr. took a break from acting to prioritize his role as a father and has appeared on screen less since 2008.
- While only dabbling in a film career, Prinze Jr. has remained involved in the entertainment industry through voice acting, WWE, and creating content for his YouTube channel and podcasts.
Freddie Prinze Jr. was a teen heartthrob and winner of multiple Teen Choice Awards, but he has spent much less time in the limelight in recent years. Son of Freddie Prinze Sr., star of the '70s NBC sitcom Chico and the Man, it seemed that acting was in Prinze Jr.'s blood. His breakthrough in I Know What You Did Last Summer set him on a decade-long high in Hollywood. For a brief moment in time, he appeared to be a viable romantic comedy star but then disappeared from the big screen as the social media era began.
In the mid-'90s, Prinze Jr. graduated high school in New Mexico, relocated to Los Angeles (where he was born), and pursued a career in Hollywood like his father. It wasn't long before Prinze landed his role in the 1997 slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer alongside up-and-comers such as Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ryan Phillippe, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. I Know What You Did Last Summer became a cultural phenomenon, and Prinze Jr. became a familiar name amongst teenage moviegoers. The roles that followed saw the young actor emerge as Young Hollywood's response to English actor Hugh Grant—the quintessential rom-com star of the time.
Freddie Prinze Jr. Largely Stepped Out Of The Spotlight After 2008
During the late '90s and early 2000s, several high-profile romantic comedies earned Prinze Jr. a large fanbase amongst high school and college students. With She's All That (1999), he landed another commercial hit, but Prinze Jr.'s next film, Down to You (2000), flopped at the box office. This misfortune was repeated with Prinze Jr.'s next three films: Boys and Girls (2000), Head Over Heels (2001), and Summer Catch (2001), co-starring Jessica Biel. Despite a few notable TV appearances, such as a guest appearance in Friends, Prinze Jr.'s career seemed to have sputtered out, but this didn't seem to be a problem for the actor.
Prinze Jr. made a brief comeback by co-starring with his wife, Sarah Michelle Gellar in Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, both of which were massive hits and cemented the pair's legacy in film. Since then, Prinze Jr. has essentially traded his movie career for family time (Gellar gave birth to a daughter in 2009 and a son in 2012), as he hasn't appeared on the big screen since 2008. In 2018, Prinze Jr. said (via Us Weekly on YouTube), "I love being a full-time father. To remove myself from that equation would not be a good thing. I'm basically retired."
Prinze Jr. met Gellar when they costarred on his breakout film, I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Prinze Jr. Has Returned To Hollywood More In Recent Years For Movies & TV
Prinze Jr. hasn't given up working in Hollywood but has instead shifted his priorities, evidenced by a prominent role as Cole Ortiz in season 8 of 24 (which aired in 2010) and a voice acting gig as Kanan Jarrus in Star Wars Rebels (2014 - 2018). Since he's "basically retired," he has the luxury of choosing work based on his own passions. He reprised his role as Fred several times when the Scooby Gang appeared on Robot Chicken and has voiced the video games Mass Effect 3 (2012) and Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014). Prinze Jr. also got a small voice cameo as Kanan in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021).
More recently, Prinze Jr. has begun some passion projects, including his YouTube channel, GEGGHEAD, which began covering tabletop, video game, Star Wars, and other content in 2018. In 2023, the actor started a podcast titled That Was Pretty Scary, which he hosts alongside fellow actor Jon Lee Brody. Every episode of this podcast sees the pair break down every horror movie they have ever seen, from the classics to newer titles. Still, Prinze Jr.'s leading role in the 2022 film Christmas with You proves he hasn't counted acting in film and TV out entirely.
Freddie Prince Jr. Has Prioritized WWE Media Over The Past Decade
Prinze Jr. has worked with WWE in various roles from 2008 to 2012. He started as a member of the creative team, writing promos as well as serving as an acting coach. In 2010, he became a producer and director at WWE and made several appearances on Raw and Monday Night Raw. On Chris Van Vliet's podcast, Insight, Prinze Jr. said that he was about to be made the Head Writer of WWE Smackdown, but when he talked to other fathers in the business, he realized that continuing to work for WWE would pull him away from his family.
Still, Prinze Jr.'s passion for wrestling hasn't gone anywhere. In November of 2021, he started another podcast titled Wrestling with Freddie, where he, along with comedian Jeff Dye, "pulls the curtain back on the world of pro wrestling" (via iHeart Radio). It seems that rather than acting or being an active participant in showbusiness, Freddie Prinze Jr. finds creating content for podcasts and YouTube to be a far better way to express his passions while remaining present for his family.