Johnathon
Schaech,
a born storyteller, is an accomplished and award winning actor, writer,
director and producer. He.was born September 10 1969 in
Edgewood, Maryland USA, and is the only son of Joanne and Joseph
Schaech. His father was a beat cop in Baltimore City. He also
has a sister Renee.
When Johnathon was 19 he left the University of Maryland and moved to
Los Angeles - driven by a need for a defining purpose in life.
He
started by studying with acting legend Roy London for four years until
he landed the lead role in Franco Zefferelli's film Storia
Di Una Capinera (Sparrow).
He also trained in voice, dialect and posture with RADA
(Royal
Academy of Dramatic Art) in London and studied with the Actor's Studio
in New York. After Roy's tragic death in 1993, Johnathon went
on
to study with Cameron Thor and remains there to
this day.
Johnathon was also a part of the Electric Theatre Company in
LA.
In 1994 after almost a year filming in Europe, Johnathon landed plum
roles in Jocelyn Moorehouse's
How To Make An
American Quilt opposite Winona Ryder and Greg Araki's cult
classic The Doom
Generation.
Hollywood
then started taking notice...!!!
Tom Hanks cast him as the lead rocker in another cult classic That
Thing You Do.
He then took the lead role opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and
Jessica Lange in the thriller Hush.
After these studio films, Vanity Fair announced he was a leading man to
watch out for - but Johnathon chose to back away from the limelight -
taking roles in Independent films such as Greg Araki's Splendor and Stephan
Elliott's Welcome To Woop
Woop.
He then
chose roles that allowed him to work with other great actors such as
Kenneth Branagh in How To Kill Your Neighbor's Dog,
Harvey Keitel in Finding Graceland
and Ray Winstone and Guy Pearce in Woundings
(Brand New World). Shortly after,
Johnathon went on to play the title roles in Pen Densham's Houdini
and Tom Fontana's Judas.
Johnathon recently appeared opposite Heather Locklear in Nora
Robert's Angels Fall,
where he not only sizzled and smouldered on the screen, but won the
hearts of around 5 million viewers.
Always in pursuit of meaning, Johnathon partnered up with long time
friend Richard
Chizmar (Cemetery
Dance Publications) and the pair formed their film production
company Chesapeake Films
- in which they have found success adapting novels into screenplays for
the likes of Stephen King, Akiva Goldsman, SONY and MGM. Last year they
also wrote the screenplay for the now classic The
Washingtonians
which is a fan favourite of Showtime's Masters of Horror Series
- Season 2.
Johnathon has trained in boxing and taekwondo and is currently studying
Krav Maga.
Written successful screenplays
The Circle - Lewis Shiner
Eater - Peter Crowther novel
Black House - Stephen King novel
From a Buick8 - Stephen King novel
The Poker Club -Ed Gorman novel
The Washingtonians - Bentley Little novel
The Hour Before Dark - Douglas Clegg novel
Road House 2 - original script
Heroes - Short film featuring Djimon Hounsou
Miserable Comforters - Winner - Best Feature Film - New York International Independent Film & Video Festival 2001
Starred
opposite award
winning
actors
Including Mena
Suvari, Matthew Modine, Brad
Renfro, Columbus Short,
Jennifer Carpenter, Steve Harris, Brittany Snow, Judy Reyes, Lori
Heuring, Johnny
Messner, Loren Dean, Heather Locklear, Will Patton, Jake Busey, Clifton
Collins Jr, Tamara
Braun, Tom
Hanks, Jeffrey Tambor, David Arquette,
Vanessa Redgrave, Winona Ryder, Ann Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Rose
McGowan, Alyssa Milano, Liv Tyler, Charlize Theron, Rod Taylor, Gwyneth
Paltrow, Jessica Lange, Harvey Keitel, Bridget Fonda, George Segal,
Mark Ruffalo, Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Natasha Henstridge, Lauren
Hutton, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jennifer Garner, Brooke Shields,
Kenneth Branagh, Robin Wright Penn, Lynn Redgrave, Jamie Kennedy, James
Caan, Lisa Lackey, Jennifer Beals, Djimon Hounsou, Burt Young, Tim
Matheson, Hal Holbrook, Emile Hirsch and many many others ......
Worked
with award winning
directors, producers and writers
Including
Tim McCann (The
Poker Club), Drew
& John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine, The Poughkeepsie
Tapes), Pepe Bojorquez
(Sea of Dreams), Jace
Johnson & Bethany Ashton Wolf (Little Chenier), Richard Jefferies
(Living Hell, Cold Creek Manor) Nelson
McCormick (Prom Night) Peter
Medak (The Washingtonians), JS
Cardone (Prom Night, Mummy
an' the Armadillo, The Forsaken, 8MM 2), Tom Fontana (Judas,
OZ), Greg Araki
(Splendor, Doom Generation), Pen
Densham (Houdini, Alienshop - Outer Limits, Tank Girl ), Stephan Elliott
(Welcome to Woop Woop, The Adventures of Priscilla-Queen of the Desert,
Tom Hanks
(That Thing You Do), Jocelyn
Moorhouse (How To Make An American Quilt), Richard Friedenberg (Suzanne's
Diary for Nicholas), James
Patterson (Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, Along Came a
Spider, Kiss the Girls), Stephen
King (Black House, From A Buick 8, The Green Mile, The
Shining, The Shawshank Redemption), Nora
Roberts (Angels Fall), Carl Franklin
(Partners, The Riches), Kiefer
Sutherland (Fallen Angels, 24, The Lost Boys), Sean Penn (21
grams, Mystic River), Bruce
Campbell (Brisco County Jr, Evil Dead, Spiderman 1/2/3)
and Franco
Zeffirelli (Sparrow).
Come join
Johnathon
on
his Official Sites
Available NOW on DVD
Signed Poker Club DVD - Special Offer
Cemetery Dance Publications are offering exclusive signed copies of The Poker Club DVD.
They will be signed by both screenwriters (Johnathon Schaech and Richard Chizmar) AND author Ed Gorman ...
To purchase these RARE SIGNED copies, please visit
This exclusive offer is only available for a limited time, so don't delay.
Visit Johnathon's Poker Club page for more info
Official Trailer
Takers (formally known as Bone Deep)
Johnathon stars opposite Matt Dillon, Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Hayden Christiensen, Zoe Zaldana, Jay Hernandez and Steve Harris
Filming completed
Due for release 2010
IMDB
Sea Of Dreams
Johnathon stars opposite Sendi Bar, Angelica Maria, Nicholas Gonzalez, Sonia Braga and Seymour Cassel
DVD release date TBA - (soon)
IMDB
Heroes
Johnathon stars opposite Djimon Hounsou and Cameron Thor
Also written, directed and produced by Johnathon Schaech
DVD release date TBA
IMDB
From A Buick 8
Johanthon and his business partner Richard Chizmar are currently writing the final draft of the screenplay
Filming to commence Fall 2009
IMDB
2009 Site Updates
June 2009
Added blog to BLOG page 2nd / 8th / 23rd
May 2009
Added blog to BLOG page 12th / 16th
Added video to Judas page 5th
April 2009
Added links to Interviews page 21st / 26th
Added photos Out&About page 21st / 23rd
Added info Latest News page 16th
Added photos Poker Club page 13th / 26th
March 2009
Added photos Poker Club page 15th
Added interview link Poker Club page 14th
Added photos and info Poker Club page 13th
Added photos Out&About page 2nd
February 2009
Added photos and info Poker Club page 24th
January 2009
Added photo Out&About page 30th
Added Sparrow page 5th
Added info Latest News page 5th / 22nd / 25th
Previous Site Updates and Projects
2008
- January
to December
2007 - January to
December
2006 - January to
December
2009 marks
20 years
since Johnathon left Maryland to pursue his dream of becoming an actor
in Hollywood
And to celebrate , we will be tracing Johnathon's career by featuring
some of his films (Johnathon's choice) throughout the year
Johnathon
also has kindly agreed to share his thoughts and memories on each
selected
film.
He will also endeavour to answer as many questions as he
can from fans that are related to these flicks...
1993
- SPARROW
this
site with any
questions/comments, or to suggest any changes or additions 
View
my Guestbookor join other fans in Johnathon's Message Board
