Freddie Prinze Jr wears many hats to his followers; he is an iconic ’90s star, the person behind Fred in Scooby-Doo and one half of Hollywood’s most beloved and enduring couple.
The 48-year-old started his profession on TV within the mid-90s, starring in a 1995 episode of Household Issues. Earlier than lengthy, Prinze was reserving roles on blockbuster movies together with I Know What You Did Final Summer season and She’s All That.
These movies turned him right into a family identify and, to thousands and thousands of younger girls, a bona fide heartthrob.
That is why thousands and thousands of collective teenage hearts broke when Prinze discovered lasting love together with his equally-talented spouse, Sarah Michelle Gellar.
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The pair first met on the set of the 1997 movie I Know What You Did Final Summer season, they usually married in 2002.
That very same 12 months, Gellar and Prinze actually hit their stride as an influence couple once they each starred within the 2002 reside motion Scooby-Doo film.
Their portrayal of lovers Fred and Daphne was an lovable instance of artwork imitating life.
They had been (and nonetheless are) Hollywood’s golden couple because of their long-lasting romance – however Prinze’s profession hasn’t at all times stored this similar momentum.
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Regardless of his string of hit films and boyishly good-looking seems, Prinze’s profession appeared to fizzle out within the early ’00s. However in excellent news for his many followers, he is again.
Prinze has returned to our screens this month within the I Know What You Did Final Summer season sequel, reprising his function alongside authentic castmate Jennifer Love Hewitt.
It marks one in every of his first roles in a significant movie since Scooby-Doo 2: Mosters Unleashed in 2004.
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A profession shift
After the massive success of movies akin to She’s All That and the Scooby-Doo movie and sequel, Prinze struggled to e book equally main roles.
He then turned to tv. The actor managed to safe visitor spots in a number of massive TV collection, together with a long-running half in 24, a job in a single episode of Buddies and a two-episode story arc in Bones.
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However his performing work wasn’t operating fully dry – Prinze began lending his voice to animated collection and several other video video games too.
By this time, Prinze and Gellar had completely different priorities: their rising household. The couple welcomed their daughter Charlotte in 2009 and son Rocky in 2012.
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“I grew to become a full-time father,” Prinze Jr instructed E! Information. “It isn’t a job. It is what I like to do.”
“For me being a father, not having a dad, it makes it my primary precedence, so when my daughter was born, that was just about it for me.”
‘I simply needed to stop after that’
It was Prinze’s function as agent Cole Ortiz in 24 in 2010 that basically made him take inventory of his profession.
Chatting with ABC Information in 2014, the actor stated it was a “horrible” time – notably working with co-star Kiefer Sutherland.
“Kiefer was probably the most unprofessional dude on this planet,” he stated.
“That is not me speaking trash, I might say it to his face. I feel everybody that is labored with him has stated that … I simply needed to stop the enterprise after that. So, I simply kind of stopped.”
After this function, Prinze took an enormous step again from performing and took on a job at WWE (World Wrestling Leisure) as a producer, director and a artistic advisor.
He additionally made one other main profession pivot when he launched a cookbook, Again to the Kitchen, in 2016.
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And once more in 2017, Prinze reminded the world he had really stop performing when requested how he juggled work with parenting.
“I’ve actually stepped away from the performing,” he instructed CBS Information. ” I do not actually try this anymore.”
Although it appears the massive wigs in Hollywood aren’t completed with him. He instructed Esquire in 2022 he has been always supplied scripts for rom-coms, however he at all times turns them down.
“I imply, I have been supplied a bunch of romantic comedies over the past 15 years,” he stated. “I used to be simply by no means studying any of the scripts. I did not have any curiosity in doing it.”
Since stepping away from performing, Prinze Jr loaned his voice to a number of video video games and appeared in a couple of TV collection.
His final performing credit score was in 2024’s The Woman within the Pool, and earlier than that, the 2022 TV film Christmas With You.
A serious return to the display screen
In 2025, Prinze has returned to the massive display screen in an enormous approach, reprising his I Know What You Did Final Summer season function as Ray for the sequel.
He now additionally dedicates his life to each parenting his two kids with spouse Gellar and pursuing ardour tasks, together with a podcast, cooking and collaborations with manufacturers.
“I can solely communicate for myself, however I simply stop,” he instructed Narcity in a 2022 interview.
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“As soon as my daughter was born 13 years in the past, I simply stopped performing.”
“I needed to be a full-time dad. I had a full-time mum rising up however by no means had a father and know the significance of getting two dad and mom and the way a lot simpler of a life you may have.”
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