Ethan Suplee

Ethan Suplee (born May 25, 1976) is an American film and television actor best known for his roles as Seth Ryan in American History X, Harry Knowles in Fanboys, Frankie in Boy Meets World, and Randy Hickey in My Name Is Earl.

Biography

Early life

Suplee was born in Manhattan, the son of Debbie (née Grosco) and Bill Suplee (the latter of whom would go on to play "Willie," the one-eyed mailman, in My Name Is Earl). His parents were actors who met while performing summer stock and appeared on Broadway; his mother also worked as a drama teacher in her hometown of Yellowknife.^[1] Suplee's family moved to Los Angeles, California, when he was one.

Career

Suplee began acting in school plays. At 16, after high school, he was encouraged by friend Giovanni Ribisi to take an acting class. (It was also through Ribisi that Suplee first met his friend and future Earl castmate, Jason Lee.) Ethan dropped out of the acting class at 17; however he felt inspired to pursue acting as a career. He was originally best known as the kid from Sega's "Dead Squirrel" Game Gear commercials in the early 1990s.

The first major role Ethan landed was his comedic performance as Willam Black in Mallrats, directed by Kevin Smith, alongside Jason Lee. Smith recast both Suplee and Lee in later films Chasing Amy and Dogma. They both make cameos in Clerks II. At the same time as the filming of Mallrats, Suplee also had a guest-starring role as Frankie "The Enforcer" Stechino in Boy Meets World, from 1994 to 1998. Suplee's notable dramatic performances include the roles of the Nazi skinhead Seth in American History X, Ashton Kutcher's goth college roommate "Thumper" in The Butterfly Effect, football player Louie Lastik in Remember the Titans, Johnny Depp's buddy and initial drug-dealing partner Tuna in Blow, and the simpleminded Pangle in Cold Mountain. Suplee also had an uncredited cameo in the HBO TV series Entourage as the scene-mate of movie star Vincent Chase in the fictional movie Queens Boulevard.^[2]

Personal life

Suplee married Brandy Lewis, daughter of Geoffrey Lewis and sister of Juliette Lewis, in the summer of 2006. The couple has two daughters, Frances Clementine (born 2005) and Billie Grace (born 2007). Lewis also has two daughters from a previous marriage. Both Suplee and Lewis are members of the Church of Scientology.^[3] In Clerks II, he was shown to have lost a substantial amount of weight. On the audio commentary of Without a Paddle, he remarked that his weight loss was "all natural."

Filmography

References

• Ethan Suplee at the Internet Movie Database
• Ethan Suplee on Twitter