Patrick Fugit

Patrick Raymond Fugit (born October 27, 1982) is an American actor best known for his performance in the lead role of Cameron Crowe's film Almost Famous.

Career

Making his acting debut in a school production while in the seventh grade (he played the shoemaker in The Twelve Dancing Princesses), the sandy-haired, brown-eyed young performer pursued an acting career and landed guest roles on episodes of Promised Land and Touched By an Angel (both from CBS) in 1998. That same year he was a meal for hungry insects in the Fox TV-movie Legion of Fire: Killer Ants. Work in the more mild-mannered Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (CBS) followed in 2000.

Later that year, audiences were introduced to this virtual unknown when he starred in Almost Famous. As William Miller, neophyte Fugit used inexperience to his advantage, with the young rock-fan-turned-reporter's awe at being on tour with a band no doubt mirroring the actor's own wonderment at his debut feature experience. Although his knowledge of 1970s rock music was nil ("I actually thought Led Zeppelin was one person") and the perils of puberty threatened to wreak havoc on the film's continuity (Fugit got significantly taller and his voice much lower while the feature was in production), Crowe's casting choice was vindicated when Fugit's performance was almost universally critically praised. Before Almost Famous was released, he auditioned for the role of Donnie Darko in Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko. The role eventually went to Jake Gyllenhaal.

With a high-profile feature debut to his credit, the young actor found his next roles playing a sweetly geeky, aspiring comic book artist in White Oleander (2002) and a naive young drug addict in the indie dark comedy Spun (2003). His next film, Saved! (2004), is a satirical look at the religious right in high school. Fugit is cast as the cool young pastor's skateboarding son and love interest to a pregnant, once-popular teen (Jena Malone) who must re-evaluate her moral positions. In 2005 he co-starred in The Amateurs, an independent comedy about a sleepy town that comes together to film a porno, and in 2007 he co-starred with Shannyn Sossamon in the controversial indie film, Wristcutters: A Love Story.

Fugit portrayed the role of a snake boy, Evra Von, in the movie Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, released on October 23, 2009.

Personal life

Fugit was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son of Jan, a dance teacher, and Bruce Fugit, an electrical engineer.^[1] He is of part Irish ancestry^[2] and has a younger sister, Jocelyn, and a younger brother, Colin. Fugit was diagnosed with ADHD in high school, which led to issues with teachers and authority figures.^[2]

Fugit has been an avid skateboarder since he was 15.^[2] In the film Saved!, the character of Patrick was originally supposed to be a surfer. But when Fugit was cast, the character was changed to a skateboarder due to Fugit's skateboarding experience.^[3]

Fugit is currently in a band called Mushman with actor friend David Fetzer.^[4] He is also studying flamenco guitar, which he can be heard playing on the Cavedoll song "MAYDAY".^[5]

Filmography

• Almost Famous (2000)
• White Oleander (2002)
• Spun (2002)
• Saved! (2004)
• Dead Birds (2004)
• The Amateurs (2005)
• Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas (2006)
• Wristcutters: A Love Story (2007)
• The Good Life (2007)
• Horsemen (2009)
• The Vampire's Assistant (2009)

Television

• Legion of Fire: Killer Ants! (1998)
• Touched by an Angel (1998)
• Mad TV (2001)
• ER (2003)
• Punk'd (2004)
• House (2006) (Whac-A-Mole)
• Wednesdays with Reda (2009)

References

External links

• Patrick Fugit at the Internet Movie Database
• Mushman on MySpace Patrick Fugit's band
• Patrick Fugit playing flamenco guitar with Cavedoll Patrick Fugit on iTunes
• Cavedoll on Myspace Mushman bassist, Camden Chamberlain's band