Monday, December 19, 2011

What Ever Happened To...

Michael Schoeffling.  Wait, who?  Michael Schoeffling.

You know, this guy:
Seriously, who?

Corey Burck in Let's Get Harry...
Nope, no clue.

Kuch in Vision Quest...
Still drawing a blank.

Matt in Sylvester...
Who?

Al Carver in Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken...
Ok, starting to sound familiar.

Joe in Mermaids...
Ahhhh...

Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles...
OH, OH, OH! NOW I know who this is!

Tada, I knew you'd figure it out.


Born in 1960 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and raised in South Jersey, Schoeffling began a modeling career in the mid-1980's for GQ.  After attending acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan, Schoeffling found moderate success in Hollywood.

However, Schoeffling never duplicated the success of Sixteen Candles, and in various magazine and newspaper interviews stated the lack of roles and a growing family to feed, as his reasons for retiring from acting.

So after starring in 10 movies and one TV show from 1984 to 1991 the man known as "Jake Ryan" packed up after filming Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken in '91 and left Hollywood, with his wife and two kids, for western Pennsylvania and there he remains.... making homemade furniture.

I'd kinda wanted to know if he's still good looking with the great hair, but he's gone so far into obscurity, that I can't even find a "recent" picture (as in since 1991) of him.

On one hand I wonder, if he'd stuck it out a bit longer if he would have found the success he was looking for - he seemed to possess the talent.  But on the other, I give him kuddos for walking away, carving out a normal life for himself and making all the ladies wonder... what ever happened to him.