# Eric Schaeffer

Eric Schaeffer (born January 22, 1962) is an American actor, writer, and director.

## Early life and education

Schaeffer was born in New York City, New York, and later graduated with a degree in drama and dance from Bard College. After graduating, he drove a New York City taxi for nine years, during which time he wrote two stage plays, a novel, twenty screenplays and various other works.

## Career

Schaeffer rose to fame with fellow actor/writer/director Donal Lardner Ward on the independent film My Life's in Turnaround (1993), which was made in fifteen days for only $200,000. Schaeffer and Ward parlayed the film's success into Too Something (1995–1996), a short-lived sitcom that was briefly renamed New York Daze.
He signed on as a client of Creative Artists Agency and made a deal to direct the 1996 romantic comedy If Lucy Fell for a budget of $3.5 million for Columbia TriStar.
Schaeffer starred opposite model Amanda de Cadenet in the 1997 romantic drama Fall, about a cab driver who begins a passionate affair with a model he first met in his cab.
In 2000, he released the comedy Wirey Spindell, a semi-autobiographical tale. This was followed by the 2001 romantic comedy Never Again, starring Jill Clayburgh and Jeffrey Tambor, and Mind the Gap in 2004.
In recent years Schaeffer has been writing an autobiographical blog, I Can't Believe I'm Still Single, about his relationships and ongoing search for love. Schaeffer has turned the blog into a book, I Can't Believe I'm Still Single – Sane, Slightly Neurotic (But in a Sane Way) Filmmaker into Good Yoga, Bad Reality TV, Too Much Chocolate, and a Little Kinky Sex Seeks Smart, Emotionally Evolved ... Oh Hell, At This Point Anyone Who'll Let Me Watch Football.
In 2008, Schaeffer debuted a reality television series on Showtime, also called I Can't Believe I'm Still Single.
In 2009, Schaeffer and Jill Franklyn created the half-hour dramedy series Gravity for Starz. The series, which was about people who survived suicide attempts – originally titled Failure to Fly – starred Schaeffer along with Krysten Ritter, Ivan Sergei, Ving Rhames and Rachel Hunter. It began airing in April 2010 and on June 30, 2010, the show was cancelled.

## Filmography and television work
### Actor, director and screenwriter

| Year | Title | Genre | Role | Notes |
| 1993 | My Life's in Turnaround | romantic comedy drama | Splick | |
| 1995–1996 | Too Something | situation comedy | Eric McDougal | television series |
| 1996 | If Lucy Fell | romantic comedy | Joe MacGonaughgill | |
| 1997 | Fall | romantic drama | Michael Shiver | |
| 2000 | Wirey Spindell | comedy | Wirey Spindell | |
| 2001 | Never Again | romantic comedy | – | no acting |
| 2004 | Mind the Gap | comedy drama | Sam Blue | |
| 2005 | Starved | situation comedy | Sam | television series |
| 2008-2011 | I Can't Believe I'm Still Single | reality television | Himself | television series |
| 2010 | Gravity | comedy drama | Detective Miller | television series |
| 2011 | They're Out of the Business | comedy | Splick | sequel |
| 2011 | After Fall, Winter | romantic drama | Michael Shiver | sequel |
| 2012 | Eric Schaeffer: Life Coach | situation comedy | Eric Schaeffer | web series |
| 2014 | Boy Meets Girl | romantic comedy drama | Police Officer | |
| 2021 | Before I Go | comedy drama | – | uncredited cameo |

### Actor (only)

| Year | Title | Genre | Role | Notes |
| 1995 | The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | | Rich Prentiss | |
| 1998 | Gunshy | crime drama | Gwynne | |
| 1999 | Everything's Relative | | Marty Gorelick | television series |
| 2001 | First Years | | Sam O'Donnell | television series |
| 2001 | One Night at McCool's | dark comedy neo-noir | Greg Spradling | |
| 2003 | The Dead Zone | science-fiction suspense | Francis Ritter | television series episode: "Valley of the Shadow" (January 5, 2003) |
| 2004 | Century City | science-fiction legal drama | Darwin McNeil | television series |
| 2004 | Marmalade | comedy | Dan | |
| 2004 | Spanglish | comedy drama | Rabid Sports Fan | |

## Books

* Schaeffer, Eric (2007). I Can't Believe I'm Still Single – Sane, Slightly Neurotic (But in a Sane Way) Filmmaker into Good Yoga, Bad Reality TV, Too Much Chocolate, and a Little Kinky Sex Seeks Smart, Emotionally Evolved ... Oh Hell, At This Point Anyone Who'll Let Me Watch Football. New York City: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 978-1-56858-337-2.