HOLLYWOOD -- In a world of teenagers dedicated to mystifying their parents or causing hand-wringing, Breckin Meyer seems level-headed and sure of his choice of careers.
Meyer co-stars with Tom Arnold in ABC's 'The Jackie Thomas Show,' and at 18, he is practically a show biz veteran.
He's been acting since he was 11 and has amassed a sizeable nest egg from TV commercials, movies ('Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare'), and recurring roles in 'The Wonder Years' and 'Chicken Soup.'
He recently was graduated from Beverly Hills High School.
Meyer, who comes from an affluent family, isn't just another pretty face. He looks more like Sean Penn than Michael J. Fox. But he's a charming scamp with high energy and a determination to succeed in show biz.
'I always knew I wanted to work in TV and movies,' he said at lunch recently. 'As a kid growing up in Los Angeles, I didn't know how to go about getting into acting. My parents weren't connected with the entertainment business.'
Meyer discovered early in life that in Hollywood it isn't so much a matter of what you know as who you know. His first opportunity presented itself through his girlfriend when he was 11 years old.
'She had a famous Hollywood name and already had an agent and everything,' he explained. 'She was working and she was a year younger than I was. She told her mom about me and her mother got me an audition with an agent.'
OK, so who was this pre-teen actress with all the connections?
'She's well-known today,' Meyer replied, gallantly shielding his first love. 'I'd rather not identify her.'
It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out the young lady in question was Drew Barrymore.
Confronted with the obvious, Meyer became red in the face.
'Anyway,' he said, changing the subject quickly, 'my new girlfriend is Lisa Rieffel. She's just turned 18 and replaced Kristy McNichol as the daughter in the 'Empty Nest' series. We rode together in a convertible in the Hollywood Christmas parade. I'm madly in love with her.'
Cleary, at the callow age of 18 Meyer has a thing for actresses.
Asked if he'd seen Barrymore since she became a teenager, Meyer laughed self-consciously and said, 'I bumped into her at the premiere of 'Freddy's Dead' and she didn't recognize me. She kept on moving.'
Did that give him a clue about actresses?
'I took a six-year break from girls between Drew and Lisa,' he said. 'But if you're an actor you meet a lot of actresses. Lisa and I just celebrated our first year anniversary. We both still live at home with our parents.'
Meyer is a native of Minnesota and agrees that his proximity to show business was of inestimable importance in establishing his career.
'Yeah, I guess the odds of meeting Drew in Minnesota would not have been good,' he said. 'Maybe on a press tour or something. But fate plays a part.
'I met Roseanne and Tom Arnold when I was making 'Freddy's Dead.' They played small cameo roles. That's what led to my audition for 'The Jackie Thomas Show.'
'In the series I play Chas, an actor who gets more fan mail on the show-within-a-show than Jackie, who is played by Tom Arnold. So he tries to get Chas fired by killing off the character. He wants him locked in a room by the writers because he has a bad case of acne.
'Jackie's always on Chas's case. My character despises Jackie and sort of tiptoes around trying to keep out of his way.
'Hopefully, the show will stay on the air for another four or five years. It's a lot of fun to do and they're paying me well.
'The hardest thing about a career in show business is getting your first break. Once you start working you learn quickly how much rejection there is -- like doing 'Chicken Soup' with Jackie Mason and a pilot with Rodney Dangerfield. Neither of them worked out.
'I want to bea working actor, not a teenage idol like Chas. I don't do interviews for teen magazines and all that stuff. At heart Chas has a very good opinion of himself because he's surrounded by teenage girls.
'Chas was picked up in a Dairy Queen, put on 'The Jackie Thomas Show' and became an instant sensation. Maybe that happens to some young actors. But it sure isn't the story of my life.'
Meyer suggests other 18-year-olds seeking acting careers should make their way to Hollywood, find an agent and forget about girls -- unless, of course, they are working actresses.NEWLN:
