Rider Strong Biography

Date of Birth: December 11, 1979

Born in Sebastopol, Sonoma County in California, Rider Strong's first big role came at age ten, playing Gavroche in the San Francisco production of the Broadway musical Les Miserables. Just two years later, he made his television debut with a guest appearance on the ABC-TV sitcom Going Places and a role in the TV movie Long Road Home (1991). The next year, he landed a regular role on the TV series Julie, starring the legendary Julie Andrews. The series was short-lived, but guest appearances on Home Improvement and Empty Nest were followed by a role in the TV movie The Last Hit (1993). At just 13, Strong made his feature film debut in Benefit of the Doubt (1993), starring Donald Sutherland. Later that year, he landed a regular role in the sitcom that would make him a household name with pre-teen girls: Boy Meets World. The show lasted seven years, and put Strong's face in every teen magazine in the country.

Although he was kept busy on the sitcom, Strong managed to make guest appearances on other shows such as Party of Five, Hercules, The Practice and Superman. He landed a role in the big budget film My Giant (1998), starring Billy Crystal. After Boy Meets World ended, Strong went to New York to study at Columbia University. He has also appeared in several independent films, including Buck Naked Arson (2001), on which he served as producer, and Cabin Fever(2003), a horror film from first time director Eli Roth.

Strong has an older brother, Shiloh, who also acts (he appeared in Buck Naked Arson and Cabin Fever alongside Rider). His family has their own production company called Redwood Shire Productions. A vegetarian, Strong believes in protecting wildlife and the environment, and has donated money to support a wolf cub and the integration of wolves back into Yellowstone National Park. His hobbies include backpacking, hiking, swimming, soccer, rollerblading, reading, writing poetry, playing drums and whitewater rafting.

Filmography:

Cabin Fever (2003)
Buck Naked Arson (2001)
The Secret Pact (1999)
My Giant (1998)
Benefit of the Doubt (1993)