Johnathon Schaech

Johnathon Schaech (born September 10, 1969 ) is an American actor and screenwriter.

Johnathon Schaech was born in Edgewood, Maryland, in 1969 to Joe, a Baltimore City law enforcement officer, and Joanne Schaech, a human resources executive.

He is Catholic.

He has a sister, Renée.

Schaech graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he studied economics and took one acting class.

In 1989, Schaech signed with Wilhelmina West and worked for three years doing commercials and bit parts in movies.

He has been working as an actor since the early 1990s.

He studied under acting teacher Roy London for three and half years until London's death in 1993.

In 1993, Schaech played the lead role in Franco Zeffirelli's period drama Sparrow (Storia di una capinera).

Schaech then played Drifter Xavier Red in the Gregg Araki film The Doom Generation.

In 1995, Schaech's character Leon romanced Winona Ryder's character Finn in How to Make an American Quilt which received a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

In 1996, Schaech played the ambitious but self-absorbed lead singer of The Wonders in Tom Hanks' That Thing You Do! Schaech next starred opposite Jessica Lange and Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1998 thriller Hush, which "promptly bombed".

Also in 1996, he was on the cover of Vanity Fair's annual "Hollywood" issue.

In 1997, Schaech starred in the Australian comedy Welcome to Woop Woop directed by Stephan Elliott.

Playing a British military man, Schaech was in the independent feature Woundings in 1998, for which he won Best Supporting Actor at the 2001 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival.

In 1998, Schaech portrayed Harry Houdini in TNT's Houdini.

Schaech received praise not only for a convincing dramatic portrayal, but for learning and performing all the magic tricks and stunts himself.

In 1999, Schaech appeared with Harvey Keitel in Finding Graceland and in 1999, Schaech reunited with Araki in Splendor, which premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.

In 1999, he played the love interest of Jennifer Love Hewitt in the Party of Five spin-off, Time of Your Life.

In 2000, Schaech performed in his first major play, David Rabe's A Question for Mercy, playing a Colombian-born gay Manhattanite dying of AIDS.

He lost 35 lb for the role.

In 2000, Schaech played a small part in the comedy How To Kill Your Neighbor's Dog.

In 2001, Schaech played the title character in the ABC television film Judas.

In 2002, he played Seattle cop and detective named Daniel Pruitt in the movie Blood Crime.

In 2005, he co-starred with his then-wife Christina Applegate, in Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas for CBS.

In 2006, Schaech starred in Little Chenier.

The film won best picture and best ensemble at the Phoenix film festival.

In 2006, he co-starred opposite Heather Locklear in the Lifetime television film Angels Fall.

In 2007, Schaech was nominated for an MTV award for best villain for his performance in Sony's remake of Prom Night.

In 2009, Schaech played Captain Rezo Avaliani in the Renny Harlin directed war film 5 Days of War.

In 2009, Schaech guest starred in a Cold Case, playing Julian Bellows, a light-skinned black man who was passing as white to live a better life.

In 2013, Schaech played a Soviet political officer, in the submarine thriller Phantom.

He appeared in five episodes of the first season of the Showtime series Ray Donovan as an eccentric movie star, Sean Walker, and played the Egyptian mercenary Tarak in The Legend of Hercules, gaining 30 lb of muscle for the role.

In 2014, Schaech played Colonel Sherman in the miniseries Texas Rising.

Between 2016 and 2018, Schaech appeared in the first three seasons of the television series Legends of Tomorrow as the DC Comics bounty hunter Jonah Hex.

In 2016, Schaech shot the heist movie Marauders, playing a possibly corrupt cop whose wife is dying of cancer.

In 2018, Schaech appeared in noir crime drama The Night Clerk opposite Ana de Armas.

In 2018, Schaech starred opposite Frank Grillo in the action flick Reprisal.

He returned in 2019 to reprise the role in the crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths.

The film would make it to Netflix's U.S. platform's top two in December 2020.