Alex Shaffer (born August 23, 1993) is an American actor, best known for his role as Kyle Timmons, a troubled kid and a wrestling prodigy, in the 2011 film '' Win Win''.
Life and career
Shaffer was born in
Hunterdon County
Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 128,947, making it the state's 18th-most populous county,Raritan Township. He was a sophomore at
Hunterdon Central Regional High School
Hunterdon Central Regional High School is a comprehensive, four-year public high school, and regional school district that serves students from five municipalities in east central Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. Students hail from ...
when he was cast as a young wrestler in the movie '' Win Win'' after a classmate tipped him off about the auditions to the film that required an athlete-wrestler. Shaffer had been a successful high school wrestler, winning the 2010 New Jersey State Wrestling Championship at 119 lb. as a sophomore, but his wrestling career ended when he broke his L-5 vertebra.
Shaffer's screen debut earned raves. Roger Ebert described his acting as "effortlessly convincing." Shaffer, whose hair was bleached for the role, "plays the reserved and withdrawn Kyle to perfection," said film critic Brandon Fibbs. As for the film director Tom McCarthy, he said: "I knew that if the kid we cast had never wrestled, he wasn’t going to be able to fake it, at least not at the level we wanted Kyle to be. The great thing about Alex is, he also evokes all the qualities of a 16-year-old kid. He just felt so real to me. We really put him through the wringer on this movie and he just kept getting better and better." In an interview with PBS he said: "You know, this monosyllabic shut-down character we all know and love so much, which is very difficult to bring to the screen actually, as you run the risk of the character being flat, but he lex Shafferfound a way in his directness to be very charming".
After the success of ''Win Win'', Shaffer decided to pursue acting professionally. In 2013 he starred alongside
Kristen Bell
Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...
and
Martin Starr
Martin James Pflieger Schienle (born July 30, 1982), professionally known as Martin Starr, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for the television roles of Bill Haverchuck on the short-lived comedy drama '' Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2 ...
in the Sundance indie '' The Lifeguard.'' He also stars in the director/writer Kimberly Levin's independent film, ''Runoff''. He played the character Squirrel in the 2015 film '' We Are Your Friends,'' starring Zac Efron and directed by
Max Joseph
Max Joseph (born January 16, 1982) is an American filmmaker and a television and gameshow host.
For seven seasons, he was a host and cameraman for '' Catfish: The TV Show''. He was absent from ''Catfish'' for several episodes in the fourth seaso ...
* 2011: '' Win Win'' as Kyle Timmons
* 2013: '' The Lifeguard'' as Matt
* 2014: ''
Runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock marke ...
Delinquent
Delinquent or delinquents may refer to:
* A person who commits a felony
* A juvenile delinquent, often shortened as delinquent is a young person (under 18) who fails to do that which is required by law; see juvenile delinquency
* A person who fa ...