Gaelan Alexander Draper (formerly Connell, born May 19, 1989) is an American actor and director.

Early life and education

Connell was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

. He has two brothers, Brendan and Shawn. He graduated from

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (B-CC) is a public high school in Montgomery County, Maryland. It is named for two of the towns it serves; it also serves Kensington and Silver Spring. It is located at 4301 East-West Highway, in Bethesda. In May ...

and attended the

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...

Career

Connell appeared in 2000 in '' Chocolat'' as Didi Drou and in ''

A Dirty Shame ''A Dirty Shame'' is a 2004 American satirical sex comedy film written and directed by John Waters and starring Tracey Ullman, Johnny Knoxville, Selma Blair, Chris Isaak, Suzanne Shepherd and Mink Stole. ''A Dirty Shame'' is currently the ...

'' as "Horny Kid". He also guest starred in an episode of ''

Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...

'' . He played the lead role in ''

Bandslam ''Bandslam'' is a 2009 American musical romantic comedy drama film directed by Todd Graff who co-wrote the screenplay with Josh A. Cagan. The film stars Aly Michalka, Vanessa Hudgens, Gaelan Connell, Lisa Kudrow, Scott Porter, Ryan Donowho, an ...

'' - a high school outcast who becomes popular after he manages a band and discovers he doesn't have to change himself to fit in. In 2011 he appeared as Wyatt Black in Cartoon Network's TV Movie ''Level Up''. In 2012, he was one of the founders of California Burrito, a quick-service restaurant chain in southern India. In addition to acting, Connell is also a

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, having directed award-winning commercials for various brands as well as the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

''Blood, Sand and Gold'', which was shot in six countries on a micro-budget.

Personal life

In 2018, Connell married Meryl Draper, co-founder and CEO of Quirk Creative.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* 1989 births American male child actors American child singers American male television actors American people of Irish descent Living people Tisch School of the Arts alumni Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School alumni 21st-century American singers {{US-tv-actor-1980s-stub