Where Boy Meets World star Rider Strong is now from 90s teen heartthrob to doting dad
BOY Meets World star, Rider Strong, was a teen hearthrob in the 90s, but what is he up to today?
From 1993 to 2000, Rider played Shawn Hunter, Cory’s best friend, who had a rebellious attitude and was popular.
Shawn’s storylines often dealt with serious issues, including being abandoned by his stepmother and losing his father after being reunited with him.
Boys Meets World was about a boy named Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) who tried to juggle school, friends, and romance.
It aired on Friday nights on ABC for seven seasons.
After Boys Meet World wrapped, Rider was not seen for a while and seemed to have quit Hollywood.
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WHY HE LAID LOW
Hollywood didn’t want to cast him anymore because Rider claims he was hard to deal with.
In an interview with Vice in 2019, the former actor admitted that he wanted to be considered a serious professional on set and gave the people behind the scenes a hard time about it.
“There was definitely a period where I thought I was way cooler than ‘Boy Meets World,'” he told Vice.
At 13 years old, he had other aspirations including wanting to be a poet and academic writer, but was told no.
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He didn’t like being famous and was aware that people didn’t like that, especially from someone who was on a successful TV show.
The more mature storylines followed to keep Shawn happy, but nothing worked.
Rider nearly quit Boy Meets World, but stayed until the end with his parents’ support.
FROM ACTING TO COLLEGE
After Boy Meets World ended, Rider enrolled in Columbia University, where he pursued a degree in education, according to his website.
Continuing on with his education, he recieved his Masters of Fine Arts in Fiction and Literature from Bennington College.
During that time, he did star in the 2002 flim, Cabin Fever, for which he took a semester off, and a US tour and Australian production of The Graduate.
WHERE ELSE HAVE YOU SEEN HIM?
Rider did act in smaller roles after BMW including the sequel to Cabin Fever, Borderland, Spy School, Invasion America, Mighty Magiswords, Kim Possible, short films, and a few other films and tv shows.
But, the most notable besides Boy Meets World is probably his return to network television in Girl Meets World.
Rider reprised his role of Shawn in the 2014 sequel, in which it centers around Riley and her friends and Cory is their teacher.
The show ran for three seasons on Disney Channel and Rider played Shawn on all three seasons.
He even directed some of the episodes, which was a stipulation in order for him to come back.
“I knew that playing Shawn again was going to be the final nail in the coffin of ever doing anything else as an actor. So I did a trade,” he told Vice.
He wound up directing 18 episodes after originally asking for seven.
MOVING BEHIND THE CAMERA
Even though Rider didn’t want to be in front of the camera, he didn’t mind being behind it.
The 42-year-old has turned to directing, producing, and screenwriting.
Besides GMW, Shawn has directed, written, and produced Typhoon: We’re In It, Irish Twins, Method, The Dungeon Master, Micah the A*****e Ghost, The Penthouse, And Buck Naked Arson.
Aside from working behind and in front of the camera, Shawn has also expressed his artistic side by writing a play called Never Ever Land.
He also currently has a weekly podcast, Literary Disco, where where he talks about books with two of his friends from college.
“I can exist on there as Rider the book guy, not Rider from Boy Meets World, and that’s really important to me,” he told Vice.
FAMILY LIFE
These days, Rider is more focused on being a good father and husband, more than anything.
He married actress Alexandria Barreto (Mayans M.C.) in 2013, after being engaged for only ten months.
They met while filming the 2006 TV series, Pepper Dennis.
Rider and Shawn have one child together, a son named Indigo “Indy” Barreto Strong, who was born in December 2014.
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He has not starred in a major motion film since 2013, but continues to work behind the scenes often.
Rider is still meeting fans, however, by traveling to different fan conventions around the US.
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