Film and Television Career
During one performance in 1988, he was spotted by a casting director, and was asked to audition for the Michael J. Fox film Bright Lights, Big City. This led to his first film appearance, as the younger brother of Fox's character.
Charlie starred in 1988's Heartbreak Hotel (directed by Chris Columbus) where he kidnaps Elvis Presley to make his mother (Tuesday Weld) happy. His most highly acclaimed role in an American film was in the 1988 film, 18 Again!, in which his 18-year-old character swapped body and mind with his 81-year-old grandfather, played by George Burns. His work in this film was described as "displaying enormous range and extraordinary skill as an actor in his comedic starring role".
Schlatter also starred in the successful 1989 Australian film, The Delinquents with co-star Kylie Minogue. In 1990, he was cast in the role of Ferris Bueller for NBC's sitcom Ferris Bueller, which was based on the John Hughes film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. In 1992, he co-starred in Sunset Heat with Michael Paré, Dennis Hopper and Adam Ant. In 1994, he starred in Police Academy: Mission to Moscow as Cadet Kyle Connors.
In 1996, Schlatter began his role as Dr. Travis on the television series Diagnosis: Murder. His character was introduced as a comic relief character in the third season after Scott Baio's character moved to Colorado, and never returned. Schlatter remained with the show for the next five seasons, until the end of the series in 2001. During the series, he began writing episodes, such as "A Resting Place".
Schlatter was initially cast as Philip J. Fry, one of the main characters in the animated series Futurama, which premiered in 1999. Due to a casting change, Billy West landed the role after auditioning for the part again. In early 2007, Schlatter appeared in the films Out at the Wedding and Resurrection Mary.
Read more about this topic: Charlie Schlatter
Famous quotes containing the words film and, film, television and/or career:
“The obvious parallels between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz have frequently been noted: in both there is the orphan hero who is raised on a farm by an aunt and uncle and yearns to escape to adventure. Obi-wan Kenobi resembles the Wizard; the loyal, plucky little robot R2D2 is Toto; C3PO is the Tin Man; and Chewbacca is the Cowardly Lion. Darth Vader replaces the Wicked Witch: this is a patriarchy rather than a matriarchy.”
—Andrew Gordon, U.S. educator, critic. “The Inescapable Family in American Science Fiction and Fantasy Films,” Journal of Popular Film and Television (Summer 1992)
“This film is apparently meaningless, but if it has any meaning it is doubtless objectionable.”
—British Board Of Film Censors. Quoted in Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s Companion (1984)
“It is not heroin or cocaine that makes one an addict, it is the need to escape from a harsh reality. There are more television addicts, more baseball and football addicts, more movie addicts, and certainly more alcohol addicts in this country than there are narcotics addicts.”
—Shirley Chisholm (b. 1924)
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)