Michael Schoeffling
Michael Earl Schoeffling is an American former actor and model. He is known for playing the roles of Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles, Kenny "Kuch" Kuchera in Vision Quest, Corey Burck in Let's Get Harry, Joe Perretti in Mermaids, and Al Carver in Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.
He retired from acting in 1991.
Early life and education
Schoeffling was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and raised in South Jersey. He graduated from Cherokee [High School (New Jersey)|Cherokee High School] in Evesham [Township, New Jersey]. He attended Temple University in Philadelphia, where he majored in liberal arts. In the mid-1980s he began modelling for GQ, and photographer Bruce Weber paid for his acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan.Acting career
Schoeffling came to international prominence at the age of 23 for his role as Jake Ryan, the popular yet sensitive high school athlete on whom Molly Ringwald's character has a crush in the teen film Sixteen Candles. For Valentine's Day in 2004, twenty years after the film's American premiere, The Washington Post published an article entitled "Real Men Can't Hold a Match to Jake Ryan of Sixteen Candles", which discussed the character's enduring appeal.He appeared in eight additional films after Sixteen Candles, including supporting roles in Vision Quest and Mermaids, and starring roles in the 1986 action film Let's Get Harry and 1991's Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.