Eric Cameron Stoltz is a theater-trained actor and producer who has starred in both independent and studio films. He was born on September 30, 1961 in Whittier, California, to Evelyn Berneice (Vawter), a violinist and schoolteacher, and Jack Hamilton Stoltz, an elementary school teacher. He has German, English, and Scottish ancestry. Eric was raised in both American Samoa and Santa Barbara, California, where by the age of fourteen, he was earning money by playing piano for the local musical theater productions, including "Mame" starring Anthony Edwards. The two became friends, and then college roommates when both attended the University of Southern California. Dropping out in his junior year, Eric joined a repertory company that did 10 plays at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. Moving to New York in 1981, he studied with Stella Adler and Peggy Feury, and soon appeared in his first film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). In the 1980s, he garnered attention (and a Golden Globe Nomination) starring as Rocky Dennis in Mask (1985), and in John Hughes' La vie à l'envers (1987). In 1988, he made his Broadway debut in Great Performances: Our Town (1989), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.
In the 1990s, he went back and forth from stage to film, building up an eclectic resume that included studio films (Pulp Fiction (1994)), independent films (Sundance Festival Winner The Waterdance (1992)), and films that he himself produced (Mr. Jealousy (1997)). He also continued to appear on the New York stage both on Broadway (Three Sisters, Two Shakespearean Actors) and off-Broadway (The Importance of Being Ernest, The Glass Menagerie). He continues to work in television as well, doing a recurring role as Helen Hunt's ex on Dingue de toi (1992), a year on Chicago Hope, la vie à tout prix (1994), and in the television and cable movies Inside (1996) (directed by Arthur Penn), Le crime dans le sang (1983) (with Robert Mitchum) and The Passion of Ayn Rand (1999) (with Helen Mirren). Eric Stoltz lives in New Mexico, and has been romantically linked to Ally Sheedy, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lili Taylor, Bridget Fonda, and most recently (in the summer of 1999 during the shooting of Chez les heureux du monde (2000)) the Australian actress Rachel Griffiths.
