Breckin Meyer was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Dorothy, a travel agent, and Christopher Meyer, a management consultant. He was raised in Los Angeles, went to grade school with
Drew Barrymore, and attended Beverly Hills High School with
Joshua John Miller and
Branden Williams. It was Barrymore who introduced Breckin to her agent, after which he started doing commercials and the game show
Child's Play (1982).
After being accepted to California State University at Northridge, Breckin decided to put school on hold and pursue acting. He has always wanted to be a kindergarten teacher and may still do that in the future. Breckin was the drummer in the Streetwalking Cheetahs with his brother, Frank, which recorded a demo in 1995. He was the lead vocal on two songs, "Carnival" and "Dave". During 1995-1996, the band played about 10 gigs around Los Angeles. The Streetwalking Cheetahs' second album, "Overdrive" and their new album, "Live on KXLU", feature songs written when Breckin was still in the band. These songs include "None of Your Business", "All I Want", "Peppermint", "Thought that Crosses My Mind" and "Turn Me Down". After the Streetwalking Cheetahs, he started his own band, Bellyroom, with
Seth Green and
Alexander Martin,
Dean Martin's grandson. They played a few gigs around Los Angeles in 1996.
Breckin's friends include
Ryan Phillippe,
Josh Holland (
USA High (1997)) and
Seth Green. His best friend is
Ryan Phillippe, with whom he starred in
54 (1998). Breckin was married to
Deborah Kaplan, who wrote and directed
Can't Hardly Wait (1998), in which Breckin had a cameo.
Breckin's hobbies include playing drums, video games and sometimes sports. He's a big fan of
Sean Penn,
Robert De Niro,
Al Pacino and
Richard Dreyfuss.