Biography
This page uses content from the Nicholas Brendon biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Nicholas Brendon (born April 12, 1971 as Nicholas Brendon Schultz in Los Angeles, California), is an actor best known for his character Xander Harris in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). He has an identical twin brother named Kelly Donovan.
Biography
When he was younger he had aspirations to be a professional baseball player, but was forced to give up the dream after an arm injury. At the age of 20 he decided to get into acting to help him get over his stuttering problem, but gave it up after two years because, "I couldn't stand the politics in Hollywood." He decided instead to go back to school and study medicine, but this did not work out. He also tried his hand at a variety of other jobs including being a plumber's assistant, veterinary janitor, day care counselor, waiter, and a production assistant for the TV show Dave's World. He gave acting another try after being fired from many of these jobs. It only took two months of auditioning before he landed his role of Xander on Buffy.
This role was initially that of the occasional comic relief and plucky sidekick to the lead female characters but after the earlier seasons the less comedic lines given to the part more often portrayed the character as an occasional buffoon.
Brendon was the first person to serve the role of honorary chairperson of the Stuttering Foundation of America's Stuttering Awareness Week for three consecutive years, from 2000-2003.
Recent history
On April 25, 2004 at a Buffy fan convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Brendon announced that he had voluntarily entered rehab for alcoholism.
In 2005, Brendon joined the cast of a new Fox sitcom, Kitchen Confidential, based on the book by chef Anthony Bourdain. Thirteen episodes were made, but the series was cancelled on December 9 of the same year, after the fourth episode aired with low ratings.
Brendon has an identical twin brother, Kelly Donovan, who is three minutes older than he, and served as his occasional stand-in on Buffy. Kelly also played the part of Xander’s double in the episode "The Replacement".
He is currently playing Huntsboy #89 for season 2 (2006-2007) of the animated series American Dragon: Jake Long.
Brendon co-starred in the play Lobster Alice with Noah Wyle in Los Angeles from July 26 through August 30, 2006.
He is also featured in the ABC Family TV movie Relative Chaos, which reunited him with former Buffy on-screen sweetheart, Charisma Carpenter.
He recently announced that he and actress Tressa di Figlia are divorcing.
External links
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