Background
Schoeffling was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and raised in South Jersey.
Schoeffling was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and raised in South Jersey.
He graduated from Cherokee High School in New Jersey, and majored in Liberal Arts at Temple University in Philadelphia.
In the mid-1980s he began modeling for Gentlemen’s Quarterly, and photographer Bruce Weber paid for his acting classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan. Schoeffling came to international prominence at the age of 23 for his role as Jake Ryan, the popular yet sensitive high school athlete whom Molly Ringwald"s character has a crush on, in the teen film Sixteen Candles. Foreign Valentine"s Day in 2004, twenty years after the film"s American premiere, the Washington Post ran 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 roles in Vision Quest and Mermaids, and a starring role in the 1986 action film Let"s Get Harry and 1991"s Wild Hearts Can"t Be Broken.
Schoeffling retired from acting in 1991. In various magazine and newspaper interviews, he stated that the lack of roles and a growing family to feed were his reasons for retiring.
Since giving up acting, he has produced handcrafted furniture as the owner of a woodworking shop.