Bio
Ethan Suplee is an American actor best known for his roles as Frankie "The Enforcer" Stechino on the sitcom Boy Meets World, from 1994-1998; and as Randy Hickey, Earl's brother, on My Name Is Earl, from 2005-2009.
His performances range from comedic roles in films such as Mallrats and Without a Paddle, to hauntingly dramatic pieces such as American History X, Blow and Cold Mountain.
His breakthrough performance as a young football player in Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington garnered him critical acclaim and led to another role opposite Washington in director Nick Cassavetes’ thriller John Q.
Suplee made his feature film debut in 1995 (alongside Earl co-star Jason Lee) in writer/director Kevin Smith’s Mallrats, where he played the memorable William Black, a young man determined to crack the mystery behind the mall’s magic eye poster.
Smith went on to cast Suplee in Chasing Amy and as the voice of Noman the Golgothan in Dogma. More comedy credits include Without a Paddle with Matthew Lillard and Seth Green, director Todd Phillip’s Road Trip and Evolution, for director Ivan Reitman.
Suplee showcased his impressive acting chops with a powerful and compelling performance in 1998 in director Tony Kaye’s American History X. He played a carelessly violent racist skinhead who tries to convince his friend (Edward Furlong) to “come back to his roots” in their gang of white supremacists.
His role of high school football lineman Louie in Remember the Titans exposed Suplee to a larger audience, and he was singled out by many critics as a fresh and welcomed screen presence, with the Hollywood Reporter calling his performance “scene-stealing.”
With Ted Demme’s 1970s drug-cartel drama Blow, Suplee continued to raise his profile, playing Tuna, the best friend of Johnny Depp’s newly turned drug dealer George Jung.
More recently, Suplee played a pivotal role of a young soldier in Anthony Minghella’s period piece Cold Mountain, with Jude Law and Nicole Kidman. He also co-starred with Ashton Kutcher in New Line’s The Butterfly Effect.
Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles, Suplee landed his first role at the age of sixteen on the popular television series, Boy Meets World. He recurred as the reluctant bully Frankie for three seasons.
In 2004, Suplee made a powerful guest-starring appearance on Third Watch, where he played a disturbed young man who filmed a video journal about his obsession with a girl.