Paul Schneider

Handsome in a laid-back, scruffy sort of way, Paul Schneider has played his share of lady-killers in film (All the Real Girls, the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) and on TV (Parks and Recreation). Based partly on his real life, his role in David Gordon Green's All the Real Girls was his break-out performance and the reason I'll always be just a little bit in love with him.  He plays the town Lothario who decides to take it slow with his best friend's sister.  Paul's performance is sweet, tender, and occasionally swoon-worthy, but he doesn't shy away from his character's angry and insensitive tendencies either.  If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it.  It's one of the best dramas about young people in love.  Look for before-they-were-famous performances by Danny McBride and Zooey Deschanel too.

He has also given several interesting performances in supporting roles.  In Lars and the Real Girl, he played Lars's brother, Gus, who is the only character in the movie that seems disturbed by Lars's relationship with the Real Girl doll.  Gus is sort of a stand in for the audience with his skepticism towards the relationship and Paul gives a funny and realistic performance.  Director Jane Campion was so impressed with his performance in the western epic Assassination of Jesse James that she cast him as the Scottish poet Charles Brown in Bright Star.   Brown was a close friend to poet John Keats, who tries to sabotage Keats relationship with neighbor Fanny Brawne.  His performance as Brown earned him a National Society of Film Critics award for best supporting actor. 

Paul Schneider's star is definitely on the rise.  Recently he decided to leave Parks and Recreation after this season so he can act in more movie roles. Check him out in one of the DVDs we have available at the library:

Parks and Recreation: Season 1.
Find it in the Catalog.

Away We Go.
Find it in the Catalog.

Bright Star.
Find it in the Catalog.

Drunk History: Episode 4.
Find it on the Web.

Lars and the Real Girl.
Find it in the Catalog.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Find it in the Catalog.

The Family Stone.
Find it in the Catalog.

Elizabethtown.
Find it in the Catalog.

All the Real Girls.
Find it in the Catalog.

George Washington.
Find it in the Catalog.