Boy Meets Teen ~Teen Magazine March 1998

For the last five years, we've watched Will Friedle grow up on Boy Meets World. But what is this 21-year-old actor like off-camera? As smart as he is adorable, adventurous, and totally sweet (wait until you hear him go on about his girlfriend, Jennifer Love Hewitt)! Ahead, Will spills...
When did you know you wanted to be an actor? I was about 5, in kindergarten, and already putting on plays. Then, when I was in third grade, I went on a cattle call audition for a production of (the Lebsen play) A Doll's House. I got a small part but the week before we went on they switched me with the lead kid-I really lucked out! Ever since then I've had the bug.
Were your parents supportive? They were skeptical. They knew how much I loved acting but they also knew how much I loved archaeology, so they made sure I did well in school, that I kept up with my reading. I haven't gone to college yet, but I took some classes-I don't want to go into a subject unless I can totally immerse myself in it. I will absolutely study archaeology one day.
What do you dig-pun intended-about archaeology? I just love the past, older civilizations-what started them, what wiped them out. I think that if we study the past we can learn what's going to happen in the future. Drop me off in any natural history museum and come pick me up in a week and I'll be happy.
Ya big geek! I am, I'm a total geek when it comes to history. It was my best subject in school because I liked it. I was the type of student, if I liked something I would ace every test and start papers five weeks before they were due. If I didn't like it, I didn't care. I hated math-I wasn't bad at it, but it was the type of thing where I was just like, "I'm never, ever in my life going to use a quadradic formula!" Well, at least not as Eric Matthews! He used to be such a moron! Just stupid, asinine, stapling himself to walls and stuff. But he didn't stay like that; he worked his butt off and grew.
But you're so smart-how could you play a moron? It's fun! There are two things I love to do: the really physical, Jim Carrey kind of slapstick humor and the amazingly dry stuff. To me, bringing laughter into people's lives is the coolest thing. But my dream is to do an action movie.
Are you going to stick with the show? Yes. Boy Meets World was my big break. I love everybody on the show and I love doing it.
Besides, you don't have to worry about getting typecast since you're doing other things. Tell us about your upcoming movie. In My Date With the President's Daughter, I play this guy who can't get a date to save his life. Then he meets this girl in the mall and asks her out. Well, it turns out she's the President's daughter and she ran away from the Secret Service because she's trying to be a regular girl.
You co-starred with Love in the movie Trojan War. What was it like to work with your girlfriend? It was fun-but she wasn't my girlfriend at the time. We had a blind date about six months before, and it didn't work out, we still fight-well, not fight, but jokingly argue-about what happened: She says I didn't call her and I say she didn't call me. Anyway, once we started doing the movie things started happening. I think it would be really different to work with her now, but I'd like to.
What's the secret to a successful relationship? I think the keys are compromise, communication, and trust.
What do you guys like to do? Mostly we like to just be mellow and relax.
What else do you love? Amsterdam (in the Netherlands). There is a pulse to that city I can't even describe. I looked all over Europe and Asia and the United States and I've never felt a vibe like that anyplace else. The first time I went I stayed a week, then 10 days, then 2 weeks, and now I spend a month there every year. I stay in a room in this man's house. I think I fell in love with the place when I went to lock the front door and everyone in the house started laughing at me. The man told me: "This is my house and nobody's going to come in unless I invite him!"
Do you think there's too much sex and violence on TV? No, I think it's a mirror of society. I'm not condoning it, and I think it's wrong to throw it in gratuitously, but I don't think taking the violence off television is going to change things.
Who are your heroes? My parents, just for the kind of people that they are. You just got back from a trip home to Connecticut. What's the difference between your "boy" room at home, and your "man" room in Los Angeles? My room in Connecticut has a water bed, a really, really messy desk, and a small television set. In L.A. I have a regular bed, everything is a lot cleaner and I have a much bigger TV.