Ricky Schroder Bio
Richard Bartlett Schroder (born April 13, 1970), known professionally as both Ricky Schroder and Rick Schroder, is an American actor and filmmaker whose career has spanned more than four decades across film, television, and documentary work. He first rose to international fame as a child actor in the 1979 boxing drama The Champ, a performance that earned him the Golden Globe for Best New Male Star of the Year and made him the youngest Golden Globe winner in history at age nine. He later built a substantial adult résumé under the shortened billing Rick Schroder, taking on dramatic roles in the Western miniseries Lonesome Dove and the long-running police drama NYPD Blue.
Beyond acting, Schroder has built a second career behind the camera as a director and producer. Through projects such as Black Cloud, Hellhounds, and his production company Ricky Schroder Productions, he has expanded his reach into directing music videos, documentaries, and family-oriented television films. His journey from child star to adult performer and filmmaker has made him one of the most recognizable faces of his generation and a frequent presence on lists of the greatest young performers in Hollywood history.
Early Life and Background
Richard Bartlett Schroder was born on April 13, 1970, in Brooklyn, New York City, and raised on Staten Island. He is the son of Richard John Schroder and Diane Katherine Bartlett, both of whom worked for AT&T before his mother left her job to raise him and his younger sister, Dawn. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants who had settled in the New York area, giving the family deep roots in the working-class neighborhoods of the city’s outer boroughs.
From an early age, Schroder gravitated toward performance and modeling. As a child, he appeared in many catalogs, and by age six he had appeared in roughly 60 advertisements. The exposure helped him develop confidence in front of the camera and gave him a foundation in commercial work that soon led to audition opportunities in feature films.
His interest in the outdoors also took root early. By age 10, he had learned to shoot a firearm under the guidance of veteran actor William Holden on the set of the film The Earthling, a friendship that helped shape his lifelong love of hunting and fishing. Those hobbies would later connect him to the wide ranch country of the American West, where he would eventually settle for many years.
Path to Acting
Schroder’s entry into professional film came through his casting in The Champ (1979), a remake of the 1931 drama of the same name. He played the on-screen son of Jon Voight’s character, and the role required both dramatic depth and physical presence in a boxing-focused story. The performance earned him immediate industry attention and a Golden Globe Award in 1980 in the newly created category of Best New Male Star of the Year in a Motion Picture.
After the success of The Champ, his parents removed him from school in the third grade to focus on his acting career. Schroder moved with his mother to Los Angeles, while his father stayed in New York to keep his position at AT&T. The young actor quickly accumulated credits, appearing in Disney’s The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark alongside Elliott Gould and starring as the title character in the adaptation of Little Lord Fauntleroy with Alec Guinness.
Television soon became his home base. He was cast as the lead in the sitcom Silver Spoons, where he played Ricky Stratton, the son of a wealthy and eccentric millionaire played by Joel Higgins. The series ran from 1982 to 1987 and earned him two Young Artist Awards, cementing his status as one of the defining child stars of the early 1980s.
Ricky Schroder Career
Early Career (1979–1987)
Schroder’s earliest professional years were defined almost entirely by his work as a child performer. His debut in The Champ was followed by a string of family-friendly projects that established him as a marketable young leading man. The role in Little Lord Fauntleroy and his years on Silver Spoons brought him widespread recognition and steady employment during a period when many young actors struggled to transition between projects.
During this time, he earned two Young Artist Awards for his work on Silver Spoons, reflecting both his popularity with young audiences and his technical growth as a performer. As Silver Spoons came to a close, Schroder began exploring ways to distance himself from his child-star image, a transition that would shape his choices throughout the next decade.
Breakthrough (1988–2001)
In 1988, a year after Silver Spoons ended, Schroder starred in the CBS television movie Too Young the Hero, portraying Calvin Graham, a 12-year-old who lied about his age to enlist in the Navy during World War II. The dramatic role marked a clear shift toward more serious material and gave him a chance to demonstrate range beyond sitcom work. He also appeared in the 1990 film Across the Tracks as the younger brother of Brad Pitt’s character.
His true breakthrough as an adult performer came with the 1989 Western miniseries Lonesome Dove and its sequel, Return to Lonesome Dove. The role helped audiences and casting directors see him as a mature actor capable of carrying dramatic weight. He followed that success with a memorable three-season run as Detective Danny Sorenson on NYPD Blue between 1998 and 2001, a part that earned him renewed critical attention and introduced him to a new generation of viewers.
Throughout this period he also took on supporting roles in popular series, including parts in Scrubs, Strong Medicine, and the 2007 season of 24. In the fall of 2002, he hosted the ESPN2 outdoor program The New American Sportsman, a remake of the long-running classic The American Sportsman. Each step reinforced his standing as a reliable dramatic actor with a broad range of credits.
Notable Works and Milestones
Schroder’s signature works include The Champ (1979), Silver Spoons (1982–1987), Lonesome Dove (1989), NYPD Blue (1998–2001), and the film Black Cloud (2004), which he also wrote and directed. His performance in The Champ remains his most iconic early role, while NYPD Blue is widely considered his defining adult performance. His directorial work on the music video for Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss’s “Whiskey Lullaby” brought him industry awards and a new creative identity behind the camera.
Ricky Schroder Award Nominations
Over the course of his career, Schroder has received recognition from a range of industry organizations, including the Golden Globe Awards, the Young Artist Awards, the Phoenix Film Festival, the San Diego Film Festival, the Nashville Film Festival, and the CMT Music Awards. His earliest nomination arrived in 1980 when he competed for, and ultimately won, the Golden Globe for Best New Male Star of the Year in a Motion Picture for his performance in The Champ, making him the youngest Golden Globe winner in history at age nine. He later earned additional recognition through two Young Artist Awards tied to his work on Silver Spoons, as well as nominations and honors for his directorial and music-video projects in the mid-2000s.
Ricky Schroder Awards Won
Schroder’s verified award wins span film, television, and music-video work. He took home the Golden Globe for Best New Male Star of the Year in a Motion Picture in 1980 for The Champ, two Young Artist Awards for Silver Spoons, two honors at the Phoenix Film Festival for Black Cloud, a Best Director award at the San Diego Film Festival, a Best Music Video award at the 2005 Nashville Film Festival for “Whiskey Lullaby,” and a Director of the Year award at the 2005 CMT Music Awards for the same video. These wins reflect both his early success as a child actor and his later reputation as a versatile filmmaker.
Ricky Schroder Family
Schroder married Andrea Bernard on September 26, 1992, and the couple had four children: Holden, Luke, Cambrie, and Faith. The family appeared together in the 2013 Hallmark Channel film Our Wild Hearts, which Schroder also directed, produced, and starred in. He and Andrea separated in 2016, and she filed for divorce later that year. On July 9, 2025, Schroder married Julie Trammel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Personal Life
Beyond his family, Schroder is widely known as an avid hunter and fisherman. He spent sixteen years owning a 15,000-acre ranch near Grand Junction, Colorado, adjacent to the Grand Mesa National Forest, where he pursued outdoor interests between film and television projects. He attended Calabasas High School in California and later enrolled at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado, after completing his early acting career. In 2000, he joined his then-wife’s faith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a personal detail he has generally kept private in interviews. He has also been a vocal advocate for military service, producing the documentary series The Fighting Season after spending 110 days in Afghanistan with the U.S. military in 2014 to capture footage for the project.