Facts and Figures

Name: Robert Scott Speedman

Birthdate: September 1, 1975

Born: London, England; moved to Toronto, Canada at age 4

Hometown: Toronto, Canada

Resides: Los Angeles, California

Family: parents Mary and the late Roy Speedman, sister Tracey, brother-in-law, and nephew Jamie.

Pre-acting: Scott was a competitive swimmer for much of his youth. He was a record-holder with the Canadian Junior National Team and was an Olympic hopeful before an injury ended his career.

Education: Graduated from Earl Haig Secondary School in Toronto; attended the University of Toronto for one year at New College.

Filmography:

Cool Stuff Scott Has Done

Can I Get a Witness/Urban Myth (1996)
Kitchen Party (1997)
Felicity (1998 – present)
Zoo Story --play (Summer 1999)
Plague Season (Spring 2002)

Stuff Scott Did As A Struggling Actor That He Probably Wishes We Didn’t Know About, But That We’re Willing to Accept Bribes to Forget About

Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1995)
Nancy Drew (1995)
Every Nine Seconds (1997)

Stuff Scott Did That We’ve Never Seen And So Can’t Judge (But If He Wants To Tell Us About Them, We’ll Be Only Too Happy To Listen)

Net Worth (1995)
Giant Mine (1996)
A Brother's Promise: The Dan Jansen Story (1996)
Rescuers: Stories of Courage: Two Couples (1997)
Ursa Major (1997)
What Happened to Bobby Earl? (1997)
Dead Silence (1997)
Hercules (1998)

Stuff Scott Probably Thought Was Cool When He Did It, But Now Wonders What He Was Thinking (Or At Least We Do)

Duets (2000)

The Story: 
It Takes a Daring Man to Drop Trou

Dare Scott Speedman to do anything and he’ll follow through—he’s that good. Speedman’s girlfriend challenged him to be an actor by auditioning through Canadian TV’s Speaker’s Corner.  He drove to the set, double-parked his car, rattled off his name and phone number, and noted he was interested in the role of Boy Wonder in Batman Forever.

His appearance on the open-forum program earned him an audition for the part.  Although his mother worried that the audition might be for a porn movie because it was being held in a hotel, Scott made it to the audition and, while he didn’t get the part, he got an agent.  Soon, he had landed some small television roles and started getting auditions.  At one particularly memorable audition, he impressed casting agents by pulling his pants down.  Yep, you read that right; the script pages he was given at his audition had lines that were blacked out.  Sneaky Speedy used his super powers to read through the blacked-out lines and realized in the script his character was supposed to pull his pants down.  “And I was wondering, is this right? I don’t know,” Speedman told Mike Bullard in Canada TV’s Open Mike talk show.  He risked, and the powers that be were impressed. Who could blame them?

In 1995, Speedman was featured in the syndicated series Nancy Drew, based on the popular fictional detective.  Scott was so proud of this role, he once told a fan in an online chat that he would “pay [her] anything” if she would burn her tapes of the episodes.  Later, Speedman appeared in A Brother's Promise: The Dan Jansen Story (CBS, 1996) and was featured in the short Can I Get a Witness? (aka Urban Myth) presented at the 1996 Toronto Film Festival.

Speedman's acting career continued throughout 1997 as he appeared in the HBO thriller Dead Silence, the CBS TV-movie What Ever Happened to Bobby Earl, and NBC's suspense movie Every Nine Seconds.  That same year he starred in the Canadian independent feature Kitchen Party.  The Gary Burns film was a hit with critics and festival audiences, even earning a rave review in The New York Times.  Behold, a shining worm – er – star was born!

In 1998, the man who bared his “little briefs” in a Canada hotel room got his big break when he was cast as Ben Covington the mysteriously enticing boy that obsessed Felicity Porter followed to New York City, on The WB's critically acclaimed college drama Felicity (1998- ).  The role of Ben had originally been awarded to Scott Foley (who plays Noel Crane on the show), but when creators and executive producers J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves saw Speedman’s sensitive portrayal of Ben on an audition videotape, they knew they had found the perfect Ben. As J.J. later told CTV, “Scott was really the first guy who I could understand why a young woman would follow him 3,000 miles.” 

And so they immediately flew him from Canada to Los Angeles, where filming on the pilot had already begun.   Fans of the show have enjoyed his touching portrayal of the complex and troubled young man as he tackles the trials and tribulations of college life, and an evolving relationship with the title character, ever since.  

During the first season of Felicity, Scott was tapped by director Bruce Paltrow to replace Brad Pitt in the feature film Duets.  Scott’s next film, “Plague Season,” is slated to be released in Spring 2002.  In the movie based on a story by James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) and written by David Ayer (Training Day), Speedman plays the integral role of Bobby Tedrow, a Los Angeles police detective who finds himself in the heart of police corruption along with his partner, played by Kurt Russell.   We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait to see it.

And thus is the story of the former up and coming swimmer who turned his passion to acting when a neck injury ended his swimming dreams.  What does the future hold for our Boy Wonder?  One thing we know for sure is that you won’t see him in the next teen comedy or slasher flick.  As Scott told Detour magazine, “I don’t want to do it . . . I’ll disappear before I do it.”  The thought of Scott disappearing horrifies us, so you’ll be happy to know that he says he hopes to be acting for a long time.  Personally, we predict a bright future for the talented and sexy young star.  But if it all went away, Scott says there’s always other stuff he can do: "I don't know what that is, but I know I'll be happy."