He is known for playing the roles of Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles, Al Carver in Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, Kuch in Vision Quest, and Joe in Mermaids.
[citation needed] He attended Temple University in Philadelphia, where he majored in liberal arts.
[1] Schoeffling came to international prominence at the age of 23 for his role as Jake Ryan, the popular yet sensitive high school athlete on whom Molly Ringwald's character has a crush in the teen film Sixteen Candles.
For Valentine's Day in 2004, twenty years after the film's American premiere, The Washington Post published an article entitled "Real Men Can't Hold a Match to Jake Ryan of Sixteen Candles", which discussed the character's enduring appeal.
[1] After his acting career, Schoeffling opened a woodworking shop, producing handcrafted furniture.