source
Richard Bartlett Schroder (born April 13, 1970 in Staten Island, New York) is a Golden Globe Award-winning actor who began his career as a child actor (then and currently credited as Ricky Schroder).

He’s 37!

Schroder debuted in the 1979 remake of the movie The Champ, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best New Male Star of the Year in a Motion Picture at the age of nine. In the following year, he made a Walt Disney feature film called The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark with Elliott Gould. Although Schroder’s performance is generally recognized as good, the film bombed at the box office. He became well-known as the star of the television series Silver Spoons. As he grew older, he struggled to become known as a serious actor. He changed his name credit from Ricky to Rick and preferred to take roles which helped him to stretch as an actor.

On the January 9, 2007 edition of CNN’s Larry King Live, Schroder announced he was changing his name back to Ricky. “You know, I was 18 or 19, my agents said, “You know, you should change your name to Rick. It’ll help grow up from a kid to an adult.” And I’ve learned the last 20 years it takes more than dropping a letter from your name to help you grow up. And so I’m more comfortable being called Ricky. And so I’m going back to Ricky. It is Ricky when I was a kid. And my wife, my mom, everybody calls me Ricky. So I’m going to let that — Rick never felt right. I felt like I was trying to be something I wasn’t.”

Schroder’s co-starring role in the Western mini-series Lonesome Dove and its sequel, Return to Lonesome Dove, helped Schroder’s attempt to be recognised as a mature actor. Still, it came as a surprise to much of the public when he was chosen to act in the series NYPD Blue, notorious for its partial nude scenes.

Schroder only acted in NYPD Blue for three years, preferring to leave Hollywood with his family to live full-time on the family’s ranch in Colorado. This ranch has since been put on the market for $29,000,000, and has apparently sold. He commuted to the set of Strong Medicine, whose cast he joined for a two-year contract starting in 2005, and appeared in films even as he built a log cabin on his ranch. Schroder also appeared in several episodes of the second season of the comedy series Scrubs as nurse Paul Flowers.

Starting in 2007, Schroder has become a recurring character on the hit FOX show 24 as CTU agent Mike Doyle.

In 2004, Schroder directed and starred in the music video for “Whiskey Lullaby”, a song by Brad Paisley. This music video won an award.

Personal life:

Schroder lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, Andrea, and their four children. He is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A Bit of Trivia:

• Ranked #18 in VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest Kid Stars.
• Schroder has been playing chess since he was 7 years old and revealed that he and Kiefer Sutherland play chess on the set of 24.

Other April 13th Birthdays:

Lyle Waggoner-Actor/Carol Burnett Show -72
Edward Fox-Actor -70
Paul Sorvino-Actor -68
Tony Dow-Actor/Leave it to Beaver -62
Max Weinberg-Bandleader/Conan O’Brien -56
Saundra Santiago-Actress/Miami Vice -50
Lou Bega-Singer -32
Nellie McKay-Singer -25