Johnathon was born September 10 1969 in Edgewood, Maryland USA, and is the only son of Joanne and Joseph Schaech. His father was a beat cop in Baltimore City. He also has a sister Renee.
When Johnathon was 19 he left the University of Maryland and moved to Los Angeles - driven by a need for a defining purpose in life. He started by studying with acting legend Roy London for four years until he landed the lead role in Franco Zefferelli's film Storia Di Una Capinera (Sparrow). He also trained in voice, dialect and posture with RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in London and studied with the Actor's Studio in New York. After Roy's tragic death in 1993, Johnathon went on to study with Cameron Thor and remains there to this day. Johnathon was also a part of the Electric Theatre Company in LA.
In 1994 after almost a year filming in Europe, Johnathon landed plum roles in Jocelyn Moorehouse's How To Make An American Quilt opposite Winona Ryder and Greg Araki's cult classic The Doom Generation.
Hollywood then started taking notice...!!!
Tom Hanks cast him as the lead rocker in another cult classic That Thing You Do. He then took the lead role opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Lange in the thriller Hush. After these studio films, Vanity Fair announced he was a leading man to watch out for - but Johnathon chose to back away from the limelight - taking roles in Independent films such as Greg Araki's Splendor and Stephan Elliott's Welcome To Woop Woop. He then chose roles that allowed him to work with other great actors such as Kenneth Branagh in How To Kill Your Neighbor's Dog, Harvey Keitel in Finding Graceland and Ray Winstone and Guy Pearce in Woundings (Brand New World). Shortly after, Johnathon went on to play the title roles in Pen Densham's Houdini and Tom Fontana's Judas. Johnathon recently appeared opposite Heather Locklear in Nora Robert's Angels Fall, where he not only sizzled and smouldered on the screen, but won the hearts of around 5 million viewers.
Always in pursuit of meaning, Johnathon partnered up with long time friend Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications) and the pair formed their film production company Chesapeake Films - in which they have found success adapting novels into screenplays for the likes of Stephen King, Akiva Goldsman, SONY and MGM. In 2007 they also wrote the screenplay for the now classic The Washingtonians which is a fan favourite of Showtime's Masters of Horror Series - Season 2.
His recent credits include number one box office hits TAKERS, QUARANTINE, and PROM NIGHT - in the latter he received an MTV nomination for Best Villain.
Soon to be released this summer: Johnathon can be seen in Renny Harlin's action drama 5 DAYS OF WAR and just finished filming the drama HIDDEN MOON opposite Wes Bentley and DARK CIRCLES directed by Broken Lizard’s Paul Soter...
He is also a successful screenplay writer having just scripted CAUGHT STEALING for Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison which will go in front of cameras next summer.
Johnathon has trained in boxing and taekwondo and is currently studying Krav Maga.
Written successful screenplays
The Circle - Lewis Shiner
Eater - Peter Crowther novel
Black House - Stephen King novel
From a Buick8 - Stephen King novel
The Poker Club -Ed Gorman novel
The Washingtonians - Bentley Little novel
The Hour Before Dark - Douglas Clegg novel
Road House 2 - original script
Heroes - Short film featuring Djimon Hounsou
Miserable Comforters - Winner - Best Feature Film - New York International Independent Film & Video Festival 2001
Starred
opposite award
winning
actors
Including Mena
Suvari, Matthew Modine, Brad
Renfro, Columbus Short,
Jennifer Carpenter, Steve Harris, Brittany Snow, Judy Reyes, Lori
Heuring, Johnny
Messner, Loren Dean, Heather Locklear, Will Patton, Jake Busey, Clifton
Collins Jr, Tamara
Braun, Tom
Hanks, Jeffrey Tambor, David Arquette,
Vanessa Redgrave, Winona Ryder, Ann Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Rose
McGowan, Alyssa Milano, Liv Tyler, Charlize Theron, Rod Taylor, Gwyneth
Paltrow, Jessica Lange, Harvey Keitel, Bridget Fonda, George Segal,
Mark Ruffalo, Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Natasha Henstridge, Lauren
Hutton, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jennifer Garner, Brooke Shields,
Kenneth Branagh, Robin Wright Penn, Lynn Redgrave, Jamie Kennedy, James
Caan, Lisa Lackey, Jennifer Beals, Djimon Hounsou, Burt Young, Tim
Matheson, Hal Holbrook, Emile Hirsch and many many others ......
Worked
with award winning
directors, producers and writers
Including
Tim McCann (The
Poker Club), Drew
& John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine, The Poughkeepsie
Tapes), Pepe Bojorquez
(Sea of Dreams), Jace
Johnson & Bethany Ashton Wolf (Little Chenier), Richard Jefferies
(Living Hell, Cold Creek Manor) Nelson
McCormick (Prom Night) Peter
Medak (The Washingtonians), JS
Cardone (Prom Night, Mummy
an' the Armadillo, The Forsaken, 8MM 2), Tom Fontana (Judas,
OZ), Greg Araki
(Splendor, Doom Generation), Pen
Densham (Houdini, Alienshop - Outer Limits, Tank Girl ), Stephan Elliott
(Welcome to Woop Woop, The Adventures of Priscilla-Queen of the Desert,
Tom Hanks
(That Thing You Do), Jocelyn
Moorhouse (How To Make An American Quilt), Richard Friedenberg (Suzanne's
Diary for Nicholas), James
Patterson (Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, Along Came a
Spider, Kiss the Girls), Stephen
King (Black House, From A Buick 8, The Green Mile, The
Shining, The Shawshank Redemption), Nora
Roberts (Angels Fall), Carl Franklin
(Partners, The Riches), Kiefer
Sutherland (Fallen Angels, 24, The Lost Boys), Sean Penn (21
grams, Mystic River), Bruce
Campbell (Brisco County Jr, Evil Dead, Spiderman 1/2/3)
and Franco
Zeffirelli (Sparrow).