• Faith: Unknown
• Career: Actor
• Birthday:  December 11, 1979

Rider Strong is an actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. He’s best known for starring as Shawn Hunter on “Boy Meets World,” which he reprised in its sequel series “Girl Meets World.” He also headlined “Cabin Fever” and co-wrote and directed “Irish Twins” with his brother Shiloh. He provided the voices of Brick Flagg in “Kim Possible” and “Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama” and Tom Lucitor in “Star vs. the Forces of Evil.” In 2015, he was honored with the Young Artist Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award.

Strong was born in San Francisco, California, the second of two boys born to Lin and King Arthur Strong, who are both originally from Pennsylvania. He graduated from Nonesuch School in Sebastopol, California, in 1998. His elder brother is photographer and actor Shiloh Strong. Strong attended morning classes at Occidental College while still filming for “Boy Meets World,” accumulating a year’s worth of credit before the show ended. In 2004, he graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University as an English major and completed his Master of Fine Arts in fiction and literature in June 2009 from Bennington College. His acting career started at nine years old, when he starred as Gavroche in the San Francisco production of “Les Miserables,” alongside Larisa Oleynik as Young Cosette.

After the stage production, he appeared in minor screen roles on television. In 1992, Strong received his first regular TV series role as Adam MacGuire on “Julie.” When the series was canceled, he made his debut on film as Amy Irving’s son in “Benefit of the Doubt.” It wasn’t until he was chosen for the role of Shawn Hunter in “Boy Meets World” that he received widespread recognition. During the show’s seven-year run, he was nominated twice for the Young Artist Award and nominated once for The Hollywood Reporter’s YoungStar Award. He found it challenging to cope with his newfound fame, citing at least one breakdown at 15 while he was on a “Sail With the Stars” charity cruise.

However, in a later interview, Strong also said that he was inconsiderate about his power, having previously set up weekly six-hour roundtrip commutes back to Sonoma with his brother and mother. He permanently moved to Los Angeles when he was 16 and later attended morning classes at Occidental College. After “Boy Meets World” ended in 2000, Strong moved to New York to attend Columbia University. At that time, actors Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Anna Paquin were all registered students at the university. He took one semester off to star as Paul in “Cabin Fever,” directed by Eli Roth. He took another semester off to star in a Broadway production of “The Graduate,” opposite Jerry Hall as Mrs. Robinson.

In 2006, Strong returned to TV for a regular series role in “Pepper Dennis” on The WB. The show was short-lived and wasn’t chosen as one of the transferring shows to The CW. That same year, Strong recorded a reading for the audio version of the Anthony Kiedis biography Scar Tissue. He also had a brief cameo appearance in 2009’s “Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever.”

What religion is Rider Strong?

It’s unclear if Rider Strong identifies with a particular religion. Some sources link the actor with atheism, but Strong has never publicly claimed the religion. Since 2022, Strong has hosted the "Boy Meets World" rewatch podcast Pod Meets World with Will Friedle and Danielle Fishel.