Craig Sheffer

Sheffer was born in York, Pennsylvania, where his father worked as a prison guard. He began acting in school plays while attending York Suburban Senior High School, competing in regional and state drama competitions. He attended East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania for two years on a sports scholarship, playing baseball and football, until sustaining a knee injury. He dropped out in 1980 to pursue his acting career. Sheffer moved to New York City at the behest of his then-girlfriend, but they broke up shortly thereafter, and Sheffer spent some time homeless. He "slept under the marble staircase" in Grand Central Terminal for weeks while living off Unification Church spaghetti dinners, and made a living selling newspapers.

After appearing in commercials, Sheffer was first seen on a nationwide basis as Ian Hayden on the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live in 1982, and on the short-lived primetime drama The Hamptons in 1983. In 1984, he was cast in his first film role, as the romantic lead opposite Pia Zadora in the genre-bending musical Voyage of the Rock Aliens. He also starred in the Broadway play Torch Song Trilogy, replacing Paul Joynt midway through its run. He subsequently had starring roles in films as the best friend of troubled teenager Emilio Estevez in That Was Then... This Is Now (1985), a reformatory camp inmate in Fire with Fire (1986), an antagonistic rich kid in Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), and the romantic love interest of an overweight cosmetician in Baby Cakes (1989). In 1990, he played the leading role of Aaron "Cabal" Boone in Clive Barker's horror film Nightbreed. In 1992, Sheffer starred as author Norman Maclean in the Oscar-winning biographical film A River Runs Through It, directed by Robert Redford. He then played Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Joe Kane in The Program in 1993. Sheffer's other films include Fire in the Sky (1993), Head Above Water (1996) and Sleep With Me (1994) (as the apex of a romantic triangle which included Eric Stoltz, and Meg Tilly). Sheffer played the leading role in Clive Barker's franchise sequel, Hellraiser: Inferno. He also played the main character in 1997's Bliss which starred Sheryl Lee, Terence Stamp and Leigh Taylor-Young. Sheffer played Constant Bradley in the 1996 miniseries A Season in Purgatory. He played Keith Scott on the CW Network series One Tree Hill for three seasons before his character was killed off halfway through season 3 (he also had several guest appearances in season 4). He directed the feature film American Crude, a dark comedy starring Ron Livingston and Rob Schneider; it was released straight to DVD in June 2008. Sheffer had a cameo appearance in the movie Stand Up Guys. In 2016, Sheffer starred alongside Steven Seagal in Code of Honor. In 2021, he was cast to play American President Richard Nixon on the horror anthology American Horror Story: Double Feature.

Sheffer was in a relationship with Gabrielle Anwar from 1989 until the early-1990s and they have a daughter born in 1993. Sheffer is the godfather to his ex-partner's children, Hugo and Paisley, from her subsequent marriage to John Verea.