Friedle was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the son of Patricia Joan and Gary Allen Friedle, both lawyers. After committing himself to becoming an actor, Friedle continually commuted from Avon, Connecticut to New York City for auditions. He graduated from Avon High School in 1994. Friedle is credited on school brochures as having attended Occidental College. However, when interviewed on the February 11, 2019 episode of Critical Role: Between The Sheets, he admitted having never attended the school. He stated that he learned he was being inaccurately credited by Occidental College as being an alumnus when his nephew visited the school and showed him the information package. Additionally, he stated that he studied Latin for six years because he intended to become an archaeologist eventually. In the July 4, 2006, issue of People, Friedle mentioned he had thought about attending culinary school.
Career
After co-hosting Nickelodeon's Don't Just Sit There for three seasons, Friedle was cast as Cory Matthews' likeable but underachieving elder brother Eric on the long-running TV sitcom Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000. In 1998, he starred with Elizabeth Harnois, Dabney Coleman & Jay Thomas in My Date with the President's Daughter as part of The Wonderful World of Disney. In 2004, he co-starred with Chris Owen in the independent filmNational Lampoon's Gold Diggers. He also appeared in a supporting role in the 2005 ABC Family movie Everything You Want. Friedle was cast as Mike in the WB sitcom Off Centre, but could not accept the role because of a previous commitment to the UPN series The Random Years. The role ended up going to Eddie Kaye Thomas. Friedle voiced Seifer Almasy in the English version of the video game Kingdom Hearts II, Gideon Wyeth in the English version of the video game Advent Rising, and Jaster Rogue in the English version of the video game Rogue Galaxy. In December 2013, in spite of initial reluctance, it was announced that Friedle would reprise his Boy Meets World role of Eric Matthews on the continuation series Girl Meets World. In April 2014, it was confirmed that Friedle reprised his Batman Beyond role of Terry McGinnis on the Batman Beyond short made by Darwyn Cooke to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Batman.
Personal life
In 1997, Friedle dated actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, and co-starred with her in the romantic teen comedyTrojan War. Hewitt made a guest appearance as Jennifer Love "Feffy" Fefferman on Boy Meets World episode "And Then There Was Shawn". Friedle is best friends with actor Jason Marsden and was the best man at Marsden's wedding in October 2004. The two have also worked together in numerous productions: Boy Meets World, Trojan War, Static Shock, Kim Possible, Batman Beyond, Justice League Unlimited,, ThunderCats and Mad. He married his girlfriend, Susan Martens, on September 25, 2016, in Connecticut.
