Jeffrey Allan Anderson (born April 21, 1970) is an American film and television actor, director, and screenwriter best known for starring as Randal Graves in Clerks,Clerks II, and Clerks III. In between, he has appeared in other Kevin Smith-directed films and has written, directed, and starred in Now You Know.[2]
While Anderson was working at AT&T, Smith was working on his debut movie Clerks. As a joke, Anderson auditioned for the role of "Jay,"[citation needed] and based on this audition, Smith later offered Anderson a lead role as video store employee Randal Graves, a foul-mouthed apathetic slacker, who patronized, angered, and mocked his customers while avoiding any real work opportunities.
Career
For his role in Clerks, Anderson was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance.[4]
In 2002, Anderson wrote, directed, and starred in Now You Know. Writing lasted only three months. Anderson received a nomination for Best Male Performance at the Chicago Film Festival for his role in Love 101, and has been seen in Peter Bergstrom's Something Cool. Anderson also started his own production company in Hollywood.
Anderson was initially reluctant to reprise his role as Randal, but changed his mind after reading Kevin Smith's screenplay for Clerks II, and in 2006 appeared in the sequel.
On September 14, 2010, Anderson made his first appearance on Smith's SModcast filling in for Scott Mosier on SModcast #134. In his podcast, Anderson stated he had moved out of Los Angeles and into a "retirement community in the mountains" where he is "the youngest person there by 20 years." He also said he remarried in 2009, to an actress named Barbara Jacques[5] he met while house sitting for Kevin Smith.[1]
In April 2017, Anderson declined to reprise his role as Randal for Clerks III; the reasons have not been made public. An $8 million budget had been obtained, locations were being scouted in Philadelphia and a crew was being assembled, and the start of production was less than two months away. Due to Anderson's decision, production on the film was halted indefinitely, with Smith saying he would not recast the role.[6][7] On October 1, 2019, Smith announced on Instagram that Clerks III was happening and that Anderson agreed to reprise his role as Randal. "It'll be a movie that concludes a saga. It'll be a movie about how you're never too old to completely change your life. It'll be a movie about how a decades-spanning friendship finally confronts the future. It'll be a movie that brings us back to the beginning — a return to the cradle of civilization in the great state of #newjersey. It'll be a movie that stars Jeff and Brian O'Halloran, with me and Jay in supporting roles. And it'll be a movie called CLERKS III!"[8]Clerks III was released in 2022, completely rewritten from the 2017 version.[9]
↑ Cahillane, Kevin. "For the Stars of 'Clerks,' It's Take Two", The New York Times, July 16, 2006. Accessed October 25, 2007. "Mr. Anderson's film career was a happy accident. While he and Mr. Smith graduated together in 1988 from Henry Hudson Regional High School in Highlands, they were not close until Mr. Anderson began to rent movies from the video store where Mr. Smith worked."
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