Table of Biography
Casper Van Dien is an actor from the United States. Moreover, Casper Van Dien is known for his lead role as Johnny Rico in the 1997 science-fiction action film, ‘Starship Troopers.’
Early Life
Casper Robert Van Dien Jr. best known as Casper Van Dien was born on the 18th of December, 1968, in Milton, Florida, the United States of America. According to his birth date, he is 55 years old and holds American nationality.
Moreover, he has a birth sign of Sagittarius and belongs to a mixed ethnicity of Swedish-Dutch-British-French-American descent. He is the son of Casper Robert Van Dien Sr (father) and Diane (mother).
Professionally, his father was a US Navy Commander and fighter pilot and her mother was a nursery school teacher. He is related to the renowned Van Dien family, which has a strong military tradition.
Later, his family moved to Florida. Moreover, he grew up with his three sisters; Sudi Van Dien, Debbie Van Dien, and Kristin Van Dien.
Education
Talking about his academic career, he attended the Admiral Farragut Academy at the St. Petersburg campus and graduated 3rd in command.
After graduating from high school, he enrolled at “Florida State University” in Tallahassee. He was a member of the university’s “Sigma Alpha Epsilon” fraternity.
Professional Career
Modeling and minor roles
Talking about his professional career, Casper Van Dien started to work in modeling and advertising projects where he got noticed by film directors. Before getting a few breaks, he had countless minor roles in film and television.
Among these were recurring parts as ‘Tyler “Ty” Moody’ in the daytime soap opera ‘One Life to Live,’ (1993-1994) and ‘Griffin Stone’ in the teen drama television series ‘Beverly Hills, 90210.’ (1994).
In 1996, he also played a minor role in the video game ‘Wing Commander IV.’ In the 1996 sequel to the 1982 sword and sorcery film ‘The Beastmaster,’ he played ‘King Tal.’ This was followed by a major part in James Dean’s 1997 biography, ‘James Dean: Race with Destiny.’
Breakthrough
His breakthrough came when he played a young soldier named ‘Johnny Rico’ in Paul Verhoeven’s Oscar-nominated military sci-fi satirical action film, ‘Starship Troopers.’ The film was a huge success.
His strong performance in ‘Starship Troopers’ helped him get the main role of ‘Tarzan’ in the American action-adventure film ‘Tarzan and the Lost City,’ in 1998. The next year, he co-starred in the religious thriller film ‘The Omega Code’ with his newlywed wife, Catherine Oxenberg.
In the 1999 horror film ‘Sleepy Hollow,’ he portrayed the supporting character of ‘Brom Van Brunt,’ with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. Tim Burton directed the film, which was partially based on Washington Irving’s ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.’
Caption: Casper Van Dien in the 1997 science-fiction action film, ‘Starship Troopers’ (Source: YouTube)
He appeared in the 2002 black-comedy-drama film ‘The Rules of Attraction,’ as ‘Patrick Bateman,’ however, his scenes were deleted from the final cut. Meanwhile, he appeared in other television films, including the action movie ‘Cutaway,’ released in 2000.
His next major television series was ‘Titans,’ where he appeared as ‘Chandler Williams’ (2000-2001). In the television series, ‘Watch Over Me,’ he and Catherine played the antagonistic characters of Andre Forester and Leandra Thames, respectively (2006–2007).
Moreover, in the 2008 military sci-fi film ‘Starship Troopers 3: Marauder,’ he reprised his role as Rico.
Voiceover and executive-producer
Casper Van Dien voiced the character ‘Rico’ in the 2005 video game ‘Starship Troopers,’ and he also served as executive producer for the 2017 Japanese-American computer-animated military sci-fi film ‘Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars.’
He also appears in the web series ‘Mortal Kombat: Legacy,’ ‘Crunch Time,’ and ‘Deadpool The Musical 2 – Ultimate Disney Parody!’ (2018). Likewise, he joins the cast of the independent movie Daughter in 2020.
In 2022, Van Dien portrayed Samual Hyst in the television adaptation of the Aerospace book series Salvage Marines, for which he was also given producer credit. In an interview, he made a positive comparison between this role and Johnny Rico.
Awards and Net Worth 2024
For the television short “Grit,” he received the Festival Prize for Best Lead Actor in a Short Film in 2015. At the 2018 Menchville Baptist Church Christian Film Festival, he won the awards for Best Villain and Best Supporting Actor for the movie “One Nation Under God.”
As an actor and working in the entertainment industry for a long time, he has collected a huge sum of money. His net worth is estimated at around $7 million, and has not shared his income and salary.
Relationship Status
He married three times in his life. Firstly, he married actress, Carrie Mitchum from 1993 to 1997. With the marriage, the couple has two children with her, Casper Robert Mitchum Van Dien and Caroline Grace Van Dien, both actors.
Caption: Casper Van Dien with his wife, Jennifer Wenger (Source: Flickr)
After his divorce, he married Catherine Oxenberg on 8th May 1999, at Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. With marriage, the couple has two daughters. Moreover, they promote “Childhelp” in the public spotlight.
In addition, the couple separated in 2015. He married Jennifer Wenger, an actor, writer, and producer, on June 9, 2018.
Casper Van Dien – Body Measurements
Casper stands 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 74kg. Moreover, he has green eyes with brown hair color, and his waist measures 33 inches.
Caption: Casper Van Dien posing for a photo (Source: Pinterest)
Casper Van Dien – Social Media
On his Instagram page, there are more than 6.5k followers. Likewise, there are more than 1.3k followers on Twitter and more than 64k followers on Facebook.