Jersey wrestler takes his game to the big screen

Alex Shaffer sees a lot of similarities between wrestling and acting, but one major difference.

"I can eat as much as I want," Shaffer said of his new life as a former wrestling star and rising acting star, thanks to his critically acclaimed performance in the movie Win Win.

Shaffer, 17, said he used to be "the meanest person in the world" when he had to cut weight to make the 119-pound limit as a sophomore at Hunterdon Central (N.J.) High School in Flemington, Hunterdon County.

Shaffer was good enough to go 34-0 that season and win the 2010 state championship at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

As it turns out, the state-title victory was his final wrestling match. A combination of his stunning acting success and a back injury persuaded him to give up the sport for the stage.

"I never really thought about how similar they are until people started to ask me," Shaffer said of wrestling and acting. "When I was wrestling, I liked to put on a show. I always wanted to be the guy that people would watch and say, 'That was so cool. How did he do that move?'

"Now it's the same thing with acting. I like having people watch me when I try to do things."

Hunterdon Central coach Steve Gibble confirmed that Shaffer was a crowd-pleaser as a wrestler, both for his boundless talent and his creative style.

"He did things you couldn't coach or wouldn't coach," said Gibble, who coached Shaffer during his freshman and sophomore seasons. "He was unorthodox, to say the least. But it worked for him. Other wrestlers would love to watch him because he would do things that they couldn't do."

One South Jersey wrestler can attest to that.

"He was the funkiest wrestler I've ever faced in my life," said Washington Township's Connor Lyons, a junior who lost to Shaffer by pin during the 2009-10 season. "It's hard to describe. He would do a move that you would only do when you are fooling around with your friends in practice."

Gibble said Shaffer's daring approach in a mostly conservative sport - especially at the state-championship level - was a function of his outgoing personality.

"That's exactly the kind of person he was," Gibble said. "There wasn't a whole lot of coaching. It was more like, sit back and enjoy the show."

Shaffer said he started wrestling as a 5-year-old and also participated in judo as a youngster. "I tried other sports, but the only ones I was good at were wrestling and judo," he said.

Shaffer said he "never in a million years" thought he would become an actor. He participated in a school production of The Pirates of Penzance as sixth grader but then focused mostly on wrestling.

"Really, the only reason I was in school was to wrestle," Shaffer said.

His buddies persuaded him to audition for a part in Win Win in February 2010, just as he was gearing up for the state championships. He was called back eight times and got the part in the movie written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, 45, who was a varsity wrestler at New Providence (N.J.) High School in Union County.

Shaffer plays Kyle, a transfer student who arrives in New Providence, where the movie is set, to find his grandfather (played by Burt Young) after having run away from his troubled mother in the Midwest.

Shaffer's character is taken in by the family of the movie's central character, a lawyer and part-time wrestling coach played by Paul Giamatti.

The movie, which is now playing, earned rave reviews at the Sundance Film Festival, and Shaffer's performance has been praised as well.

"Alex Shaffer, who was cast more for his wrestling than acting, is effortlessly convincing," movie critic Roger Ebert wrote on rogerebert.com.

Shaffer said it was strange seeing himself on the screen for the first time.

"It was so weird. I kept thinking, 'Oh, I could have done that better.' "

Shaffer said he loved working with Giamatti. "He was a cool dude."

Shaffer hurt his back wrestling after the 2010 high school season, sustaining a vertebra injury that effectively ended his competitive career. At the same time, he threw himself into his new career, withdrawing from Hunterdon Central and crisscrossing the country to promote the film.

He also is taking acting classes and has hired an acting coach.

"I love it," Shaffer said of acting. "I'm giving it everything I have, just like I used to do with wrestling. I used to go to two or three wrestling practices a day, five days a week. I feel the same way about acting.

"You're playing around, trying to create these different people. To me, it's so much fun."

Shaffer, who is taking online high school courses, said he misses wrestling "more than anything." He returned to Boardwalk Hall last month to watch some of his old competitors on the mats at the old arena.

"Sometimes I really wanted to be out there again," Shaffer said. "I'll always love wrestling. But I love acting now, too."

His new career does have its advantages. He can have that extra slice of pizza, that bowl of ice cream, that slice of chocolate cake.

"Not cutting weight is the best thing in the world," Shaffer said. "I love to eat. Now I'm a fat 135."

Read reviews of "Win Win" and other movies at www.philly.com/moviesEndText