Pauly Shore

Combined, these traits were a veritable mating call to MTV, who promptly created Totally Pauly to showcase his talents for appreciative teen audiences and fellow sexually charged twentysomethings. Sure enough, Shore's schtick paid off, and 1992 found the young comic starring opposite a young Brendan Fraser in Encino Man. The film's success surprised critics and Shore detractors alike, and led to a series of fish-out-of-water roles in various comedies. In Son-In-Law (1993), for example, Shore played an eccentric L.A. native who was temporarily forced to give up his California style for life on a small-town farm; in In the Army Now, Shore stepped into the shoes of an eccentric L.A. native whose scheme to reap the benefits of military life without ever stepping in harm's way backfires, to the surprise of no one. He had similar roles in Jury Duty (1995) and Bio-Dome (1996). Sadly, the decline of Shore's act coincided with the suicide of his girlfriend, porn star Shannon "Savannah" Wilsey, whose face had been seriously injured in a car crash. Though he continued to perform on television and live comedy showcases, Shore changed his style for The Curse of Inferno (1997), a slightly more serious comedy detailing the crisis-in-conscience of a dim-witted bank robber. In 2000, Shore fared relatively well in The Bogus Witch Project, a joyfully campy spoof of the The Blair Witch Project (1999). ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide