Kendall Schmidt is an American actor, singer-songwriter, and music producer. He is most well-known for his role as boy band frontman Kendall Knight in the Nickelodeon series Big Time Rush. He is currently a member of the pop group Heffron Drive.

Kendall Schmidt Bio: AGE, EARLY LIFE

Kendall Francis Schmidt was born on November 2, 1990, in Wichita Kansas (Age now age 25) to Kathy and Kent Schmidt. He is the youngest of three brothers, and his two siblings, Kevin G. Schmidt and Kenneth Schmidt, also have acting careers. Kevin is best known for playing Noah Newman in Cheaper by the Dozen (2003). Schmidt was homeschooled and did not attend prom, instead of beginning a professional acting career at just five years old. His first role was in a Chex TV commercial, and he later became Haley Joel Osment’s stand-in and body double for Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence at the age of nine.

At ten years old, Schmidt’s family moved from Kansas to Los Angeles so that all three brothers could more fully pursue acting. This opened new doors for Schmidt, who soon booked small guest roles on shows like ER, Phil of the Future, Frasier, General Hospital, and Gilmore Girls. While his most recognizable credits are in television, Schmidt also had a small part in the Tom Cruise thriller, Minority Report.

Kendall Schmidt Bio: BIG TIME RUSH

Schmidt’s big break came in 2009 when he was cast as the lead in the tween sitcom, Big Time Rush. Playing the band’s calm and collected leader, Kendall Knight, he was the last cast in a group that included James Maslow, Carlos Pena Jr., and Logan Henderson. Schmidt was initially turned down for the part but was brought back at the request of Henderson. Conceived in a similar fashion to earlier musical sitcom shows like The Monkees or Hannah Montana, each band member had a distinct personality and was also signed to the studio’s record label. Nickelodeon released their debut album BTR on October 11, 2010. It reached number three on the Billboard 200 shortly after its release and was gold-certified (i.e. sold over 500,000 copies in the United States). The show and the band achieved high success between 2009 and 2013, regularly topping music charts and receiving critical acclaim. Fluent in piano, guitar, bass, and drums, Schmidt has helped pen several of the band’s songs. This included “You’re Not Alone” and  “Cover Girl,” which were featured on their second studio album, Elevate.

The TV series allowed Schmidt to attain greater recognition in his acting career, as has since been nominated twice for an Australian Kid’s Choice Award (in 2010 and 2011) alongside his bandmates.

Big Time Rush ran for four seasons and spawned a television film, Big Time Movie, before ending in 2013. The band went on hiatus that following March. Schmidt has insisted that the band did not officially “break up.”

Kendall Schmidt: HEFFRON DRIVE AND POST BIG TIME RUSH CAREER

Following the Big Time Rush hiatus, Schmidt reconnected with former bandmate and tour guitarist Dustin Belt to create new music for their American indie pop group, Heffron Drive. Formed back in 2008 and named after the street where the two men lived in Burbank as children, the duo had taken a break during Schmidt’s time on Big Time Rush. Reviving the group, Schmidt and Belt announced a winter tour on October 17, 2013.

As a singer-songwriter, Schmidt wrote Heffron Drive’s songs and opened up exclusively to uInterview answering fan questions about his writing process. “Sometimes you can show up to the session with an idea already in your head. Some people have listed on their phones of song titles, like whole lists of song titles that they have that they think about throughout the day,” Schmidt said. “Sometimes it’s just spontaneous, at the moment, when you get there. There have been a couple of songs that I really love that are just like that, where it sorta just happened at the moment and you run with it.”

Schmidt also commented on the group’s changing musical style, insisting that “The new Heffron Drive music is, definitely, electronic. But I’m trying to keep it having acoustic elements, just because that’s where my love of music started.” He has incorporated his new music material into his own record label TOLbooth Records, which he founded in 2014. Currently, the label represents himself and Heffron Drive.

Heffron Drive has not put out any new music since 2018.

Schmidt also had a guest role on Nickelodeon’s musical sitcom School of Rock, based on the Jack Black film of the same name.

Kendall Schmidt Bio: PERSONAL LIFE

Schmidt dated bilingual pop singer Sofia Reyes and appeared in a music video for her song Conmigo [Rest of Your Life]. The couple split in 2017 and Schmidt is not rumored to be dating anyone at the moment.

He has eight tattoos, including a Scorpio zodiac sign, a heart on his sleeve, a peace sign surrounded by the elements, a sugar skull, boots, a belt buckle, a fan bracelet, and a tattoo of his dog, Sissy.

BUY NOW: Heffron Drive’s ‘Happy Mistakes’

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