Steven R. McQueen

McQueen made his television debut in September 2005 at the age of 17, appearing as a guest star in an episode of the short-lived CBS science fiction drama Threshold.[10] He subsequently guest-starred on a number of other CBS television series including Numb3rs, Without a Trace and CSI: Miami. One of the more notable roles since his debut was a recurring role as Kyle Hunter for seven episodes of the fourth and final season of The WB drama Everwood from 2005 to 2006.[10] His character is a teenage piano prodigy and moody loner struggling to navigate his sexuality, the coming out storyline attempting to shine a light on the struggles young people face and to show that they are not alone.[12] Whilst McQueen co-starred in a short film, Club Soda in 2006,[13] it was in January 2008 that he made his feature film debut in the Disney Channel Original Movie Minutemen, where he played the villainous role of Derek Beaugard.[14] In an interview, McQueen was asked whether it was hard being mean in the film and he replied, "You know, it was actually really fun because I'm not really that mean in real life. It's all just pretend and really fun."[15]

In March 2009, McQueen was cast as Jeremy Gilbert in The CW's television adaptation of L. J. Smith's The Vampire Diaries novels and starred for the first six seasons until 2015.[16] Gilbert was written to have left Mystic Falls for art school when it was announced that the sixth season would be McQueen's last.[17] His performance in the drama earned him a nomination for the Choice TV Male Scene Stealer Award in the 2013 Teen Choice Awards.[18] McQueen made a special appearance in 2017 in the series finale to reprise his role by helping out at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, and once more in 2018 as a special guest star in his role as Jeremy Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries' spin-off Legacies.[19] Besides being a vampire hunter on-screen, McQueen starred in a loose remake of the 1978 horror film Piranha, titled Piranha 3D in 2010, with an ensemble cast including Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O'Connell, among others. He played a socially awkward kid who fell in love with a girl two years his senior.[20]

Away from the small screen, McQueen joined fellow actors Christa B. Allen, Colton Haynes and Debby Ryan as a fashion model for the American lifestyle retailer Abercrombie & Fitch in their Spring 2014 "The Making of a Star" advertising campaign.[21][22][23] In the promotional video, he explained his inspiration of following his grandfather's footsteps to become an actor, "... I started watching my grandpa's movies and I saw what an impact he made to the world and I said to myself 'hey, I want to do that'",[24] which was further elaborated in the printed version,[25]

As a kid growing up in Detroit I longed to be a Superhero. Later on I started watching movies my grandpa (Steve McQueen) did, and I saw what an impact they made on the world. That's when I said, "Hey, I want to do that too." I go to the gym, do some martial arts, and I love poetry. I have a tattoo of my family crest, and another on my back that says 'The Road Not Taken,' which is a poem by Robert Frost. He shows that there are always choices in life, you need to embrace them and maybe even take the path that others don't.

— Steven R. McQueen, in Superhero, The Making of a Star (2014), Abercrombie & Fitch

Ten years since his acting debut, McQueen joined the cast of the NBC drama Chicago Fire, in the premiere of the fourth season as Jimmy Borrelli in 2015, a new candidate assigned to Firehouse 51.[26] McQueen was credited as a recurring cast member for the first six episodes and was added to the main cast from the seventh episode. In addition, he also guest-starred in the crossover episodes of Chicago P.D. in 2016, as part of the One Chicago franchise created by Dick Wolf.[27] At the beginning of Season 5, he took matters into his own hands during a fire call and suffered a career-ending injury. McQueen's run on the show ended in the second episode of the fifth season in October 2016.[28]

In 2018, in addition to being a special guest star in The CW's fantasy drama Legacies, McQueen co-starred in a short film, The Take Off that had its world premiere at the 2018 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.[29] He also starred in a television film for Hallmark Original Movies, Home by Spring,[30] and ended the year off by starring as the U.S. Medal of Honor recipient, awarded posthumously, Joseph Vittori in an episode of Netflix's anthology documentary series Medal of Honor.[31]

In 2020, McQueen starred alongside the lead actor Neal McDonough and co-star Casper Van Dien in a Western television film for INSP, The Warrant. He explained how he got involved in the film, "Neal's been a family friend for a long time so he called me and we had a conversation about it and he said it was gonna be a Western and we'd get to shoot some guns and have a good time..."[32]