Chris Klein Is ‘Finally’ Being Offered Dream Roles 3 Decades Into His Career: ‘Door’s Wide Open’ (Exclusive)

Chris Klein has been a household name since becoming a Hollywood heartthrob in the ‘90s — but the actor feels like he’s just now hitting his stride.

“It’s been a journey. I’m finally at a place in my career where these parts are becoming available to me,” Klein, 46, exclusively told Us Weekly while discussing his new film Fear Street: Prom Queen. “Directors and studios and wonderful producers … are starting to see me in [certain roles] a little bit more than they would’ve, and rightfully so, earlier in my career.”

Klein first made a name for himself in the late ‘90s and early aughts by starring in cult classics like 1999’s American Pie, 2000’s Here on Earth and 2005’s Just Friends. He’s since found a whole new generation of fans by landing a leading role on Netflix’s cozy family drama Sweet Magnolias.

While his character, Bill Townsend, was killed off the series in a shocking season 4 twist earlier this year, Klein’s schedule hasn’t slowed down. His latest project, Fear Street: Prom Queen, hit Netflix earlier this month and is the latest installment in the franchise based on R.L. Stine’s book series.

While each Fear Street film has its own special affinity for gore, Prom Queen leans more into the laughs than its predecessors, which is something that drew Klein in immediately.

“It was the reason I wanted to do the movie,” he confessed. “What’s really cool about the tone of this film is it leaps off Matt Palmer [and Donald McLeary’s] screenplay. So much so that I really thought, ‘Am I putting this on it?’ Because that’s really kind of a part of the ‘80s and ‘90s horror genre that I really appreciated. A bit of the camp.”

Klein portrays Dan Faulker in the film, the high school health teacher, Queen Bee Tiffany’s (Fina Strazza) dad and — spoiler alert — the red-hooded serial killer murdering teens one by one.

Klein knew going into Prom Queen that the campy approach would be a “big choice” that required finding the right “balance” between humor and horror. Lucky for him, Klein nailed his audition — and Fear Street’s next big bad was born.

“We worked with the balance a lot,” Klein said of collaborating with Palmer, who also directed the film, on tone. “There was a lot of talk about, ‘How much do we wink?’ And it’s a fine line because if you wink too much, then the audience is gonna know you’re in on the joke and then it becomes something different. Then it becomes almost a parody. We needed to stay away from that for the scares to work.”

Prom Queen certainly lands its scares — a prom queen hopeful getting her intestines carved out is just one example of the many brutal kills. And despite his desire to be the funny guy, there’s no denying that Klein knows how to play a villian.

The levels of antagonism, of course, differ: Sweet Magnolias’ Bill is a cheating husband and somewhat absentee father while Prom Queen’s Dan is a literal serial killer of children. It’s that nuance, however, that draws Klein in as an actor.

He explained, “Sweet Magnolias was such a wonderful opportunity because [showrunner] Sheryl Anderson and I worked so hard at finding the balance of, if Bill’s made bad choices, does that make him a fundamentally bad guy? And people say, ‘I really want to dislike Bill, but you make it really hard to do that!’ They’ll say something like that and I think, ‘Oh, we did it. The choices worked.’ But Dan Faulkner is a whole different thing.”

Klein pointed out that while many of his peers, including Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Neve Campbell, were finding names for themselves in the beloved horror flicks of the ‘90s (I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream and Urban Legends to name a few), Klein took a “different path” to stardom. Prom Queen, he said, was his chance to go back in time.

“A lot of young actors coming up, [horror is the] genre that they come up in and where they hone their skills and start making a name for themselves. And I had a different track. I kind of missed my young guy, teenager, running around a horse at opportunity,” he said with a laugh. “And so I came to this with eyes wide open and thought, ‘Well, gosh, this about, experimenting and having those experiences that I haven’t had the opportunity to have. Fear Street: Prom Queen was definitely one of those.”

Playing the villain means Klein’s children will have to wait to watch his movies. “They’re still too young to have seen any of my work,” Klein, who shares son Frederick, 9, and daughter Isla, 7, with wife of 10 years Laina Rose Thyfault, said. “We haven’t shown them. But they do know what dad does for a living, and they do know that sometimes people will come up and want to say hello. And we stop and we take some time with folks and that’s always fun.”

Klein noted that while his kids aren’t always excited about their dad having to travel for work, they do understand that his job often comes with some serious perks: “Sometimes they get to come visit, and that’s super fun. So you know, we’re sorting out that balance as we go.”

Right now, Klein is taking it day by day in all facets of his life and is still clearly riding high off his role in Fear Street. But with both Dan and Bill six feet under, the question becomes: what’s next? For Klein, nothing is off limits.

“The door’s wide open. I think [there’s] danger is constraining yourself to a specific [genre]. In my career, I’ve been very fortunate to have different experiences and to have opportunities come my way that seem new and fresh or something that I’ve never, ever done before. That’s the exciting part,” he told Us. “One of the greatest things about show business is you just never know what’s around the corner.”

Fear Street: Prom Queen is on Netflix now.