Rider Strong is back and better than ever. The child actor turned independent film star recently talked to Weekender about his new television series, his dream career and the secret dork he’s always been.

Weekender: How are you doing?

Rider Strong: I’m doing all right. I’m just sitting in my car right now on my way up to San Francisco for the weekend. I actually used to own a vineyard and my parents got really into wine, so this weekend we’re getting together and having a bottling party.

WE: Are you working a lot nowadays?

RS: No. Everything has been kind of on hold right now because I’m doing this series called “Pepper Dennis.”

WE: With Rebecca Romijn, right?

RS: Right. We got picked up, but we’re mid-season, and we’re even later than most mid-seasons because she’s doing “X-Men 3,” so the whole project is just waiting until January. So there’s not much for me to do right now. I don’t know. Who knows, maybe a little independent film.

WE: You’ve been doing a lot of those lately, right?

RS: Yeah, that’s sort of where I want to be.

WE: It’s really impressive you graduated with an English degree with honors from Columbia University. What made you want to do that?

RS: I really lucked out. I think a lot of child actors get completely screwed by the teachers they get on the set, and we didn’t. I wanted to have something else besides the acting thing. Literature is obviously one of my favorite things in the world, so that was the obvious choice, and I went right into it and I loved it. My brother and I write screenplays together basically because I know that’s the easiest way into the whole writing world for me at this point, to sell a screenplay. But I write poetry, which isn’t much of a job, or much of a living, but I’ve been getting that published in literary magazines and stuff like that.

WE: Have you sold any screenplays yet?

RS: Nope, not a single one has been sold, so that’s one of the main reasons I’m out in L.A. right now as opposed to living in San Francisco, to just start peddling scripts and making the contacts and writing as much as possible.

WE: A lot of people remember you as the teenage heart throb “Shawn” from “Boy Meets World.” Is that something you’re comfortable with?

RS: I’m not comfortable with that. I guess it depends on the situation. I used to always only get recognized by people that were only my age or younger. Now, those people are all my age. They grew up with the show, so they’re like, “Rider Strong! Oh my god I grew up in love with you!” And I’m like “What? I’m just trying to get a table for tonight.” I would like to be more than that because obviously that whole thing isn’t really based on my acting or anything I really contributed to the world. It’s just based on the fact that I was on TV and in all these teen magazines, which wasn’t always that enjoyable anyway. That’s why I’m really excited about “Pepper Dennis,” because it’s such a different character than what I played on “Boy Meets World.”

WE: What’s the character like?

RS: He’s like this really dorky, introverted guy, and coming from “Boy Meets World,” where I was sort of like this rebel, outgoing ladies man, always-in-trouble-guy, it’s really now that I can walk into a role where I can sort of be hopefully unrecognizable. I’m wearing glasses in the show and I look really sort of emo-y and he’s just this sort of dorky camera guy who can’t even get up the gall to tell Rebecca Romijn how in love with her he is.

WE: Do you connect to that character more than any of your other roles?

RS: That’s actually a good question, and I guess it’s because I think it’s funny that I played the cool character on “Boy Meets World” because I was never the cool kid growing up, and so maybe it is just closer to me now to be playing dorky guys. Every role I’ve gotten is like the nerdy, more introverted characters, so maybe that is just more me.