Paul Scherrer's fourth grade teacher advised his parents to enroll him in a drama class because of his enormous energy. An audition for "A Christmas Carol" garnered him the part of Peter Cratchit. By the age of 13 he had earned an Encore Award (Central Indiana's version of a Tony) for best performance by a child actor for his role in "Camelot". He appeared in both regional and national television commercials as well. Completing his freshman year at Chicago's Loyola University, he signed up for summer work in "The Grapes of Wrath" just before he was informed that he had been chosen to play the 16 year old janitor, Eric, on the Van Dyke Show. This led to Paul's moving to Los Angeles. Paul is very close with his business-manager father, Paul Sr., a real estate salesman, his mother, Gay, a travel agency owner, and his siblings, older sister, Stephanie, and younger brother, Christopher.