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Chad Allen

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8.3 Great
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Biography

Recent Role:
Lance Robinson on Dexter
Gender:
Male
Born:
6-5-1974
Birthplace:
Cerritos, California
Birth Name:
Chad Allen Lazzari
AKA:
Chad Allen
Born June 5, 1974 in Cerritos, California, Chad Allen, whose full name is Chad Allen Lazzari, grew up in Long Beach, CA. He's the youngest of four boys, and his parents were hoping for a girl. They got one, in the shape of Chad's twin sister, Charity. Chad was the "extra change", as he puts it. Chad got his start in show business when his mother started entering him and his twin sister Charity in "twin contests" at fairs, and they won quite a few times. People kept telling his mother how cute the twins looked together, and that she should try to get the them into acting. Charity didn't much… More like show business at all, but Chad was bitten by the acting bug. It was decided that Chad Lazzari sounded like a name for a dark-haired Italian, not a blond, blue-eyed boy, and he started out on his acting career as Chad Allen instead. His first job was in a McDonalds television commercial, at age four. His first dramatic work came at age six, in a pilot for a television series that never went into production, Cutter to Houston. His first big break in a television series happened when he was eight and joined the cast of St. Elsewhere as Tommy Westphall, an autistic boy. He played that character literally until the very end, when he was the last actor on-screen in the final scene of the final episode of St. Elsewhere in 1988. During that period, he worked continuously (and sometimes simultaneously) on a succession of other successful TV shows: Webster (1985-1986), Our House (1986-1988) and My Two Dads (1989-1990). Chad filled his "spare time" by guest-starring in a whole host of other television shows, such as Airwolf, Hunter, The Wonder Years, Star Trek, The Next Generation, In the Heat of the Night, Highway to Heaven, Simon and Simon, and appeared in ten television movies. He also appeared in several stage productions, as a guest on TV game shows and in a series of public service anti-drug programs. During these years, he became one of the biggest and most popular teen idols of the day, thanks to, as he later said, "a mega publicist, who put out an image of me that seemed ideal." He couldn't go anywhere in public without being pursued by his numerous fans. As Chad later put it, "It was difficult going to the malls, or trying to do the things I wanted to do. I felt bad in that the teen magazines portrayed me as a perfect teenager." Elsewhere he commented, "I was in teen magazines all the time and in reality, what was I? A 13-year-old who's as f***ed up as every other 13-year-old across the country." By the time My Two Dads ended in 1990, Chad was unsure about whether he wanted to go on with acting. He was 16 years old, and even though he had gone to a normal primary school, he hadn't been to a regular school since age 12, instead being taught by private tutors on the set. He felt he was missing out on a lot of normal life. "I left the business, went back to high school, joined the swim team, became vice-president of my class, did everything. I tried to be a normal teenager." He now describes it as "probably one of the best decisions I ever made", even though his fame initially made life difficult for him in school. "In high school I was sneered at a lot. I was the teen magazine guy, half the kids followed me around like disciples and the other half were going to kick my ass". After high school, Chad was accepted as a student at New York University, however he decided to put off college when he was offered the part of Matthew Cooper on Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. With this new role he became one of the few former child stars to successfully make the transition to a career as an adult. When Dr. Quinn was canceled after its sixth season, Chad said, "When we shut down I wasn't so sure that we were going to come back, I wasn't so sure I was wanting to come back. In six years, we had done ten months out of every year -- which is a lot of work -- in a remote location with a lot of dirt. But over the course of our hiatus everybody had been planning on it. They'd been writing scripts and stuff. So it was just a surprise. I'll miss the people. It was a fun part for me. I had a great damn time. We put so much into it for so long, and to not have the opportunity, as actors, to say good-bye to each other has been really gut wrenching. And to not be able to say good-bye to the fans has been hard, too." Despite being busy on Dr. Quinn, Chad was one of the co-founders of The Creative Outlet theater company in 1995, and has appeared in several theater productions during the summer breaks. He considers theater to be "my first love, without a doubt." Chad has continued focusing his career on the theater since the end of Dr. Quinn, appearing in well received theatrical productions of Change at Babylon, in Los Angeles, Temporary Help, in Seattle and Westport, Connecticut and Sons of Lincoln, in L.A. Courageously, in the October 9, 2001 issue of The Advocate, Chad came out as a gay man. He also acknowledged past problems with drugs and alcohol. He also has spoken to a number of groups and at events about gay rights issues including taking part in a forum on Larry King Live on the issue of gay marriage. He has also lent his support to a large number of charities over the years, including The American Diabetes Association, The March of Dimes, Project Angel Food, the Autistic Children's Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, AIDS Project Arizona, and AIDS Project Los Angeles.

From the Forums

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  • The Donald Strachey Movies

    Feel free to discuss everything about the Donald Strachey movies here, Until now we have: Third Man Out and Shock to the System but Chad has a contract that allows him to do all the Donald Strachey movies, so if we are lucky we'll get to see a lot more of Chad as Donald Strachey. … More So has anyone seen these movies yet?

    Tactical_Cube
    2 comments, last one Oct 8, 2006
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Fans' Reviews

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  •  
    10 Perfect
    the best one of them all hide show

    Chad Allen is one of the people who is great at what he does and for him to be gay is the best because kids who are gay and wont to be actors can look up to him and see that just because they are gay does not meen that they cant get good work he is in movies now and he is going strong on what he does so for the people out there that are gay this guy is one of the men to look up to and if you wont to be a actor then go ahead and now that Chad Allen is a role model the kids that are gay

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    minnime1992 Added Jan 2, 2008 All my reviews
  •  
    9.5 Superb
    I first saw him in Star Trek The Next Generation and I wanted to see more. hide show

    I first saw him in Star Trek The Next Generation when I had bhought Season 4, I was watching Suddenly Human and I was seeing this boy. I looked on the internet who he was and found out that it was Chad Allen, after this I didn't pay any attention to him or the things he played in.

    A year later or so I was watching Charmed and saw his name again, now I'm looking for as much episodes and movies he playes in.

    I think Chad is a great person and actor, he just stands for what he is and what he believes in and I really think that's just great.

    This year he is doing the Aids Lifecycle 2006 and this is something I again think is great.

    The thing I was dissapointed in is the fact that all the shows I watch with him having a guest role is that he has very little screentime :P but the time he has makes up for that, but I think he should have his own show.

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    Tactical_Cube Added Apr 21, 2006 All my reviews
  •  
    10 Perfect
    From child actor to adult actor hide show

    Despite not agreeing with his sexual preferrance
    I still think Chad Allen is a talented actor
    In his own right despite not being known
    Like Rick Schroder was and is
    Watched from Webster and My Two Dads
    To Dr Quinn Medicine Woman
    I hope that he gets another show again
    So that I can see him on a weekly tv show
    He has the looks and the talents
    Good for him for making the transition!

    Do you agree?
     
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    JPPT1974 Added Feb 28, 2006 All my reviews
 

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