Chad Allen (actor)
{{short description|American actor and psychologist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Chad Allen
| image = Chadallen.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Allen in 2009
| birth_name = Chad Allen Lazzari
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1974|06|05}}
| birth_place = Cerritos, California, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|
}}
| occupation = Actor, psychologist
| yearsactive = 1981–2015
| domesticpartner =
| spouse =
| website =
}}
Chad Allen (born Chad Allen Lazzari; June 5, 1974) is an American psychologist and retired actor. Beginning his career at the age of seven, Allen is a three time Young Artist Award winner and GLAAD Media Award honoree. He was a teen idol during the late 1980s as David Witherspoon on the NBC family drama Our House and as Zach Nichols on the NBC sitcom My Two Dads{{Cite web |title=VH1's '100 Greatest Teen Stars' |url=http://www.vh1.com/shows/the_greatest/episode.jhtml?episodeID=97834 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209143557/http://www.vh1.com/shows/the_greatest/episode.jhtml?episodeID=97834 |archive-date=February 9, 2012 |access-date=June 25, 2011 |publisher=VH1}}{{Cite web |title=Gay Teen Idols |url=http://www.afterelton.com/archive/elton/people/2006/7/gayidols.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610223517/http://www.afterelton.com/archive/elton/people/2006/7/gayidols.html |archive-date=June 10, 2010 |access-date=June 25, 2011 |website=AfterElton.com}} before transitioning to an adult career as Matthew Cooper on the CBS western drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. He announced his retirement from acting in April 2015.{{Cite web |last=Lazzari |first=Chad Allen |date=April 4, 2015 |title=Chad Allen's Farewell Video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiPO7_93fvE |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501133522/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiPO7_93fvE |archive-date=May 1, 2017 |access-date=February 20, 2018 |via=YouTube}}
Early life
Allen was born Chad Allen Lazzari on June 5, 1974,{{Cite book |last=Prono |first=Luca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3FYzMPH2OwC |title=Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Popular Culture |date=2008 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=9780313335990 |location=Westport, Conn. |page=11 |access-date=June 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116120559/http://books.google.com/books?id=Y3FYzMPH2OwC&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=January 16, 2014 |url-status=live}} in Cerritos, California, and grew up in Artesia. He has a twin sister named Charity and a brother named Steve Lazzari who works for Union Pacific Railroad. Allen is of predominantly Italian origin, with a "dose" of German origin.{{Cite magazine |last=Vilanch |first=Bruce |date=October 9, 2001 |title=Chad Allen: His Own Story |magazine=The Advocate |issue=848 |quote=Basically, I had been raised on the set and at the church - strict Catholic upbringing there. We're Italian, with a dose of German blood....}} He was raised in a "strict" Roman Catholic household and regards himself as being a "deeply spiritual person" because of his upbringing.{{Cite magazine |last=Schwartzapfel |first=Beth |date=March 14, 2006 |title=Chad Allen's not sorry |magazine=The Advocate |issue=958 |quote=I'm a deeply spiritual person. I grew up a Catholic boy.}} Allen attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California.
Career
Allen guest-starred on several prime time series, including an early episode of Airwolf for which he was nominated as "Best Young Actor: Guest in a Series" at the 6th Youth in Film Awards and St. Elsewhere, in which he played autistic child Tommy Westphall{{Cite magazine |last=Stacy |first=Tom |date=October 25, 2008 |title=Pride and Prejudice |magazine=Soap Opera Digest |publisher=Vol. 33, No. 44 |pages=50–52}} (1983–88). The series final episode, "The Last One", ends with the indication that all of its storylines occurred in Tommy's imagination.{{Cite web |title=Classic Series Finales: St. Elsewhere |url=http://www.tvacres.com/signoffs_finales_elsewhere.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913144744/http://www.tvacres.com/signoffs_finales_elsewhere.htm |archive-date=September 13, 2012 |access-date=October 22, 2008 |publisher=TVAcres.com}} In 1983, he appeared on Cutter to Houston, playing "a kid who got hurt and had to be given mouth-to-mouth and carried to the waiting chopper by Dr. Hal Wexler (Alec Baldwin)". "I thought it was the greatest job I had ever gotten," he later stated.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/60546531 |title=When I knew |date=2005 |publisher=Regan Books |isbn=0-06-057146-2 |editor-last=Trachtenberg |editor-first=Robert |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=112 |oclc=60546531}}When I Knew (2005), {{ISBN|0-06-057146-2}} Allen's first regular role was as David Witherspoon on Our House (1986–88).
On November 5 of that year, the three-part mini series Straight Up premiered, where he co-starred with Louis Gossett Jr. In it Allen plays a teen tempted by drugs, while Gossett plays a magical character who operates the "fate elevator", so that each time Allen is tempted by a substance Gossett takes him on an elevator ride which shows the consequence of that substance.{{Cite news |date=October 28, 1988 |title=Straight Up Fights Drug Abuse With Fantasy, Reality Scenes |work=Times-Press-Recorder |pages=22}}
In 1989–90, he had a recurring role as Zach in My Two Dads. Allen's next contract role was Matthew Cooper in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman alongside Jane Seymour (1993–98). During the final season of his run on St. Elsewhere, Allen was teamed with his sister Charity Allen on an episode of NBC's Saturday morning children's game show I'm Telling!.
Starting with Third Man Out (2005), Allen stars as Donald Strachey, a gay private detective in a monogamous relationship, in a series of television movies for the here! network based on novels by Richard Stevenson. The sequel, Shock to the System (2006), was followed by On the Other Hand, Death (2008) and Ice Blues (2008). Allen noted that Strachey is the first gay character he had ever played outside of theater and that, though his career is "different" since coming out, he finds it "more interesting and fun for me than it has ever been."{{Cite web |last=Vary |first=Adam B. |date=August 30, 2005 |title=Chad's on the case |url=http://www.advocate.com/currentstory1_w_ektid19633.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070406083228/http://www.advocate.com/currentstory1_w_ektid19633.asp |archive-date=April 6, 2007 |access-date=April 19, 2022 |website=The Advocate |issue=945}}
When Allen was cast as real-life Christian missionary Nate Saint in the docudrama End of the Spear (2006) some conservative Christians lashed out at producers for casting an openly gay man in the role.{{Cite web |last=Moring |first=Mark |date=January 26, 2006 |title=Christian Studio Explains Hiring of Gay Actor |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/news/chadallen.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060130232540/https://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/news/chadallen.html |archive-date=January 30, 2006 |access-date=April 19, 2022 |website=Christianity Today}}
In 2007, Allen starred in the film Save Me.{{Cite web |title="Save Me" Movie Official Website |url=http://www.savememovie.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015004336/http://www.savememovie.com/ |archive-date=October 15, 2008}} Developed and produced by Allen, the film was directed by Robert Cary and written by Robert Desiderio. Save Me, a film exploring the ex-gay movement, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was later picked up for distribution by independent studio Fine Line Features.
From June through August 2008, Allen appeared with Valerie Harper in Looped, a play based on an afternoon looping session with Tallulah Bankhead for the film Die! Die! My Darling!, at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California.
Starting on September 23, 2008, Allen portrayed the love interest of Dr. Kyle Julian for five episodes of the prime time SOAPnet serial General Hospital: Night Shift, a spin-off of the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital.{{Cite web |last=Branco |first=Nelson |title=Allen's Anatomy |url=https://www.out.com/detail.asp?id=24148 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924115723/https://www.out.com/detail.asp?id=24148 |archive-date=September 24, 2008 |access-date=April 19, 2022 |website=Out.com}}{{Cite web |last=Coleridge |first=Daniel R. |date=August 20, 2008 |title="Night Shift": Meet Kyle's New BF! |url=http://soapnet.go.com/soapnet/article/path-articleNum_11284/category_shows |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016053026/http://soapnet.go.com/soapnet/article/path-articleNum_11284/category_shows |archive-date=October 16, 2008 |access-date=April 19, 2022 |website=SOAPnet}}{{Cite web |last=Mitovich |first=Matt |date=August 20, 2008 |title=Romance Prescribed for GH: Night Shift's Gay Kyle |url=http://www.tvguide.com/soaps/Romance-Prescribed-GH-10081.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703181222/http://www.tvguide.com/soaps/Romance-Prescribed-GH-10081.aspx |archive-date=July 3, 2009 |access-date=October 17, 2008 |work=TV Guide}}
In April 2015, Allen confirmed in a YouTube video that he had quit his acting career to become a clinical psychologist.{{Cite web |last=Lazzari |first=Chad |date=April 4, 2015 |title=Chad Allen's Farewell Video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiPO7_93fvE |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501133522/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiPO7_93fvE |archive-date=May 1, 2017 |access-date=February 20, 2018 |via=YouTube}}
Personal life
In 1996, at age 21, Allen was outed as gay when the US tabloid The Globe published photos of him kissing another man in a hot tub at a party. The photos were sold by someone who claimed to be a friend of the couple.{{Cite web |last=Chawla |first=Sarika |date=July 3, 2008 |title=True Detective |url=http://www.inlamag.com/816/features/816_chad.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703094322/http://www.inlamag.com/816/features/816_chad.html |archive-date=July 3, 2008 |website=IN Los Angeles Magazine}} Allen has since become an activist for the LGBT community in addition to his continuing acting and producing career.{{Cite web |last=Vary |first=Adam B. |date=November 25, 2003 |title=His grown-up Christmas list |url=http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid20033.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070811170244/http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid20033.asp |archive-date=August 11, 2007 |access-date=April 19, 2022 |website=The Advocate}} On January 17, 2006, Allen appeared on CNN's Larry King Live with San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom to represent his viewpoint in a debate over same-sex marriage. Allen thanked Newsom for his attempts to legalize same-sex marriage in the city.{{Cite interview |last=Allen |first=Chad |interviewer=Larry King |title=CNN Larry King Live: Debate Over Gay Marriage |last2=Mohler |first2=R. Albert |last3=Padgett |first3=Guy |last4=Parshall |first4=Janet |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0601/17/lkl.01.html |access-date=April 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121080908/https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/lkl/date/2006-01-17/segment/01 |archive-date=January 21, 2022 |date=January 17, 2006}} Allen has been featured in The Advocate magazine multiple times and has appeared on three of its covers.{{Cite magazine |date=August 30, 2005 |title=The Advocate Issue 945 cover |url=http://www.advocate.com/toc_ektid945.asp |url-status=dead |magazine=The Advocate |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514182341/http://www.advocate.com/toc_ektid945.asp |archive-date=May 14, 2008 |access-date=April 19, 2022}}{{Cite magazine |date=November 25, 2003 |title=The Advocate Issue 903 cover |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2UEAAAAMBAJ |magazine=The Advocate |issue=903 |access-date=April 19, 2022}}
In November 2006, The Los Angeles Daily News wrote in passing that Allen's partner, Jeremy Glazer, was also in the film Save Me.{{Cite news |last=Hernandez |first=Greg |date=November 27, 2006 |title=Save Me by Chad Allen, Robert Gant and Judith Light makes Sundance |work=Out in Hollywood |publisher=The Los Angeles Daily News |url=http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/2006/11/save_me_film_by_chad_allen_rob.html |url-status=dead |access-date=October 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314222137/http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/2006/11/save_me_film_by_chad_allen_rob.html |archive-date=March 14, 2012}} In a September 2008 interview with Out.com, Allen stated that he was currently in a three-year relationship and had been sober for eight years. In October 2008, AfterElton.com stated his boyfriend to be Glazer.{{Cite web |last=Hartinger |first=Brent |date=October 19, 2008 |title=Gay Celebrity Boyfriends! |url=http://www.afterelton.com/people/2008/10/gaycelebrityboyfriends?page=0%2C2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081210090501/http://www.afterelton.com/people/2008/10/gaycelebrityboyfriends?page=0%2C2 |archive-date=December 10, 2008 |access-date=April 19, 2022 |website=AfterElton.com}} In May 2009, Allen was the recipient of a GLAAD Media Award: the Davidson/Valentini Award. In his acceptance speech he said he had met Glazer, his partner, exactly four years earlier.{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Bill |date=May 10, 2009 |title=On the Carpet at the GLAAD Media Awards – On Scene with Bill Wilson |work=San Francisco Sentinel |url=http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=26131 |url-status=dead |access-date=April 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012041030/http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=26131 |archive-date=October 12, 2013}} They broke up in 2015.
Allen graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in June 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.{{Cite web |last=Lazzari |first=Chad |title=Chad Allen - LinkedIn |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-lazzari-55096731/ |access-date=February 20, 2018 |publisher=LinkedIn}} He graduated from the Psy.D. Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, New England in 2020.{{Cite web |title=Mr. Chad Allen Lazzari |url=https://www.masspsych.org/members/?id=36737664 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910193811/https://www.masspsych.org/Human.aspx |archive-date=September 10, 2020 |access-date=August 25, 2019 |website=Massachusetts Psychological Association, Inc.}}{{Cite journal |last=Lazzari |first=Chad Allen |date=July 31, 2020 |title="Separating Rope Strands: An Unraveling of Shame in Gay Men" by Chad Allen Lazzari |url=https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/590/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022180859/https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/590/ |archive-date=October 22, 2020 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |journal=Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses |quote=Chad Allen Lazzari, Psy.D., is a 2020 graduate of the Psy.D. Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, New England}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1981
| Boy | Episode: "A Recipe for Disaster" |
| 1983–1988
| 17 episodes: Recurring Role |
| rowspan=1|1984
| Airwolf | Ho Minh Truong | Episode: "Daddy's Gone a Hunt'n" |
| rowspan=7|1985
| Patrick | Episode: "The Nightmare Man" |
| Not My Kid
| Bobby |Television movie |
| The Bad Seed
| Mark Daigler |Television movie |
| Hotel
| Bobby Cowley | Episode: "Sleeping Dogs" |
| A Death in California
| Glenn | 2 episodes |
| Code of Vengeance
| A.J. Flowers | Episode: "Code of Vengeance" |
| The New Leave It to Beaver
| Doug Williams | 2 episodes |
| 1985–1986
| Webster | Rob Whitaker | 7 episodes |
| 1985–1988
| Conrad | 2 episodes |
| rowspan=3|1986
| Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! | Voice role |
| The Magical World of Disney
| Coop | Episode "Help Wanted: Kids" |
| TerrorVision
| Sherman Putterman | Theatrical Release |
| 1986–1988
| David Witherspoon | 46 episodes: Main Role |
| 1987
| Sandy | Episode: "The Milkman Cometh" |
| rowspan=4|1988
|Celebrity Guest Contestant |Teamed with his sister, Charity Allen |
| Straight Up
| Ben | 2 episodes |
| Highway to Heaven
| Ricky Diller | Episode: "The Whole Nine Yards" |
| Hunter
| Danny Sanderson | Episode: "Heir of Neglect" |
| 1989–1990
| Zach Nichols | 26 episodes: Main Role |
| rowspan=2|1990
| Frankie Calloway | Television movie |
| Star Trek: The Next Generation
| Jono/Jeremiah Rossa | Episode: "Suddenly Human" |
| rowspan=3|1991
| Brad Patterson | Episode: "The Yearbook" |
| DEA
| Michael Stadler | 2 episodes |
| Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story
| William Flynn | Television movie |
| 1992
| Sean | Episode: "Choose Your Own Adventure: The Case of the Silk King" |
| rowspan=2|1993
| Bobby McAndrews | |
| In the Heat of the Night
| Matt Skinner | Episode: "Every Man's Family" |
| 1993–1998
| Matthew Cooper |146 episodes: Main Role |
| 1998
| The Love Boat: The Next Wave | Pete Dougherty | Episode: "How Long Has This Been Going On?" |
| 1999
| Eddie Miller | Episode: "First Wave" |
| 1999 & 2004
| Tommy Ibarra | 2 episodes |
| rowspan=3|2001
| What Matters Most | Lucas Warner | |
| A Mother's Testimony
| Kenny Carlson | |
| Do You Wanna Know a Secret?
| Brad Adams/Bradley Clayton | |
| rowspan=2|2002
| Sexy | Voice 1 | |
| Getting Out
| Steve | |
| 2003
| Paris | Jason Bartok | |
| 2004
| Hunter | |
| rowspan=4|2005
| Monty Fineman 1985 | Episode: "Kensington" |
| Third Man Out
| |
| Charmed
| Emrick | Episode: "Hulkus Pocus" |
| End of the Spear
| Nate Saint/Steve Saint | |
| rowspan=3|2006
| The Pool 2 | Mark Casati | |
| Criminal Minds
| Jackson Cally | Episode: "The Tribe" |
| Shock to the System
| Donald Strachey | |
| rowspan=2|2007
| Save Me | Mark | |
| Terra
| Terrian Scientist | Voice |
| rowspan=4|2008
| Donald Strachey | |
| Ice Blues
| Donald Strachey | |
| CSI: Miami
| Barry/Stan Carlyle | Episode: "Bombshell" |
| General Hospital: Night Shift
| Eric Whitlow | 5 episodes |
| rowspan=2|2009
| Hollywood, je t'aime | Ross | |
| Fright Flick
| Brock | |
| rowspan=3|2010
| Spork | Loogie | |
| Dexter
| Lance Robinson | Episode: "Everything is {{not a typo|Illumenated}}" |
| For Better or for Worse
| | |
| 2012
| Himself | |
References
{{reflist|2}}
Further reading
- Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 5.
- Lazzari, C. A. (2020). Separating Rope Strands: An Unraveling of Shame in Gay Men. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/590
External links
{{commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|20354}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Chad}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American psychologists
Category:Activists from California
Category:American child models
Category:American LGBTQ rights activists
Category:American male child actors
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male stage actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American people of German descent
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:GLAAD Media Awards winners
Category:LGBTQ people from California