Dean Cameron

{{short description|American actor, comedian, and musician}}

{{for multi|the American politician|Dean Cameron (politician)|the Australian inventor|Dean Cameron (inventor)}}

{{BLP sources|date = January 2019}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Dean Cameron

| image = Dean Cameron headshot.jpg

| caption = Cameron in July 2015

| birth_name = Dean Eikleberry

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1962|12|25|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Morrison, Illinois, U.S.

| nationality =

| other_names =

| known_for = Francis "Chainsaw" Gremp in Summer School, Dave Marshak in Ski School and Ski School 2 and for The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam

| education =

| employer =

| occupation = {{flatlist|

  • Actor
  • comedian
  • musician}}

| years_active = 1983–present

| term =

| predecessor =

| successor =

| party =

| boards =

| signature =

| website = {{URL|www.deancameron.com|DeanCameron.com}}

| children = 1

| spouse = {{married|Jessie Marion|April 9, 2004}}

| footnotes =

}}

Dean Cameron (born Dean Eikleberry; December 25, 1962) is an American actor and musician. He is known for his role as Francis "Chainsaw" Gremp in the 1987 Mark Harmon comedy Summer School. He also played Dave Marshak in Ski School and Ski School 2. Cameron, along with comedian Victor Isaac, tour in a two-person show that Cameron wrote, called The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam.

Early life

Cameron was born in Morrison, Illinois, the son of Kay Elizabeth (Kytle) Huff and Burton Robert Eikleberry.{{cite web|title=Dean Cameron Work History|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/87/Dean-Cameron.html|accessdate=August 17, 2015}} He spent his childhood in Oklahoma and summers in Santa Barbara, California.{{cite web|title=Episode 34 |date= April 15, 2013|url= http://skepticallyyours.net/episode-34/|website=SkepticallyYours.net|accessdate=August 18, 2015}}

Career

Cameron's film roles included Francis "Chainsaw" Gremp in the Mark Harmon film Summer School (1987), the pizza delivery man in Men at Work (1990), and Dave Marshak in Ski School (1991) and Ski School 2 (1994). He has also starred in short-lived television series like Spencer (1984), Fast Times (1986, a spinoff of the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High), They Came from Outer Space (1990), and Mister Sterling (2003). He made guest appearances on many TV series, including The Facts of Life, ALF, My Sister Sam, Will & Grace, Mad About You, ER, Felicity, Psych, Shameless, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

He performs a two-person show, The Nigerian Spam Scam Scam, in which he and actor Victor Isaac read from Cameron's 11-month correspondence with a Nigerian 419 scammer. The show was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival in 2004 and 2005, the Just For Laughs festival and the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in 2006 and ran in Los Angeles from September 2004 to December 2004.{{cite web|title=urgent & confidential dean cameron's nigerian spam scam scam|url=http://www.spamscamscam.com/|accessdate= August 17, 2015}} The first professional show was at The Amaz!ng Meeting, TAM2 for the James Randi Educational Foundation in 2004.{{cite web|title=Episode 11 |date=April 27, 2011|url=http://ardentatheist.com/episode-11/|website=Ardent Atheist|accessdate=August 18, 2015}}

Cameron co-wrote the 2001 feature film Hollywood Palms, wrote and directed a short film, "Glutton Falls" and directed/choreographed "Bukowsical", a late night musical theater parody at the Sacred Fools Theater Company in Los Angeles, California. Cameron directed the videos "Fat Girl"{{cite web| title=Fat Girl| url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x67jtMPfdTw |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/x67jtMPfdTw |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live| publisher= Steel Panther|accessdate=August 22, 2015}}{{cbignore}} and "Pussy Whipped"{{cite web|title= Steel Panther – Pussywhipped|website = YouTube| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUUc4Cq5NJc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/qUUc4Cq5NJc |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|accessdate= August 22, 2015}}{{cbignore}} for heavy metal band Steel Panther as well as co-wrote the song "Girl From Oklahoma" on their 2009 debut album Feel the Steel and "Supersonic Sex Machine" on their 2011 follow-up album Balls Out. Cameron also co-wrote and directed a presentation pilot for Steel Panther.{{cite web|title=Steel Panther – Presentation|url= https://vimeo.com/31344541|via = Vimeo| accessdate= August 17, 2015}}

In 2006, he originated the role of Carl in Love Tapes, a play based on videotapes sent by a fan to guitarist Steve Vai. Love Tapes was written by Steven Banks and Penn Jillette and directed by Cameron's wife, Jessie Marion.

Cameron was one of the camera operators during the filming of the 2005 film The Aristocrats. During the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, he and comedian Paul Provenza shot a live version of The Aristocrats. The intent was to release it on the Special Features of the DVD. Cameron explained to actor Samm Levine in an interview, "We ended up naked and had props like mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup... applejuice... puppets... ". Because they were shooting late at night in a Scottish pub, no one had releases with them, one of the actors refused to sign the form afterwards and the film was never released.

Cameron is mentioned in the comedy-drama TV show Psych when character Shawn Spencer (played by actor James Roday) states, "No one paints a scene like Dean Cameron".{{cite web|title=Psych's Dean Cameron shout-out|website = YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRXjgg08obo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/xRXjgg08obo |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|accessdate=August 17, 2015}}{{cbignore}} The Robot Chicken television series also mentions him on their Christmas special during the introduction. The Star Trek parody opening says "Christmas, the birthday of Jesus, also the birthday of actor Dean Cameron, who played Chainsaw in the movie Summer School, now we celebrate these equally important men with the Robot Chicken Christmas Special".{{cite web|title=Star Wars Robot Chicken Intro|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDGkE-SoULM|publisher=Robot Chicken|accessdate=August 22, 2015}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}

Since late 1999, has worked as voiceover talent for radio and television commercials and animated series like Regular Show and We Bare Bears.{{citation needed|date=December 2024}}

File:Isaac Cameron Emery Randi TAM13.jpg and James Randi at the James Randi Educational Foundation's The Amaz!ng Meeting in 2015]]

Music

His first purchased album was the hip hop record Straight Outta Compton which he played "the hell out of". Cameron credits his ability to play the guitar to Tammy Moore, a girl from the ninth grade. She asked him if he could play an instrument and he lied and said "I play banjo," The next day, he told her that he also played the guitar. "I had to learn how to play the guitar pretty quickly". He spent the next six months learning to play "Stairway to Heaven" from a friend. In the 1980s, he switched to the bass guitar.{{cite web|first=Samm|last=Levine|authorlink=Samm Levine|title=KPC: Dean Cameron #237|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM5vi39b-Nk |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/tM5vi39b-Nk |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|publisher=Kevin Pollaks Chat Show|accessdate=August 17, 2015}}{{cbignore}}

In 2003, Cameron played bass guitar for a LA, local band called The Thornbirds (formerly called The Ducks). Cameron co-wrote the songs "Girl from Oklahoma" and "Supersonic Sex Machine" for the band Steel Panther, two of the members later joined The Thornbirds. When that group released All The Same in 2004, both of the songs were on that album.{{cite web|last1=Obert|first1=Alex|title=on the line with dean cameron|url=http://journeyofafrontman.com/2014/06/06/on-the-line-with-dean-cameron/|website=Journey of a Frontman|date=June 6, 2014|accessdate=August 17, 2015}} Cameron is also in a karaoke band that parodies actor/musicians, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman and Corey Hart called Coreyoke.{{cite web|title=Coreyoke Playlist|url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFD9B74EEE78F4237|publisher=Coreyoke|accessdate=August 17, 2015}} Cameron says on his website that "may be the most fun i’ve ever had in my long life."{{cite web|title=Dean Cameron Bio|url=http://www.deancameron.com/bio/|accessdate=August 17, 2015|archive-date=September 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923213140/http://www.deancameron.com/bio/|url-status=dead}} The story line behind Coreyoke is that they are musicians from the 1980s who are trying to revive their careers and play backup for Michael Jackson.

Personal life

Cameron is married to Jessie Marion, granddaughter of actress Elena Verdugo, and lives in Los Angeles. Their son, Duncan, was born in August 2009. Cameron grew up without religion, and was a teen before he realized that "there was a thing called atheism". He credits his father with teaching him and his siblings to think critically.{{cite web|title=Episode 167 |date=April 8, 2015|url=http://ardentatheist.com/episode-167/|website=Ardent Atheist|accessdate=August 18, 2015}}

Listed as a hard-core Libertarian on Cameron's IMDB profile, he tells interviewer Samm Levine that he prefers the term "Freedom Fighter". Cameron is also the inventor of the Bill of Rights: Security Edition Cards which have the Bill of Rights stamped on metal the size of a normal playing card. The idea is that they can be carried comfortably in the pocket of a flyer, and when a metal detector beeps after detecting the metal, the carrier will have to hand the TSA federal inspectors the card and "give up his Bill of Rights... before boarding a plane." The website also sells Bill of Rights luggage tags and socks with the rights printed on them.{{cite web|title=Bill of Rights – Security Edition Blog|url=http://securityedition.com/blog/|website=Bill of Rights – Security Edition|accessdate=August 22, 2015}}

File:Dean Cameron & Victor Isaac TAM2014 Nigerian Spam Scam Scam.JPG| Cameron and Isaac at James Randi Educational Foundation TAM13 2015

File:Dean Cameron TAM2014 Nigerian Spam Scam Scam.JPG |Nigerian Spam Scam Scam 2015 Las Vegas

File:Isaac Cameron Emery Randi TAM13.jpg |Isaac (L), Cameron, Emery Emery, and James Randi at TAM13 2015

Filmography

class="wikitable"

|+ Film

TitleYear
Dead Sea

|2024

Radio America2015
Grindsploitation2015
Straight Outta Compton2015
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer2011
Hole in One2010
The Growth2009
Arrow Heads2009
Doing His Best2007
I'm Not Gay2005
Rainbow's End2005
The Benefits of Drinking Whiskey2005
The Curse of the Hideous Gimp2005
Grace and the Storm2004
Tan Lines: The Making of Suntanned Bikini2003
The Palindrome Affair2003
Sit and Spin2002
Hollywood Palms2001
Deep Core2000
It's a Shame About Ray2000
Two-Eleven1999
Hi-Life1998
Some Girl (uncredited)1998
Midnight Blue1997
Highball1997
Kicking and Screaming1995
Ski School 21994
Sleep with Me1994
Charlie's Ghost Story1994
The Killing Box1993
Miracle Beach1992
Ski School1991
Men at Work1990
Disturbed1990
Rockula1990
Bad Dreams1988
Summer School1987
Facing It: My Friend's an Alcoholic1985

class="wikitable"

|+ Television

TitleYear
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia2016
Shameless2014
Psych (season 8, episode 120)2014
TMI Hollywood2014
The Comeback Kids2014
Instant Mom2013
The Newsroom2013
Glee2013
The Neighbors2013
American Horror Story2012
See Dad Run2012
The Mentalist2012
Southland2012
Doing His Best James Dean2007
Mister Sterling2003
State of Emergency1994
They Came from Outer Space1990
ALF1990
Fast Times1986
Prince of Bel Air1986
Things Are Looking Up1984
Spencer1984

References

{{reflist|2}}