Bio
Allen was born in North Carolina and raised with his younger brother and sister in Nebraska, Illinois, Maryland, Iowa, and Wisconsin.
He began acting in high school and was president of his senior year drama club; an administration that was notable for doing “absolutely nothing. The teachers were so burned out, we didn’t even do a play that year.”
He attended Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota and served in the US Air Force, stationed first in Honolulu and then Omaha. While in Omaha he met and married Lori Wyatt, and the couple moved to Minneapolis. It was there that Allen’s passion for performing was rekindled, sparked by a magazine article about voice-over artist Mary Kay Bergman. “I was earning nothing doing the world’s most boring job, and she was getting paid $90,000 a year to bark like a dog.” He took a short course in voice-overs and met with an agent, who urged him to pursue on-camera work as well. “I didn’t exactly jump into it, but over time it became apparent that this was my avocation, and in all honesty, probably the only avocation at which I was likely to succeed.”
Tragically, Allen’s beloved wife Lori passed away in June 2009 after a long hospitalization. He and his two daughters continue to live in Springfield, Missouri, where he studies with Los Angeles acting coach Scott-Arthur Allen. Now a veteran of over 100 film, commercial, and theatre projects, he has agency representation in multiple markets including Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, and Tulsa. Some career highlights include playing a young C.S. Lewis, an alien named Barish from the planet Tupava, and the President of the United States.
Guest appearance on "The Mystery Hour" with host 'Mystery' Jeff Houghton.
Summing up his aspirations, he admits, “Originally I just wanted to be the guy who reads books on tape. But gradually it dawned on me that they’re all famous actors. So I decided I’d have to become a famous actor first. I’m still working on that ‘famous’ part.”
