Sam Anderson

Sam Anderson, born May 13, 1945 in Wahpeton, North Dakota, USA, is an actor. He guest stars as Scott Dawson in the first season of Boomtown. He has also had prominent recurring roles in Perfect Strangers, Angel, ER, and Lost. He is known for his roles in the films Forrest Gump (1994), and Water for Elephants (2011).
==Biography==
===Early life===
Graduated from the University of North Dakota in the late 1960s.
===Career===
During the early 1970s, he taught drama at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California.
He made his acting debut in "The Broken Badge" episode of Police Story in 1978.
He was one of the recurring actors on WKRP in Cincinnati who played various roles, including an immigration officer in the WKRP episode "The Americanization of Ivan" and a number of other episodes from 1979 to 1981.
In 1984 he had a starring role in the short lived series Mama Malone. He played Stanley, the Announcer.
He had a recurring role as Mike Seaver's adversarial Principal DeWitt in Growing Pains. He appeared in ten episodes from 1986 to 1992. Anderson also played mailroom supervisor Mr. Gorpley on Perfect Strangers over the same period. He appeared in 37 episodes of the series.
He played the assistant manager of the Hotel Royale in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Royale" in 1989.
He played FBI Agent Donald Morrell in Picket Fences. He appeared in seven episodes from 1992 to 1995.
In 1994 he began a recurring role as the cardiologist Dr Jack Kayson in the new medical drama ER. The show was a huge success and Anderson appeared guest starred in 19 episodes until his character's storyline finally ended in 2007. 
Also in 1994 he played the school principal in the film Forrest Gump, acting opposite Sally Field.
He had a recurring role in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon playing Thomas Paine, the third administrator of NASA. Boomtown creator Graham Yost was a writer for the series.
He had a recurring role in the first and second seasons of the supernatural drama Angel. He played Holland Manners, an antagonist to the main characters from his position as an attorney for the evil law firm Wolfram and Hart. He appeared in eight episodes of the series from 2001 to 2002.
He guest starred in the first season of Boomtown as Scott Dawson. He debuted in the eleventh episode "Monster's Brawl", where his character's son was the main suspect in a murder investigation. He returned for the seventeenth episode "Blackout", his character had become the Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor of main character Andrea Little.
He had a starring role as Bill Kelly in the short lived situation comedy Married to the Kellys in the 2003 to 2004 television season.
He had a recurring role as the dentist Bernard Nadler on Lost from 2005 to the series conclusion in 2010, appearing in 21 episodes.
In 2010 Anderson guest-starred in the eighth season NCIS episode "Worst Nightmare" as Walter Carmichael, a middle school teacher whose classroom becomes a crime scene when one of his students is kidnapped.
===Personal life===
He is the father of twins.
==Credits==
===Starring===
 
==References==
==External links==
*Sam Anderson at IMDb
*Sam Anderson at Wikipedia
Category:Recurring cast