Chad Allen (actor)

American actor and psychologistTemplate:SHORTDESC:American actor and psychologist[[Category:**Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Pagetype/config' not found.**s with short description]]

**Chad Allen** (born June 5, 1974) is a former American 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* 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.

## Early life

Allen was born **Chad Allen Lazzari** on June 5, 1974, 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. He was raised in a "strict" Roman Catholic household and regards himself as being a "deeply spiritual person" because of his upbringing. Allen attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California.

## Early 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 (1983–88). The series final episode, "The Last One", ends with the indication that all of its storylines occurred in Tommy's imagination. 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. Allen's first regular role was as David Witherspoon on *Our House* (1986–88). 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).

## Outing and activism

In 1996, at age 21, Allen was outed as gay when the U.S. 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. Allen has since become an activist for the LGBT community in addition to his continuing acting and producing career. 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. Allen has been featured in *The Advocate* magazine multiple times and has appeared on three of its covers.

## Further career

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."

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.

In 2007, Allen starred in the film *Save Me*. 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 the life of Tallulah Bankhead, at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California.

Starting 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*.

## Personal life

In November 2006, *The Los Angeles Daily News* wrote in passing that Allen's partner, Jeremy Glazer, was also in the film *Save Me*. 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. 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. They broke up in 2015.

In April 2015, Allen announced in a video his retirement from acting, saying that he plans to become a clinical psychologist. "It's been an exciting journey...working on the shows that I got to work on over the years. I am incredibly grateful today, I have been and always will be," adding, "My life has taken me on a very different trajectory and after 30-plus years as an actor, I made a decision a couple of years ago to begin letting that side of my life go and I've been focusing on my education."

Allen graduated from University of California, Los Angeles in June 2015 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He is enrolled under his real full name Chad Allen Lazzari as a doctoral student in Psychology at Antioch New England University.

## References

1. ↑ "VH1's '100 Greatest Teen Stars'". *VH1.com*. http://www.vh1.com/shows/the\_greatest/episode.jhtml?episodeID=97834. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
2. ↑ "Gay Teen Idols". *AfterElton.com*. Archived from the original on June 10, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100610223517/http://www.afterelton.com/archive/elton/people/2006/7/gayidols.html. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Vary, Adam B."His grown-up Christmas list." *The Advocate* Issue 903. November 25, 2003.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lazzari, Chad (April 4, 2015). "Chad Allen's Farewell Video". *Youtube*. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiPO7\_93fvE. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
5. ↑ Template:Cite book
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 *The Advocate*, October 09, 2001, Issue #848 - 2001, "CHAD ALLEN: his own story ". Interviewed by Bruce Vilanch, (*"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, ..."*), Retrieved on August 08, 2010.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 *The Advocate*, March 14, 2006, Issue #958 - 2006, "Chad Allen's not sorry". Interviewed by Beth Schwartzapfel, (*"I'm deeply spiritual person. I grew up a Catholic boy."*), Retrieved on August 08, 2010.
8. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
9. ↑ "Classic Series Finales: *St. Elsewhere*". TVAcres.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-13. https://archive.is/20120913144744/http://www.tvacres.com/signoffs\_finales\_elsewhere.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
10. ↑ *When I Knew* (2005), Template:ISBN - page 112
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Branco, Nelson. "Allen's Anatomy." Out.com Retrieved September 29, 2008. Template:Webarchive
12. ↑ Chawla, Sarika. "True Detective." *IN Los Angeles Magazine*. Template:Webarchive Retrieved April 20, 2008.
13. ↑ "Debate Over Gay Marriage," *Larry King Live* transcript. CNN.com January 17, 2006
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Vary, Adam B. "Chad's on the case." *The Advocate*. Issue 945, August 30, 2005.
15. ↑ *The Advocate* Issue 945 coverTemplate:Dead link August 30, 2005
16. ↑ *The Advocate* Issue 903 cover Template:Webarchive November 25, 2003.
17. ↑ Moring, Mark. "Christian Studio Explains Hiring of Gay Actor." ChristianToday.com January 26, 2006.
18. ↑ *Save Me* (2007) official site Template:Webarchive Retrieved September 30, 2008.
19. ↑ Coleridge, Daniel R. "*Night Shift*: Meet Kyle's New BF!" SOAPnet.com Template:Webarchive August 20, 2008.
20. ↑ Mitovich, Matt (August 20, 2008). "Romance Prescribed for *GH: Night Shift* 's Gay Kyle". *TV Guide*. TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20090703181222/http://www.tvguide.com/soaps/Romance-Prescribed-GH-10081.aspx. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
21. ↑ Hernandez, Greg (November 27, 2006). "*Save Me* by Chad Allen, Robert Gant and Judith Light makes Sundance", *Out in Hollywood*, The Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved on October 6, 2011. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012.
22. ↑ Hartinger, Brent (October 19, 2008). "Gay Celebrity Boyfriends!". AfterElton.com. http://www.afterelton.com/people/2008/10/gaycelebrityboyfriends?page=0%2C2. Retrieved November 29, 2008.
23. ↑ Wilson, Bill (May 10, 2009). "On the Carpet at the GLAAD Media Awards – On Scene with Bill Wilson", *San Francisco Sentinel*. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013.
24. ↑ Lazzari, Chad. "Chad Allen". *LinkedIn*. https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-lazzari-55096731/. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
25. ↑ "Mr. Chad Allen Lazzari - Massachusetts Psychological Association, Inc.". https://www.masspsych.org/members/?id=36737664.

## Further reading

* Dye, David. *Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985*. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 5.

## External links

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