Chad Allen

Chad Allen (born June 5, 1974) is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor at the age of seven, Allen is perhaps best known for rising to prominence as a teen idol in the 1980s as David Witherspoon on the NBC family drama, Our House from 1986 to 1988 and as Zach Nichols on the NBC sitcom My Two Dads from 1989 to 1990, before transitioning to an adult career as Matthew Cooper on the CBS western drama Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman from 1993 to 1998.

Allen was born Chad Allen Lazzari in Cerritos, California and grew up in Artesia. He has a twin sister named Charity. Allen is of predominantly Italian origin, with the "dose" of German origin. He was raised within 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.

A young Allen guest-starred on several prime time series including St. Elsewhere, in which he played autistic child Tommy Westphall from 1983 to 1988. Notably, the series' final episode "The Last One" ends with the indication that all of its storylines occurred within Westphall's imagination. In 1983, he appeared in the show 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," who was played by Alec Baldwin. "I thought it was the greatest job I had ever gotten," Chad reminisced years later. Allen's first regular role was as David Witherspoon on the 1986 series Our House, which co-starred a pre-Beverly Hills, 90210 Shannen Doherty, Wilford Brimley and Days of our Lives' Emmy-nominated Deidre Hall. That series ended in 1988. In 1989 and 1990 he had a recurrent role as Zach in My Two Dads. Allen's next contract role was Matthew Cooper in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman alongside Jane Seymour in 1993. Dr. Quinn ended in 1998, and Allen did not return for its two sequel television movies, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Movie (1999) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Heart Within (2000).

In 1996, at age 21, Allen was outed as gay when the US tabloid The Globe published photos of him kissing another man, Alex Hannaman, in a hot tub at a party. The photos had been sold to the paper by Allen's then-boyfriend. 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.

Starting with 2005's Third Man Out, Allen portrays lead character 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. Third Man Out's 2006 sequel Shock to the System was followed by both On the Other Hand, Death and Ice Blues in 2008. Allen noted that Strachey is the first gay character he had ever played outside of theater, and that though his career was "different" since coming out, he finds it "more interesting and fun for me than it has ever been."

Controversy surrounded Allen's casting as real-life Christian missionary Nate Saint in the 2006 docudrama film End of the Spear, as some conservative Christians lashed out at producers for putting an openly gay man in the role.

In 2007 Allen starred in the film Save Me opposite Daytime Emmy-winner Judith Light and Robert Gant. Developed and produced by Allen himself, the film was directed by Robert Clary and written by Light's husband Robert Desiderio, based on a screenplay by Craig Chester. 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.

Allen appeared alongside Valerie Harper from June through August 2008 in Looped, a stage 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.

In a September 2008 interview with Out.com, Allen noted that he was currently in a three-year relationship and had been sober for eight years. In October 2008, AfterElton.com noted his boyfriend to be actor Jeremy Glazer.