Since 1993
Literally raised in the swamps of Jersey, The Great Swamp to be exact, Allen knew he wanted to be an actor from the first performance of "Abraham Lincoln & George Washington go to Sesame Street", wherein he played Washington in the Solomon Schecter 1st & 2nd grade elementary school performance.
A not-quite graduate of New York University's Experimental Theater Wing and Film School, Allen embarked on a cross country summer excursion with his roommate from New York to Los Angeles. What was supposed to be a summer trip has lasted 30 years and counting.
It was on a ride to the Beverly Center when a Mercedes convertible pulled alongside and the driver, white sunglasses and slicked back hair shouted out to Allen, "Do you do commercials? Cuz you should!" as he then sped away.
In less then 6 months that's where he would begin to make his mark. Appearing in over 120 national and regional television commercials over his career he also found time to work in episodic TV, with guest shots on shows like Friends and Something So Right, as a recurring character in NBC's Reasonable Doubts and ABC's Charlie Grace.
But it was in the commercial sector that Allen found his most gratifying work. Multi-spot campaigns for VeryFine, DirecTV, IBC, Chi-Chi's would ultimately lead to his most recent and most successful campaign: as the "A&W Guy", also known as "Allen" for A&W Restaurants Canada.
15 years and counting, Allen has become a mainstay in Canadian Pop Culture, parodied on "This Hour is 22 Minutes", adored and reviled on Twitter, (Best one so far: https://twitter.com/ryan_switzer/status/580230543263948800).
Over the past years we have made some of the funniest vignette style commercials in Canadian Television history and interviewed over 1000 Canadians as we spread the word about the non-use of hormones and steroids and antibiotics in A&W's beef and chicken.
In addition to his acting & spokesman work, Allen was the lead writer & front man for the LA Based Power Pop/Pop Rock band, Throttle Back Sparky (which can be found up there at the "Music" tab).
