Early life

Allen was born Chad Allen Lazzari 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 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.

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 real-life boyfriend, 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.

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."

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Simon & Simon	Boy	Episode: "A Recipe for Disaster"
1983 to 1988	St. Elsewhere	Tommy Westphall	11 episodes
1984	Airwolf	Ho Minh Truong	Episode: "Daddy's Gone a Hunt'n"
1984	The New Leave It to Beaver	Doug Williams	2 episodes
1985	Matt Houston	Patrick	Episode: "The Nightmare Man"
1985	Not My Kid	Bobby	Television movie
1985	The Bad Seed	Mark Daigler	Television movie
1985	Hotel	Bobby Cowley	Episode: "Sleeping Dogs"
1985	A Death in California	Glenn	2 episodes
1985	Code of Vengeance	A.J. Flowers	Episode: "Code of Vengeance"
1985	Punky Brewster	Conrad Brian	2 episodes
1985 to 1986	Webster	Rob Whitaker	4 episodes
1986	Happy New Year, Charlie Brown!	Charlie Brown (Voice)	Television special
1986	Help Wanted: Kids	Coop
1986	TerrorVision	Sherman Putterman
1986 to 1988	Our House	David Witherspoon	46 episodes
1987	Tales from the Darkside	Sandy	Episode: "The Milkman Cometh"
1988	Straight Up	Ben	Unknown episodes
1988	Highway to Heaven	Ricky Diller	Episode: "The Whole Nine Yards"
1988	Hunter	Danny Sanderson	Episode: "Heir of Neglect"
1989 to 1990	My Two Dads	Zach Nichols	21 episodes
1990	Camp Cucamonga	Frankie Calloway	Television movie
1990	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Jono/Jeremiah Rossa	Episode: "Suddenly Human"
1991	The Wonder Years	Brad Patterson	Episode: "The Yearbook"
1991	DEA	Michael Stadler	2 episodes
1991	Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story	William Flynn	Television movie
1992	ABC Weekend Special	Sean	Episode: "Choose Your Own Adventure: The Case of the Silk King"
1993	Praying Mantis	Bobby McAndrews
1993	In the Heat of the Night	Matt Skinner	Episode: "Every Man's Family"
1993-1998	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Matthew Cooper	147 episodes
1998	The Love Boat: The Next Wave	Pete Dougherty	Episode: "How Long Has This Been Going On?"
1999	Total Recall 2070	Eddie Miller	Episode: "First Wave"
1999, 2004	NYPD Blue	Tommy Ibarra Kyle Tanner	2 episodes
2001	What Matters Most	Lucas Warner
2001	A Mother's Testimony	Kenny Carlson
2001	Do You Wanna Know a Secret?	Brad Adams/Bradley Clayton
2002	Sexy	Voice 1
2002	Getting Out	Steve
2003	Paris	Jason Bartok
2004	Downtown: A Street Tale	Hunter
2005	Cold Case	Monty Fineman 1985	Episode: "Kensington"
2005	Third Man Out	Donald Strachey
2005	Charmed	Emrick	Episode: "Hulkus Pocus"
2005	End of the Spear	Nate Saint/Steve Saint
2006	The Pool 2	Mark Casati
2006	Criminal Minds	Jackson Cally	Episode: "The Tribe"
2006	Shock to the System	Donald Strachey
2007	Save Me	Mark
2007	Terra	Terrian Scientist	Voice
2008	On the Other Hand, Death	Donald Strachey
2008	Ice Blues	Donald Strachey
2008	CSI: Miami	Barry/Stan Carlyle	Episode: "Bombshell"
2008	General Hospital: Night Shift	Eric Whitlow	5 episodes
2009	Hollywood, je t'aime	Ross
2009	Fright Flick	Brock
2010	Spork	Loogie
2010	Dexter	Lance Robinson	Episode: "Everything is Illumenated"
2010	For Better or for Worse
2012	Hollywood to Dollywood	Himself

Charities

Chad Allen supports the following charitable causes: Homeless, Gay Rights, Gay Youth.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]