John van Dalen
- Actor
Born in Amsterdam, Holland, John came to Toronto with his family when
he was six (yes, English is his second language). The family then
immigrated to the United States two years later and settled outside of
Los Angeles (yes, John held a green card until he became a US citizen
in 1994). John studied vocal performance at USC and technical theatre
craft at Cal State Fullerton. His first lead role in a theatrical
production was the bicentennial production of The Music Man at Citrus
College in 1976 (Meredith Willson saw the production and remarked,
"John, you are the only Harold Hill of my acquaintance who can actually
read music"). In the 1970s and 1980s John studied with Sondra Rogers,
Zina Provendie, Bobby Lewis, David Craig and Ralph Senensky. He joined
AFTRA in 1982 and SAG shortly thereafter, playing in such productions
as Young and the Restless, Capital, Santa Barbara, Bring 'em Back Alive
and Casablanca. John retreated from performing for a number of years to
pursue careers in marketing and business management. He worked for
Ogilvy & Mather in Manhattan and subsequently moved to Florida where he
successfully marketed many political campaigns, ran a Unity Church for
several years and was the President/CEO of the School of the Arts
Foundation in West Palm Beach. While living in South Florida, John appeared in Burn Notice, The Glades, Magic City and America's Most Wanted as well as performing on stage from Vero Beach to Coral Gables. in 2014, John returned to California where he now lives in the mountains outside of Palm Springs where he continues to pursue acting, hosting, voice-overs, directing and producing.