Biography

Alan has freaked out Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator. He has gone face to face with Matt Dillon in Kansas. He has pulled a gun on Clint Eastwood in In the Line of Fire. And he has transfixed Beverley Hills, 90210 fans in his role as the cult leader, "Professor Finley."

As an actor for over 35 years, Alan has worked to bring changes to the way people with disabilities are portrayed in entertainment media. He has over 100 television and film credits and was the co-founder of the Hollywood SAG-AFTRA-AEA Inter-Guild Committee of Performers with Disabilities.

Alan's film and TV jobs have included playing "Professor Finley", the nasty cult leader on Beverley Hills, 90210, as well as a wide variety of characters - parents, lawyers, doctors, scientists, veterans, teachers in Matlock, Trauma Center, Highway to Heaven, In the Line of Fire, Kansas, The Aviator, and many others. He served on the Board of the Media Access Office, which consults with industry leaders about disability portrayals and casting.

Alan is a lifelong activist/organizer in the disability community, working to increase individual and community-based empowerment. He was Associate Director at UCLA's Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, in the Luskin School of Public Affairs where he created several online projects that assist people with disabilities with their day-to-day independent living needs; coordinate disaster management volunteer trainings and opportunities; and map a wide variety of community health resources.

Previously, he was a senior organizer for the Los Angeles Homecare Workers Union, where his work on In-Home Supportive Services policy issues was critical to the development of a model Public Homecare Authority in LA County to improve the personal assistance programs for both consumers and workers.

After SEIU, Alan was the Senior Executive Analyst at Access Services, Los Angeles County's paratransit agency, where he wrote and got enacted legislation beneficial to California's paratransit agencies.

Alan was also a twice-elected member of the Santa Monica Rent Control Board and has served on that city's Social Services Commission, and Recreation and Parks Commission. He was an appointee of former Governor Gray Davis to the California State Independent Living Council.

He is also served as the President of the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Southern California and spent nine years as an elected member of the National ACLU Board of Directors.

Alan has a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts and a Masters degree in Urban Planning from the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research (now the Luskin School of Public Affairs).
- IMDb mini biography by: Alan Toy