John van Dalen

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.