Andrew Bowen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Andrew Bowen (Born March 31, 1972) is an American comic actor. Bowen is most notable for his membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series MADtv.
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[edit] Biography
Andrew Bowen was born on March 31, 1972 in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Vermont. At the age of six when, after watching the movie Grease, Bowen announced to his parents he wanted to be like "John Travolta when I grow up." His mother quickly enrolled him in dance class and a year later he performed as the lead in his first play Once Upon a Rhyme. Andrew continued studying Modern Jazz and Ballet for 8 years and did local theater throughout High School. He eventually landed him an agent in New York and during the summer following his High School Graduation. Afterwards, Bowen packed his bags and headed for Los Angeles. With his agent's help, Bowen landed his first role as Kathryn Erbe's love interest in the film What About Bob?.
Over the next couple of years he bounced around working part-time jobs, doing commercials and small roles in TV while taking part-time screen-writing courses at USC.
[edit] Career
[edit] Fox Hunt
In 1996, Andrew landed the lead role in a live-action interactive video game from Capcom called Fox Hunt playing Jack Fremont. His Martial Arts training and gift for physical comedy helped him turn in a performance that wound up being so funny that the game was eventually turned into a movie and developed as a TV series.
[edit] The Spiderman audition campaign
While waiting for the Fox Hunt pilot to be shot, Bowen sought to win the role of Peter Parker for a movie adaptaion of Spider-Man. Bowen wrote, directed and financed a short film called Lone Defender with the intention of serving as an auditioning piece to play Peter Parker for director James Cameron, who was attached at the time to direct a Spider-Man movie. However, the Spider-Man movie fell into legal problems by the time Andrew finished the short film. Furthermore, by the time Spider-Man was made, Sam Raimi had replaced Cameron as director and Tobey Maguire was cast.
Over the next year Bowen penned the spec script The Haven and began to shop it around town. As he searched for financing he eventually shot the pilot for Fox Hunt. Although the show was not picked up, Andrew ended up joining the cast of Fox's MADtv later that year.
[edit] MADtv
Bowen joined the cast of MADtv in 1998, as a repertory performer, for the fourth season. He is remembered for his comedy muscles with his recurring celebrity impressions of Nicolas Cage and Keanu Reeves, the latter being his most well-known.
At the end of the fourth season, Bowen left the cast of MADtv for a combination of reasons. First of, the show's budget was being cut for the next season and it could not afford to retain ten repertory cast members. Given this, FOX executives were inclined to retain the highly popular Michael McDonald over Bowen. Secondly, after a season on MADtv, with the help of his father, he finally raised enough money to make The Haven and left the show to direct the film that fall. He was the first person, who was hired as repertory performer, to leave the show after only one year.
Impressions
- Brad Pitt
- Charlie Sheen
- Christian Slater
- Christopher Walken
- Donny Osmond
- Garth Brooks
- Jason Priestly
- Jean Claude Van Damme
- Keanu Reeves
- Kenneth Starr
- Matt Damon
- Michael Flatley
- Morey Amsterdam
- Nicolas Cage
- Scott Foley
- Yassir Arafat
[edit] Television projects
The actor was so committed to the role he was going to play in his film, "The Haven" that he gained over 40 lbs to play the hulking character Jocko. A year later the film screened for the first time at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ended in a standing ovation. While shopping for a distribution deal, he took the movie to film festivals across the country winning Awards and critical acclaim along the way. While the film made its rounds, he continued acting, landing recurring roles on ER, Reno 911!, notable guest roles on such hit shows as CSI:NY, Las Vegas, JAG, Charmed and Ivan Reitman's Evolution.
Bowen can currently be seen in the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives commercials.
[edit] Trivia
- Bowen had a scene in the movie[citation needed]. However, he received a letter from director Frank Oz before the film's release informing him that his role had ended up on the cutting room floor.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| N/A | None | N/A |
[edit] Television Appearances
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| 2004 | Arrested Development | Man in Bar | |
| 2003 | Yes, Dear | Rob | |
| 2000 - 2001 | MADtv | Various Characters | Sketch Comedy |
