Andrew Bowen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

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.

Contents

[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

Born in Boston and raised in Vermont, Andrew Bowen's career began at the age of six when, after watching the movie Grease, he announced to his parents "I want 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 tons of local theater throughout High School. A bit of good luck (a director chose his grandmother's house at which to shoot a commercial) eventually landed him an agent in New York and during the summer following his High School Graduation, he landed his first role as Kathryn Erby's love interest in the Bill Murray / Richard Dryfuss comedy What About Bob?

Although 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, Bowen packed his bags and headed for LA. Over the next couple of years he bounced around working part-time jobs, doing commercials and roles on TV shows while taking part-time screen-writing courses at USC. In 1996, Andrew landed the lead role in a live-action interactive video game from Capcom called Fox Hunt playing Jack Fremont; a 'James Bond meets Dumb and Dumber' type character. His incredible gift for comedy helped him turn in a performance that wound up being so funny that the game was eventually turned into a feature film, developed as a TV series and caught the eyes of executives at Warner Brothers who signed Andrew to a talent development deal.

While waiting for the "FOX HUNT" pilot to be shot, he wrote, directed and financed a short film called Lone Defender. The short was intended to serve as an auditioning piece to play Peter Parker for director James Cameron who was, at the time, attached to direct a Spider-Man movie. The Spider-Man movie fell into legal problems by the time Andrew finished the short, but it still served its purpose: as a catalyst for his desire to direct. Andrew quickly penned his spec script for “Along the Way” and began to shop it around town.

Eventually, Andrew shot the pilot for Fox Hunt and although the show was not picked up, Andrew ended up joining the cast of Fox's MAD TV later that year and was quickly called one of the new talents to watch by TV Guide. After a season on the show Andrew left and with the help of his father finally raised enough money to realize his dream to make “The Haven”. Production started that fall. The actor was so committed to the role he was going to play in the film that he gained over 40 lbs to play the hulking character Jocko. His commitment paid off as a year later, when his rough cut was screened for the first time it ended in a standing ovation. Scott Weinberg at Efilmcritic even wrote: “Andrew Bowen (formerly of the underrated Mad TV) is stunningly strong as Jocko, creating a character that on the surface seems like little more than an affable giant, yet the actor brings a fierce sense of loyalty, a goofy sense of humor, and an overall air of desperate sadness to this role. He delivers easily one of the best ‘unknown’ performances I’ve seen in years.”

   Excited about the films future, Andrew surged ahead to raise the final money he needed to finish the film when a series of incidents stopped him dead in his tracks. After discovering that not only had his producer embezzled thousands from the film, his post sound house had thrown away his films stem but his hopes of distribution where dashed by a company who, while holding his semi-complete masters, went bankrupt: taking the film away from him for almost 4 years.

While Andrew fought to get his film back, he continued acting landing Recurring roles on ER, Reno 911!, notable guest roles on such hit shows as CSI:NY, Las Vegas, JAG, Charmed, Ivan Reitman's Evolution and starred in several pilots including "Breadwinners" for Producers Gale Anne Hurd and Steven Tao. In all, Andrew has appeared in 22 episodes of a series, over 17 guest spots, 11 feature films, 3 pilots, over 40 commercials and has lent his voice talents to the video games ICE AGE 2, RISE OF NATIONS, PATH OF NEO (as the voice of “Neo” himself), YAKUZA and more. On the writing front, Bowen has recently finished developing a comedy series he is attached to star in called "Super... Mann?" is currently shopping his family/fantasy adventure script "RUNE" , his actioneer "Decision Height" and is finishing work on a three episode Sci-fi Epic "The McCalliff Equation" that he has been writing for almost 6 years. Andrew can currently be seen in his critically acclaimed work in part 2 and 3 of "THE WORK AND THE GLORY" films playing American Frontier Legend Brigham Young.

Andrew most recently completed work in "Big Bad Wolf" for Universal, "Immortally Yours" and starring in the independent feature "Butterfly Dreaming" for director Rufus Sam Williams, which reunited him with actress Missy Crider who starred in "Along the Way" for him. Bowen will also soon be seen in several high profile commercials including a hilarious BUT LITE "Pirate" spot, a DIET COKE directed by Lasse Hallstrom and in January of 2007 Bowen finally got his film back and looks to have it completed by summer.

Impressions

[edit] Television projects

The actor was so committed to the role he was going to play in his film, "Along The Way" 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

Butterfly Dreaming (2008) (post-production) .... Rob Pollack Big Bad Wolf (2006) (completed) .... Scott Cowley Immortally Yours (2006) (completed) .... John Evans The Haven (2007) (post-production).... Jackob "Jocko" Hareck

The Work and the Glory III: A House Divided (2006) .... Brigham Young Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2006) (VG) (voice) Ryû ga gotoku (2005) (VG) (voice) .... Additional Voices ... aka Yakuza (USA) The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005) (VG) (voice) .... Neo The Work and the Glory II: American Zion (2005) .... Brigham Young Breadwinners (2005) (TV) .... Matt Lowell (2005-) "CSI: NY" .... Bryce Sweet (1 episode, 2005)

   - The Closer (2005) TV Episode .... Bryce Sweet

Jade Empire (2005) (VG) (voice) "Las Vegas" .... Eric Bates (1 episode, 2004)

   - Degas Away with It (2004) TV Episode .... Eric Bates

"Reno 911!" .... Explosive Redneck / ... (3 episodes, 2003-2004)

   - Department Investigation: Part 2 (2004) TV Episode .... Explosive Redneck
   - Jones Gets Suspended (2003) TV Episode .... Redneck with Nunchucks
   - Fireworks (2003) TV Episode .... Gas Huffing Redneck

"JAG" .... Lt. Jergenson (1 episode, 2003)

   - Pulse Rate (2003) TV Episode .... Lt. Jergenson

"She Spies" .... Wade (1 episode, 2003)

   - Message from Kassar (2003) TV Episode .... Wade

"John Doe" .... Staff Sergeant (1 episode, 2003)

   - Illegal Alien (2003) TV Episode .... Staff Sergeant

Marines (2003) (V) .... Guillen American Girl (2002/I) .... Short Guard ... aka Confessions of an American Girl (USA: video title) Evolution (2001) .... Road Worker "Charmed" .... Male Victim (1 episode, 2001)

   - Coyote Piper (2001) TV Episode .... Male Victim

"ER" .... Andrew (3 episodes, 1999-2000)

   - Be Patient (2000) TV Episode .... Andrew
   - Family Matters (2000) TV Episode .... Andrew
   - The Peace of Wild Things (1999) TV Episode .... Andrew

The Haunting of Hell House (1999) .... James Farrow ... aka Henry James' The Haunting of Hell House (USA) ... aka The Ghostly Rental (USA) "Mad TV" .... Various (25 episodes, 1998-1999)

   - Episode #4.25 (1999) TV Episode .... Various
   - Episode #4.24 (1999) TV Episode .... Various
   - Episode #4.23 (1999) TV Episode .... Various
   - Episode #4.22 (1999) TV Episode .... Various
   - Episode #4.21 (1999) TV Episode .... Various
     (20 more)

"Batman Beyond" .... Rick (1 episode, 1999) ... aka Batman of the Future (Europe: English title) (UK)

   - Spellbound (1999) TV Episode (voice) .... Rick

Operation (1998) .... Jesus Fox Hunt (1996) .... Jack Fremont Fox Hunt (1993) (VG) .... Jack Fremont "Saved by the Bell" .... Matt Wilson (1 episode, 1992)

   - The Senior Prom (1992) TV Episode .... Matt Wilson

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/n/d/Andrew_Bowen_710a.html"