Sam Dalton is an accomplished television and motion picture actor,
writer, director and producer. He began his acting career at the young
age of five when he appeared as an extra in a scene from "The Black
Hills Passion Play" in Lake Wales, Florida.
After graduating from Lenoir City High School in Lenoir City,
Tennessee, Sam attended the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) where
he majored in Communications with an emphasis on Journalism and
Broadcast Management. During his college years, Sam also pursued his
interest in acting and appeared in numerous UT stage productions
including "The Servant of Two Masters", "The Lion in Winter", "The
Royal Hunt of the Sun", and "Look Homeward Angel". During his years at
UT, Sam spent his summers in repertory performing as part of the
resident cast of the Hunter Hills Theater, an outdoor amphitheater
located in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. There he performed the roles of
General Bullmoose in "Li'l Abner", Preacher Hagler in "Dark of the
Moon", Will Parker in "Oklahoma" and Henry Albertson in "The
Fantastiks".
During his senior year at the University of Tennessee, Sam began
working as a part-time weekend news announcer for WIVK AM radio in
Knoxville. Six months later, he was asked to join WNOX AM radio as a
"Drive Time" news anchor and weekend disc jockey. Sam later spent five
years in a variety of positions at WBIR TV (Knoxville) including on-air
news reporter and host of the afternoon "Early Show". His stint at WBIR
TV was briefly interrupted when Sam was called to active duty training
for the US Army Reserve. During the next six years, Sam continued his
duties as a civilian broadcaster while also serving as a Public
Information Specialist for the USAR. Sam continued to pursue his career
as a broadcaster for the next eleven years serving in various
capacities at television stations throughout the United States
including KMPH TV-Fresno, CA, KMGH TV-Denver, CO, and KTVX TV-Salt Lake
City, UT.
During his years as a broadcaster, Sam also continued to act in
numerous stage plays and on-air commercials. Sam became a member of
Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio
Artists in 1983 upon appearing in a nationally broadcast television
commercial for Ford trucks. That same year he won the role of Mr.
Gurntz (the gym coach) in the original Paramount motion picture
"Footloose" starring Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, Sarah Jessica Parker,
John Lithgow, Chris Penn and Diane Wiest.
Sam moved from Salt Lake City to Hollywood in the fall of 1983 to
pursue his acting career full time. Within weeks of his arrival there,
he was cast in a recurring role on the NBC daytime series "Santa
Barbara". Other roles in network television prime-time programs and
movies of the week quickly followed including "Call to Glory" (ABC),
"Rags to Riches" (NBC), "In Self Defense" (TV Movie), "Mr. Belvedere"
(ABC), "Mancuso FBI" (NBC), "Touched by an Angel" (CBS) and "Perfect
Murder, Perfect Town: Jon Benet and the City of Boulder (TV movie).
Sam's recent roles have included appearances in the Disney Channel
television movies "Double Teamed" and "Right on Track", the motion
pictures "Falls the Shadow", "Online" and "A Matter of Time" and short
films including "In Aggression", "Diminuendo" (Nashville Film Festival
selection), "Dakota's Decision", "The Bullet That Follows" and "Cat's
in the Cradle". His recent stage credits include the role of Ebenezer
Scrooge in Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" and Sidney Lipton in
Neil Simon's "God's Favorite".
In 2008, Sam moved from Hollywood to Nashville where he continues to
perform while dividing his time between California and Tennessee. Sam
also is a distinguished educator. For the past four years he has served
as an instructor at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in Nashville
where he teaches a rotating series of required and special topics
courses including "Fundamentals of Production", "Advanced Directing",
"Production II", "The Business of the Biz" and "The World of
Documentaries". Sam is a recipient of a Rocky Mountain Regional Emmy, a
Parents' Choice award and two national Telly awards.
