Sam Dalton

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.