Alan Thicke
Alan Thicke grew up in the rough-and-tumble gold mining town of Kirkland Lake, Ontario, in the far north of Canada. After graduating from the University of Western Ontario in English and Psychology, he began his show biz career as an all-night deejay.
Thicke’s television career began behind the scenes as a writer for the Canadian Broadcasting Company. That talent soon led to the U.S., where he wrote and/or produced TV specials for Bill Cosby, Flip Wilson, Richard Pryor, Bobby Darin, Kenny Rogers, Olivia Newton-John, Anne Murray and Barry Manilow, as well as the comedies Fernwood 2 Night, America 2 Night, and the NBC movie The Secret She Carried.
Alan has seven Emmy nominations: five as a writer and two as an actor. He produced the mid-‘70s NBC game shows Celebrity Sweepstakes and Wizard of Odds (for which he brought his friend Alex Trebek from Canada to host) and wrote over 45 television themes, including The Facts of Life, Different Strokes, and Wheel of Fortune.
From 1980-1983, he hosted The Alan Thicke Show, a talk-variety series that remains the biggest hit in the history of Canadian daytime television. The success of that series spawned Thicke of the Night, a late night show which lost its challenge to Johnny Carson's venerable Tonight Show. It was a difficult year for Thicke who, as he puts it with characteristic wry humor, was "divorced and canceled in the same day."
In 1985, Alan's role as psychiatrist and father Jason Seaver on ABC-TV's hit series Growing Pains propelled him into the international spotlight as one of television's most beloved father figures. The series reigned for seven years, earning Alan numerous awards including a Golden Globe nomination for best actor.
Thicke then turned 180 degrees to become Dennis Dupree, a hilariously pompous TV talk show host on the hit NBC series Hope and Gloria.
One of the most sought-after hosts in the business, Thicke emceed the 1987 Emmy Awards, ABC's Disney Christmas and Easter Parades, ABC's Fall Preview Special, ABC's Animal Crack-Ups, the Miss Universe, Miss World USA and Miss USA pageants, Showtime's Comedy All-Stars, Olympics Kick-Off Gala, TV's Funniest Families, NBC's Worlds Greatest Magic and the Emmy-nominated Pictionary.
Recently, Alan has revisited his writing craft to create sitcom pilot scripts for Castle Rock and Warner Brothers. He also wrote the book How Men Have Babies-The Pregnant Father's Survival Guide for a Father's Day (1999), as well as a nationally syndicated humor column for The Toronto Sun.
Alan is proud to have been named "Father of the Year" by organizations including The Father's Day Council of Los Angeles, The Muscular Dystrophy Association, and The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. He has three sons.
