David Anders Holt (born March 11, 1981), known professionally as David Anders, is an American television and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Julian Sark on Alias, as Adam Monroe on Heroes, as John Gilbert in the TV series The Vampire Diaries, as Victor Frankenstein / Dr. Whale on ABC's Once Upon a Time, and as Blaine "DeBeers" McDonough on iZombie. Although Anders is American, a few of his roles have required him to use a British Home counties accent.

David Anders
David Anders at Phoenix Comicon 2017
Born
David Anders Holt

(1981-03-11) March 11, 1981 (age 43)[1]
OccupationActor
Years active2001–present

Early life

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Anders was born in Grants Pass, Oregon,[1] to Dr. Tony and Jeri Holt. He has three older siblings: a biological brother (Arik), a brother (Jason), and a sister (Maili).

Anders began acting in school plays at a young age but spent most of high school playing sports such as basketball and tennis. When he was a senior in high school, at 15, he played Philip the Apostle in a regional theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar. When he was 18 Anders won the part of George in his high school's production of Our Town, then went on to portray Freddy Eynsford-Hill in a production of My Fair Lady.

Career

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After moving to Los Angeles, he took the stage name of David Anders as another actor use the name David Holt. In 2001, he played a high school senior in the Olsen twins' series So Little Time. Later in 2001, he landed the role of Julian Sark in Alias; originally a guest star, Anders was made a regular and lasted until 2006. Before his acting debut in Alias, Anders worked at The Gap and taught tennis. Between 2001 and 2006, while working on Alias, Anders made guest appearances on television shows such as Charmed, CSI and Grey's Anatomy. Anders also worked in independent film, and was involved in several plays. In 2002, he played in the independent film, The Surge. In December 2001, he appeared in The Source magazine in an ad for the rapper Canibus, in which Anders doubled as Eminem.[citation needed] In 2005, Anders joined the cast of Beautiful, an Off-Broadway rock musical, as the lead. Beautiful was shown during the New York International Fringe Festival. In the same year, he participated in the film Circadian Rhythm. In 2006, Anders worked on the horror film Left in Darkness alongside actress Monica Keena. In 2007, Anders played the role of ELI in the film of the same name, ELI.

He was then cast in a regular role in the second season of NBC's hit Heroes as Adam Monroe/Takezo Kensei, a character with the ability to regenerate.[2] Anders, playing a British character, was once again called upon to use his British accent from Alias.

He also worked on two other movies: Into the Blue 2: The Reef and The Revenant. He also guest-starred in the eighth season of 24. He guest starred as John Gilbert in the TV series The Vampire Diaries in 2010 and 2011.[3]

As of late 2011, Anders had a recurring role as Victor Frankenstein (as well as his Storybrook version Dr. Whale) on ABC's Once Upon a Time.[4] Anders starred as Troy Cutler in USA's Necessary Roughness and continued his role in Once Upon a Time in Season 3.[5] Since 2015, he has portrayed Blaine DeBeers in the US series IZombie.[6] He also returned to Once Upon a Time for a quick walk-on scene in 2015, and again in 2016. In 2017 he returned for a nonspeaking cameo in the series finale of The Vampire Diaries.

In June 2017, Anders revealed that "for kicks" he was in the process of recording his first album.[7] The album, as revealed by Anders on Twitter, was produced by musician/producer David Poe.[8] The EP was self released by Anders in limited quantities, with the single "Above Below" being made available for streaming alongside its music video (a tribute to Anders' late father) on October 20, 2022. [9]

Stage

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On stage Anders has played the lead role in the world premiere of Rockne: The Musical. He also appeared in The Diary of Anne Frank, in 2001,[10] which received an award for Best Ensemble performance at the Back Stage West Garland Awards. In June 2018 Anders performed in along with Ruth Connell, Rob Benedict, and Jason Watkins. The play was presented as part of the 26th Annual Young Playwrights Festival. [11]

Charity work

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In 2006, Anders became a part of Alias and Heroes co-star Greg Grunberg's band, Band From TV. He sang main vocals alongside Bonnie Somerville. Hugh Laurie (House) on keyboards and James Denton (Desperate Housewives) on guitar were also part of the project. The band's main goal was to raise money for major charities; according to Grunberg, they "charge an incredible amount of money to play corporate events, but if it's all going to charity, then it's worth every dime".[citation needed]

In 2015 Anders appeared in a video promoting Stop-Attack, an app that aims to raise awareness and end domestic abuse.[12] Anders was one of over 125 celebrities who supported the app, along with its equity owner Christina Milian.[13]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2002 The Source Booji
2005 Circadian Rhythm Garrison
2006 Left in Darkness Donovan Straight-to-DVD
2007 ELI ELI Short film
2009 Into the Blue 2: The Reef Carlton Straight-to-DVD
The Revenant Bart Gregory
2011 The Maiden and the Princess Hammond Short film
Archetype RL7 (voice) Short film
2012 Neighbors Timothy Longshanks Short film

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2001 So Little Time Senior High School Student Episode: "Rules of Engagement"
2002–06 Alias Julian Sark Recurring role
2004 Alias Mr. Sark (voice) Video game
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Travis Watson Episode: "Crow's Feet"
2005 Charmed Count Roget Episode: "Show Ghouls"
CSI: Miami Brian Miller Episode: "Felony Flight"
2006 Deadwood Infantryman Episode: "The Catbird Seat"
2007 Grey's Anatomy Jim Episodes: "The Other Side of This Life: Parts 1 & 2"
2007–10 Heroes Adam Monroe (Takezo Kensei) Main role
2009 Lie to Me Staff Sgt. Russell Scott Episode: "Moral Waiver"
Children of the Corn Burton Stanton TV film (SyFy)
2010 24 Josef Bazhaev Recurring role, 6 episodes
Warehouse 13 Jonah Raitt Episode: "Where and When"
Undercovers Matthew Hunt Episode: "Assassin"
2010–14, 2017 The Vampire Diaries John Gilbert Recurring role, 13 episodes
2011–16 Once Upon a Time Victor Frankenstein / Dr. Whale Recurring role, 15 episodes
2012 House Bill Koppelman Episode: "Nobody's Fault"
2013 Arrow Cyrus Vanch Episode: "Betrayal"
Necessary Roughness Troy Cutler Recurring role, 8 episodes
Criminal Minds Anton Harris Episode: "To Bear Witness"
2015 Stalker Darren Tyler Episode: "Love Hurts"
2015–2019 iZombie Blaine "DeBeers" McDonough Main role
2016 Comedy Bang! Bang! Loki Episode: "Kaley Cuoco Wears a Black Blazer and Slip on Sneakers"
2020 The Magicians Visigoth overlord Terence Episode: "Magicians Anonymous"
Roswell, New Mexico Travis and Trevor Episode: "Sex and Candy"
2022 Magnum P.I. Ray Nasano Episode: "Close to Home"

References

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  1. ^ a b Baker, Jeff (April 30, 2014). "17 actors you (maybe) didn't know were from Oregon". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
  2. ^ "Meet the new Heroes characters". BBC. April 24, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
  3. ^ Ausiello, Michael (February 23, 2010). "Vampire Diaries exclusive: David Anders cries uncle!". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 26, 2010. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
  4. ^ Richenthal, Matt (July 28, 2011). "David Anders to Appear on Once Upon a Time". TV Fanatic. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  5. ^ Gebhardt, Ashley (July 22, 2013) An Interview with 'Necessary Roughness' and 'Once Upon a Time' Star David Anders Daily Quirk. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
  6. ^ "New iZombie Artwork Is PURE Brain Food!". Dread Central. 2015-02-27.
  7. ^ Schultz, Cody (June 6, 2017). "Interview: 'iZombie's' David Anders on the resurgence of old Blaine, season 4 hopes & more". Hidden Remote. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  8. ^ Anders, David (June 10, 2017). "David is the best and only music PoeDucer I've ever worked with and the best god damned cigarette smoker this side of @RahulKohli13". twitter.com/questionanders. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  9. ^ "David Anders-"Above Below" (Official Video)". YouTube.
  10. ^ Dienstag, Jesse (February 8, 2001). "The Diary of Anne Frank". BackStage. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  11. ^ Melanie (June 18, 2018). "Rob Benedict, Ruth Connell and David Anders Starred in Play This Past Weekend". Nerds and Beyond. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
  12. ^ "David Anders Star of Once Upon A Time Supports STOP-ATTACK". YouTube. Retrieved August 27, 2017.[dead YouTube link]
  13. ^ "'Stop-Attack' App: Christina Milian is Brand Ambassador & Equity Owner". May 2015.
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