David Anders is the American actor who portrays Victor Frankenstein and Dr. Whale on ABC's Once Upon a Time.
Biography
David Anders Holt, professionally known as David Anders, was born on March 11, 1981[1] in Grants Pass, Oregon,[2] to Jeri Furness[3] and Tony Holt.[4] He is the youngest of four children. He has three older siblings; biological brother Arik, adopted brother Jason, and adopted sister Maili.[4]
David began acting as a young boy in school plays in his native southern Oregon, but athletics occupied him until he was a senior in high school. At seventeen, he played Philip the Apostle in a regional theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar. The following year, David won the part of George in his high school's production of Our Town. Directly following that, he went on to portray Freddy Eynsford-Hill in a production of My Fair Lady. After moving to Los Angeles, he took the stage name of David Anders due to another actor already using the name David Holt.[4]
In 2001, he took a role playing a high school senior in the Olsen twins' series So Little Time. Later in 2001, David landed the role of Julian Sark in Alias; originally a guest star and was made a regular, which lasted until 2006. Before his acting debut in Alias, he worked at The Gap and taught tennis. Between 2001 and 2006, while working on Alias, his guest appearances were on television shows such as Charmed, CSI and Grey's Anatomy and he was involved in several plays. In December 2001, he appeared in The Source magazine in an ad for the rapper Canibus doubling as Eminem. In 2002, he played in the independent film The Surge. During 2005, David 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, he worked on the horror film Left in Darkness alongside actress Monica Keena.[4]
Busily, David took on many television and movie roles through 2007 and beyond; in the film ELI, the second season of NBC’s hit Heroes as Adam Monroe/Takezo Kensei, a character with the ability to regenerate, two other movies; Into the Blue 2: The Reef and The Revenant, guest starring in the eighth season of 24 and playing John Gilbert, the biological father of Elena, on The Vampire Diaries.[4] From 2015 to 2019, Anders starred as Blaine DeBeers on the CW show iZombie along side Rose McIver, who played Tinker Bell on Once Upon a Time.
On stage, he was the lead in the world premiere of Rockne: The Musical, and performed in The Diary of Anne Frank in 2001, which received an award for Best Ensemble at the Back Stage West Garland Awards.[4]
Trivia
- Auditioned for the role of Prince Charming, but ended up being offered the role of Dr. Whale instead.[5]
- Has a pomeranian dog, Gus,[6] who is named after Giancarlo Esposito's character from Breaking Bad.[7]
- Acts opposite fellow Once Upon a Time actor Sara Canning on The Vampire Diaries.
- Was in an episode of The Magicians as Visigoth Overlord Terrence, with Keegan Connor Tracey (Professor Eleanor Lipson; OUAT's Blue Fairy) and Sean Maguire (Sir Effingham and the Dark King Rupert Chatwin; OUAT's Robin Hood/Wish Robin). The show is about a group of people from our world who study magic at Brakebills University and learn that the magical land of Fillory (the subject of an in-universe book series similar to The Chronicles of Narnia) is real.
- Acts opposite several other Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland actors on iZombie, most of which play zombies or people connected to David's character Blaine DeBeers:
Rose McIver (Tinker Bell) | Show in general | McIver plays fellow main character Liv Moore, the series' protagonist and a zombie turned by David's character, Blaine DeBeers |
Sarah-Jane Redmond (Anastasia's Mother) |
"Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?", "Liv and Let Clive" and "Virtual Reality Bites" | Sex partner of David's character; turned into a zombie by him |
Sean Owen Roberts (Thief 2) | "Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?" | Henchman of one David's character's enemies; gets murdered by him |
Ben Cotton (Tweedledum) | "Live and Let Clive" | Henchman hired by David's character |
Aleks Paunovic (Berkley) | Multiple episodes of the first season | Henchman hired by David's character |
Ben Wilkinson (White Knight and Hank) |
"Patriot Brains" | Businessman who purchases brains from David's character |
Andre Tricoteux (Argyle and the Massive Brawler) |
Multiple episodes of the second season | Henchman hired by David's character |
Gina Stockdale (Auntie Em) | "The Whopper" and "Yipee Ki Brain, Motherscratcher!" | Former Babysitter and maid of David's character; accompanies him to the reading of his father's will; watches her be devoured by zombies |
Ryan Booth (Man) | Multiple episodes of the third and fourth season | Henchman hired by the father of David's character; employs him to his side |
Giacomo Baessato (Grif) | "Are You Ready for Some Zombies?" | Patron at the bar David's character owns |
Tony Alcantar (Cashier) | "Chivalry is Dead" | Criminal whose brain David's character eats |
Thomas Cadrot (Aesop) | "Thug Death" | Military officer David's character is bribing |
Nevin Burkholder (Villager) | "Dot Zom" | Patron at the bar David's character owns |
Paul Moniz de Sa (Peasant Ringleader) |
"The Scratchmaker" | Zombie who pays David's characters for a cure |
Artine Browne (Arresting Cop) | Multiple episodes of the fifth season | Henchman hired by David's character |
Seth Isaac Johnson (Young Hansel) |
"Bye, Zombies" and "All's Well That Ends Well" | Dying child who is kidnapped by David's character |
Appearances
Once Upon a Time: Season One | ||||||||||
"Pilot": | "The Thing You Love Most": | "Snow Falls": | "The Price of Gold": | "That Still Small Voice": | "The Shepherd": | "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter": | "Desperate Souls": | "True North": | "7:15 A.M.": | "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree": |
Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"Skin Deep": | "What Happened to Frederick": | "Dreamy": | "Red-Handed": | "Heart of Darkness": | "Hat Trick": | "The Stable Boy": | "The Return": | "The Stranger": | "An Apple Red as Blood": | "A Land Without Magic": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears |
Once Upon a Time: Season Two | ||||||||||
"Broken": | "We Are Both": | "Lady of the Lake": | "The Crocodile": | "The Doctor": | "Tallahassee": | "Child of the Moon": | "Into the Deep": | "Queen of Hearts": | "The Cricket Game": | "The Outsider": |
Appears | Appears | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"In the Name of the Brother": | "Tiny": | "Manhattan": | "The Queen Is Dead": | "The Miller's Daughter": | "Welcome to Storybrooke": | "Selfless, Brave and True": | "Lacey": | "The Evil Queen": | "Second Star to the Right": | "And Straight On 'Til Morning": |
Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Three | ||||||||||
"The Heart of the Truest Believer": | "Lost Girl": | "Quite a Common Fairy": | "Nasty Habits": | "Good Form": | "Ariel": | "Dark Hollow": | "Think Lovely Thoughts": | "Save Henry": | "The New Neverland": | "Going Home": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent |
"New York City Serenade": | "Witch Hunt": | "The Tower": | "Quiet Minds": | "It's Not Easy Being Green": | "The Jolly Roger": | "Bleeding Through": | "A Curious Thing": | "Kansas": | "Snow Drifts": | "There's No Place Like Home": |
Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Five | |||||||||||
"The Dark Swan": | "The Price": | "Siege Perilous": | "The Broken Kingdom": | "Dreamcatcher": | "The Bear and the Bow": | "Nimue": | "Birth": | "The Bear King": | "Broken Heart": | "Swan Song": | |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | |
"Souls of the Departed": | "Labor of Love": | "Devil's Due": | "The Brothers Jones": | "Our Decay": | "Her Handsome Hero": | "Ruby Slippers": | "Sisters": | "Firebird": | "Last Rites": | "Only You": | "An Untold Story": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Six | ||||||||||
"The Savior": | "A Bitter Draught": | "The Other Shoe": | "Strange Case": | "Street Rats": | "Dark Waters": | "Heartless": | "I'll Be Your Mirror": | "Changelings": | "Wish You Were Here": | "Tougher Than the Rest": |
Absent | Absent | Appears | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"Murder Most Foul": | "Ill-Boding Patterns": | "Page 23": | "A Wondrous Place": | "Mother's Little Helper": | "Awake": | "Where Bluebirds Fly": | "The Black Fairy": | "The Song in Your Heart": | "The Final Battle Part 1": | "The Final Battle Part 2": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Once Upon a Time: Season Seven | ||||||||||
"Hyperion Heights": | "A Pirate's Life": | "The Garden of Forking Paths": | "Beauty": | "Greenbacks": | "Wake Up Call": | "Eloise Gardener": | "Pretty in Blue": | "One Little Tear": | "The Eighth Witch": | "Secret Garden": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
"A Taste of the Heights": | "Knightfall": | "The Girl in the Tower": | "Sisterhood": | "Breadcrumbs": | "Chosen": | "The Guardian": | "Flower Child": | "Is This Henry Mills?": | "Homecoming": | "Leaving Storybrooke": |
Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent | Credit Only |
Once Upon a Time: Specials | ||||||||||
"Magic is Coming": |
"The Price of Magic": | "Journey to Neverland": | "Wicked is Coming": | "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": | ||||||
Archive | Archive | Absent | Archive | Archive | ||||||
"Secrets of Storybrooke": | "Dark Swan Rises": | "Evil Reigns Once More": | "The Final Battle Begins": | |||||||
Archive | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage.
External links
- David Anders on Internet Movie Database
- David Anders on Wikipedia
- @QuestionAnders (David Anders) on X, formerly Twitter
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://twitter.com/QuestionAnders/status/311009618807627777
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://digitaljournal.com/article/355969
- ↑ https://twitter.com/QuestionAnders/status/400138574135193600
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/celebritytalentbios/David-Anders
- ↑ http://nerdist.com/nerdist-and-the-whale-an-interview-with-david-anders/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/QuestionAnders/status/339204420753584128
- ↑ https://twitter.com/QuestionAnders/status/339515025112850432