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ALLEN HOOPER was born in L.A. (Lower Alabama),
but soon moved (with his parents and brother) to Atlanta. While still in
elementary school, he had his first acting job with a commercial for the
soon to be World Champion Atlanta Braves. In high school, Allen moved to
radio with a job as a disk jockey for WKRP, AM-1500 in Dallas, Georgia.
(The call letters were later sold to a station in Cincinnati.) He continued
working in radio through college, eventually holding the titles of Music,
Promotions, and News Director all at the same time for WCHK radio in Atlanta.
Upon graduation from the Georgia Institute of Technology,
Allen entered the actual work force as a computer programmer. While holding
a day job, he proceeded to build an impressive theatre resume, appearing
as lead roles in Samuel's Beckett's WAITING FOR GODOT, Eric Bogasian's
TALK RADIO, and Larry Shue's THE FOREIGNER; while also appearing in numerous
productions with the world famous Atlanta Shakespeare Company. Like everyone
else in Atlanta, Allen worked on the television series SAVANNAH and IN
THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. He also starred in independent films, most notably
HOW THE DAY BEGINS and NO PILLS IN HAPPYLAND, both for director Aditya
Chandora.
Wanting to merge his day job with his passion for the entertainment
industry, Allen moved to Los Angeles with hopes of being a working actor.
To further that goal, he started interning at casting offices with shows
such as C.S.I., DARK ANGEL and FELICITY. That lead to Allen becoming a
casting assistant on UPN's ABBY (Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Kadeem Hardison)
and FOX's A MINUTE WITH STAN HOOPER (Norm Macdonald, Penelope Ann Miller,
Fred Willard). He also worked as a casting associate for Jason Kennedy
on PRETTY DEAD GIRL (2004 Sundance official selection) and EATING (2005
Sundance official selection).
Allen switched to the role of associate producer for the
short film POOP before taking the reins for himself as producer of GOTTA
MAKE THEM ANGELS. He was also co-writer of the script with Gregory Cover.
Their first feature collaboration, VEINS, had a respectable showing in
the most recent Project Greenlight contest and will hopefully begin production
in the near future.
Allen currently works as a casting associate for Jeff Greenberg
Casting. They are working on UGLY BETTY. Other projects with this company
include OUT OF PRACTICE (Stockard Channing, Henry Winkler), STACKED (Pamela
Anderson), JAKE IN PROGRESS (John Stamos), ACCORDING TO JIM (Jim Belushi),
and the pilots FOUR KINGS (Josh Cooke, Seth Green), UNTITLED PAUL REISER
PROJECT, UNTITLED PATRICIA HEATON PROJECT, I'M WITH STUPID, and 1321 CLOVER..
In addition, Allen has been the casting director (with Jason
Kennedy) on five short films: GRACE (Liza Weil, Brian Austin Green), THE
SAMURAI OF STRONGSVILLE, OHIO (Camille Mana, Abby Wathen), THE HEART OF
DAVID (Logan Bartholomew, Chason Beau Bridgman), DEVIL'S GROVE (Philip
Anthony-Rodriguez, Kelly Frye), and the in production HOW DO YOU SPEND
YOUR OFF SEASON?.
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