Alan Thicke, one of American television’s most beloved dads in the iconic role of psychiatrist Jason Seaver on the TV show Growing Pains, graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in English and Psychology. He began his career in the entertainment industry as an all-night disc jockey.
He worked as a writer for the CBC before heading to the US where he was assigned to write and produce TV shows for stars like Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson, Bill Cosby, Anne Murray, Kenny Rogers, Bobby Darin, Barry Manilow and Olivia Newton-John, along with the iconic comedies America 2 Night, the NBC movie The Secret She Carried and Fernwood 2 Night.
His big break as an actor came in 1980, when hosted ‘The Alan Thicke Show’, a talk show that remains, to this day, the biggest in the history of Canadian Television. The overwhelming approval received by the Alan Thicke show led to the creation of another show by Thicke, ‘Thicke of the Night’. In 1985, returned to television with Growing Pains. When Growing Pains went off the air after seven years, Alan shook off his good guy image to play Dennis Dupree, a vain and pompous talk show host on the NBC series Hope and Gloria.
Alan wrote two books on pregnancy and parenting: How Men Have Babies: The Pregnant Father’s Survival Guide (1999) and How to Raise Kids Who Won’t Hate You (2006). He has been nominated for Golden Globe and Emmy awards several times for his performances as an actor and comedian.
