Lenny Von Dohlen
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Augusta, Georgia, USA
If childhood dreams are indicators of ones' future career, actor Lenny Von Dohlen might today be riding a horse in a blinding circle of dust and speed. Thankfully for his fans, the once aspiring jockey decided on a career in film and television, instead. After attending the University of Texas at Austin, the Augusta, GA, native explored the stage while majoring in drama at Denver's Loretto Heights College. Though he had some pre-college on-stage experience, it was during his stint at Loretto Heights that Von Dohlen truly began to heed his calling. By the early '80s, the actor's extensive stage work earned him a role in the made-for-TV feature Kent State (1981), and he moved to features with a brief turn in the acclaimed drama Tender Mercies in 1983. Following a brief return to the small screen, Von Dohlen received his biggest role to date in the technophobic feature Electric Dreams (1984). Cast as a hapless architect whose self-aware home computer unexpectedly becomes his rival in romance, the film was a hit with audiences and played in a seemingly endless loop on cable TV for years. It may not have been Shakespeare, but Electric Dreams certainly earned the rising star a healthy collection of dedicated fans. In the following years, Von Dohlen found himself once again primarily relegated to supporting roles, though a turn as Karl Malden's steel-worker son in Billy Galvin in 1986 proved that the young actor was as capable with drama as he had been with comedy. After closing out the decade by fighting the undead in Dracula's Widow (1988) and getting tangled up in a murder plot in Love Kills (1991), Von Dohlen once again got a chance to shine as the agoraphobic Harold Smith in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992). A marked disappointment for both critics and many fans of the series at the time, the actor's eccentric performance gave the film one of its most memorable characters. A series of forgettable thrillers preceded a turn opposite Fairuza Balk in the twisted drama Tollbooth (1994). Two years later, Von Dohlen got a chance to shine in the little-seen drama Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story. A swift thrashing by an eight-year-old in Home Alone 3 (1997) did little to dampen the actor's spirit, and, in 2001, Von Dohlen returned to the small screen with the TVdrama The Ponder Heart.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | Just Within Reach |
|
— | 2017 |
No Score Yet | Threshold |
|
— | 2017 |
No Score Yet | Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story |
|
— | 2017 |
No Score Yet | Frontline |
|
— | 2014 |
No Score Yet | Sessions |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | Annie and the Gypsy |
|
— | 2012 |
No Score Yet | Night Blind |
|
— | 2010 |
No Score Yet | Downstream |
|
— | 2009 |
80% | Teeth |
|
$0.2M | 2007 |
No Score Yet | Masterpiece Theatre's American Collection |
|
— | 2001 |
No Score Yet | One Good Turn |
|
— | 2000 |
29% | Home Alone 3 |
|
— | 1997 |
No Score Yet | Bird of Prey |
|
— | 1996 |
50% | Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story |
|
— | 1996 |
No Score Yet | Tollbooth |
|
— | 1994 |
64% | Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me |
|
— | 1992 |
No Score Yet | Eyes Of The Beholder |
|
— | 1992 |
40% | Leaving Normal |
|
— | 1992 |
No Score Yet | Blind Vision |
|
— | 1991 |
No Score Yet | Love Kills |
|
— | 1991 |
No Score Yet | Dracula's Widow |
|
— | 1988 |
No Score Yet | Billy Galvin |
|
— | 1986 |
No Score Yet | Under the Biltmore Clock |
|
— | 1986 |
44% | Electric Dreams |
|
— | 1984 |
84% | Tender Mercies |
|
— | 1983 |
No Score Yet | Kent State |
|
— | 1981 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
65% |
The Orville
2017-2019
|
|
|
89% |
Psych
2006-2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Criminal Minds
2005-2020
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Ghost Whisperer
2005-2010
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
CSI: Miami
2002-2012
|
|
|
33% |
The Magnificent Seven
1998-2000
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Pretender
1996-2000
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Chicago Hope
1994-2000
|
|
|
82% |
Picket Fences
1992-1996
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Walker, Texas Ranger
1993-2001
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Equalizer
1985-1989
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
American Playhouse
1982-1996
|
|
|
Quotes from Lenny Von Dohlen's Characters
Unger: | I can't tell you how much I appreciate you hitting me with a minivan.. |
Jernigan: | Never let your emotions get the best of you. You weren't paying attention. You should have been more vigilant. |
Unger: | You should've taken driver's ed. I'm gonna have bad knees when I'm old and I'll have Burton Jernigan to thank. |