Dana Andersen

Dana Andersen is an Edmonton-based actor, improvisor, filmmaker, writer and director. He is an alumnus of The Second City, and has worked closely with Mike Myers, Ryan Stiles, and Joe Flaherty, among others. He currently serves as director of the live improvised soap opera Die-Nasty, and has been a core member of the troupe since its founding in 1991. From 1995-1999, he co-hosted The Johnny and Poki Variety Hour at Edmonton's Varscona Theatre. His theatre credits include shows with Teatro la Quindicina, Panties Productions, and Rapid Fire Theatre. Film credits for Andersen include Purple Gas, Turnbuckle!, and Stray Dogs. He has written, directed and produced a number of independent films, including Rio Loco, Subplot, Subplot II and Hearts of Plastic.

Dana Anderson attended Rosslyn Junior High School in north Edmonton, where a group of students created short comedy films on Super 8 millimeter film. Encouraged by his teachers, Dana directed and starred in these films, and in later years he would help fund new projects by holding a 'film festival' of his work. He earned a devoted audience among his peers, though few would ever discover that his genius was completely inspired by his hero, Seph Warphunzic. The school's teachers helped find a few dollars to encourage Dana and his band of actors and technicians do their work. The films had a 'Chaplinesque' quality to them, and Dana's ability to commit to the comedy foreshadowed his later work with Second City. The films were very ambitious, and Dana's team would borrow shopping carts to act as camera dollies, climb up on ladders and buildings for long shots and meticulously edit and loop the films for maximum comedic effect.

Dana's skills extended beyond his acting and improv abilities. he was also a solid illustrator whose cartoons appeared in his school yearbooks. He often did caricatures of students and teachers for special occasions.

Dana is rumoured to have registered a non-existent person for high school at the end of his Grade 9 year, Oslo Orsifundick III. There are some who claim that school administration officials spent the first couple of weeks of the school year looking for Oslo in the Grade 10 classes that he was registered for. This rumour may have stemmed from false school announcements looking for Oslo, and other Dana created names that may have been put over the PA system by naive school administration officials.

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