Sam Anderson is an American actor. He is best known for his character roles such as Sam Gorpley on Perfect Strangers, Principal Willis DeWitt on Growing Pains, Holland Manners on Angel, dentist Bernard Nadler on Lost, Doctor Harad in Friends, and in film, as the principal in Forrest Gump.^[1][2]

Anderson was born in Wahpeton, North Dakota. He received a Master of Arts degree in American literature and creative writing at the University of North Dakota and the University of Wisconsin.^[3] During the 1970s, he taught drama at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California.

Anderson is best known for his roles as mailroom supervisor Mr. Gorpley on Perfect Strangers,^[3] Mike Seaver's adversarial Principal DeWitt on Growing Pains, a chief of Cardiology on ER, the lawyer Holland Manners on the first two seasons of Angel^[4] and as Bernard on Lost.^[5] In addition, he was one of the recurring actors on various episodes of WKRP in Cincinnati, playing various roles, including an immigration officer in the episode "The Americanization of Ivan". In film, he notably played the school principal in Forrest Gump.^[6]

Anderson is also known as the assistant manager of the Hotel Royale in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Royale", and as Doctor Harad in Friends. His other guest-starring roles include Remington Steele, Hill Street Blues, The Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote, Picket Fences, The West Wing, Everybody Loves Raymond, and many other shows. Anderson guest-starred in Season 8 of NCIS as Walter Carmichael, a middle school teacher whose classroom becomes a crime scene where one of his students is kidnapped.^[7]

Ovation Awards

• 2019: Nominated for Lead Actor in a Play for the role of Ichabod Banks in the Road Theatre Company production of The Bird and Mr. Banks^[8]