Buzz Van Dyke

Buzz began his acting career in the fifth grade, as the Martian who stole Santa.  His first line was, “Glip glooly oomph oh, oh, oh, oh.”  It was all downhill from there!  

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Buzz’s family lived on a farm as he grew up.  So, he has real life experience being on the right end of a tractor and the wrong end of a cow.  He also worked full-time while attending college.  This provided him with real world experience as a machinist, jewelry store manager, short order cook, postal service worker and golf course greenskeeper.  He even tried his hand (very briefly) at selling life insurance.  However, the bulk of his adult life has been spent serving his country in the US Army.  He began his career in Military Intelligence (insert joke here), serving in Viet Nam as an advisor to the Vietnamese army.  He was later transferred to communications and computers, where he spent most of his military career.

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During his career in the Army, he performed in live theatre performances all around the US, as his duties allowed.  His first lead role was as Deadwood Dick in the melodrama Deadwood Dick, A Tale of Gold.  Since Buzz can’t sing a lick, he realized that the audience would think he was faking an inability to carry a tune if he simply sang out as though he thought he was doing great.  The audience loved it!  

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After retiring from the military, he followed his wife’s lead into a career of on-camera work.  His credits include roles in movies, TV series, commercials, music videos, infomercials and live industrials. He’s been the hero and the villain, the intellectual and the nerd, the coach and the judge and often the grandfather.  He’s particularly proud of his roles in Holiday Ever After (Frank), Best Kept Shut (Henry) and The Cow (Pastor Steve).  He especially enjoys working with independent and college directors and production companies.

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Thanks to Andi Matheny Acting Studios, he’s also had extensive training in all forms of acting from improv to the dramatic.

Best of all, Buzz often gets to perform with Jann.  His wife and best friend of over 54 years.