Frank Collison

Frank was born into the theatre. At age four months he appeared in the role of a baby at a tent theatre in Granville, Ohio. His mother directed him in his first non-crying role, the boy in William Saroyan’s "My Hearts in the Highlands". His father, John Collison was an actor and playwright. At the one hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration Frank played the role of Willie Lincoln when his father re-enacted Lincoln’s inaugural address. Frank briefly flirted with the idea of becoming an archaeologist because he liked to dig up Civil War relics but after seeing his father perform the role of Otto Frank in "The Diary Of Anne Frank", Frank decided he wanted to be an actor. He earned his BA in theatre at San Francisco State University where he performed antiwar street theatre and helped establish Pinecrest Theatre in the Sierra Nevada. He trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and then went on to earn an MFA in acting at UC San Diego. Appearing in over 150 stage productions, Frank has worked Off-Broadway, with the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Chamber Repertory Theatre in Boston, Denver Center Theatre Company and Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. In Los Angeles, Frank has acted in productions at the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Los Angeles Theatre Company, Rogue Machine and Pacific Resident Theatre where he is a founding member. The LA Weekly honored his performance as Mr. Peachum in PRT’s "The Beggars’ Opera" as best supporting actor. Most recently Frank appeared at Rogue Machine Theatre in the west coast premiere of "Still Life" by Alexander Dinelaris. For the past 15 years Frank has been a featured artist at the Valdez Theatre Conference (formerly the Last Frontier Theatre Conference) where he and his wife Laura Gardner teach a monologue workshop. Frank’s funds his theatre career by working in film, television and voiceover. He tends to play odd characters. He voiced the crotchety Grandpa on "Mr Pickles" on Adult Swim and was the voice on a series of PSA's for the National Institutes of Health. He is sometimes approached by people on the street who ask, “What have I seen you in?” Not being sure of strangers’ viewing habits he throws out some guesses: "O Brother, Where Art Thou", "The Village", "Wild at Heart," "The Happening," "Silicon Valley," "American Horror Story," "Twin Peaks." Most often he figures they recognize him from "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" in which he played Horace Bing, the bumbling telegraph operator for six seasons. Contact Frank at www.frankcollison.com