Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, the son of a lawyer and an educator, he was undoubtedly privileged with support and strength from his family. The youngest of the Tyson clan, he broke into the Arts at the early age of nine. Starring in productions at Columbus Children's Theatre, Alan never missed a beat. He signed with CAM Talent, one of the top acting/modeling agencies in the Midwest at 10 years old. He repeatedly booked industrials, print ads, and vacation bible school videos, his agency and family knew that Alan would someday be someone or something special. While in high school, Alan joined The Black Box Theatre Company, created by Steve Black. Here, he began to craft his already developing talent into an art form he knew as acting. He set goals and objectives and started to build upon those skills already acquired.

The next step was college. He needed to choose a school that would allow him the freedom to be himself but also provide the tools that he needed to transform into someone else. The University of North Carolina School of the Arts would be just that environment. Studying under great mentors and idols such as the late Gerald Freeman, Michele Shay, John Langs, Cynthia Penn, Mary Irwin, Ben Furey, Tanya Belov, Robert Francesconi, & Laura Henry, he knew he finally found the next step in his never ending but growing process of becoming a skilled actor.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama, Alan packed up and moved to New York City. He spent the first 5 years auditioning and booking commercials, short films and even doing new plays. It was an amazing time where he grew up and learned how to live life on his own far away from family. But the last 5 years of his 10 year stay something odd thing happened in his life and that spark full of creativity and passion left him and he didn’t know what to do. Work became monotonous. Life became dreadful. Bookings became few to none. He tried to muster through it by any means necessary but ultimately after several talks with family and friends, he knew he had to make a big change.

With gratitude and acceptance, he decided to move back home to Ohio to be with his family and ground himself in his familiar roots but also go back to the basics of why he loved Acting and being creative in the first place. Coming home and doing a little soul searching, he found something different going on inside of him. Some might call it a psychic change or some just think it was his moms cooking after not having it for so long, but he felt spiritually, mentally and physically different and surprisingly that light that had left him, reappeared.

 

He found that acting wasn’t about the show or the end result anymore, but about the process. Just like life. It’s all about the journey. The process of finding who he was really portraying on stage or on screen. What was the reasons for this character’s actions? What was this character really doing? Everything he had learned in college or in high school was starting to make sense and became so much clearer. The one that started acting at age 9 found himself and his true love again. He fell back in love with creating. He fell back in love with doing “actions” and “the doing”. With writing. Anything creative – he wanted to be a part of. His acting became so much more personal and honest. It was like a spiritual experience whenever he was creating. He couldn’t believe it!

 

But Alan also found that he couldn’t keep his newfound knowledge without giving it away and thus he founded the non-profit, Inspire2Teach1, with his family. Their mission is to ensure that vulnerable and at-risk student populations have access to critical information and resources that could increase their opportunities in the fields of education, the arts, finance, health and wellness. As Arts Coordinator he is given the ability and platform to reach youth, parents, and educators and guide them on how the arts could potentially help them find themselves or at least show them a pathway to get to know themselves. He uses his platform not only to have fun but also to educate and show how everyone has a creative bone in their body whether they think so or not. He also films, edits and manages their quarterly video segments called “Teachable Moments”.

 

Joining forces with his new agents at PCG Talent in Columbus, Ohio, it would seem like he never left. He is continuously booking short films and commercials and feels blessed to just be alive and doing what he loves. He appreciates not only the journey and process of creating but he loves what he finds out about himself in each and every character. There’s always a little bit more of Alan that emerges when he finishes a reading, job, or play. He swears up and down that he meets God in between, around and on the lines and in the actions. There’s always growth, always learning, always a connection but most of all there is love and gratitude left after every single script is closed and every single camera wraps.