Alan Hugh Dale (born 6 May 1947) is a New Zealand actor, known for his early long-running role as Jim Robinson in Australian TV soap opera Neighbours, American series' The O.C.

(as Caleb Nichol) and Ugly Betty (as Bradford Meade), as well as recurring and guest roles in Lost, 24, NCIS, ER, The West Wing, The X-Files, Entourage, Once Upon a Time and Dynasty as Joseph Anders.

[3] Acting roles were limited in New Zealand so Dale worked in multiple jobs, including as a male model,[5] a car salesman and a realtor.

Dale's first professional acting job was playing an Indian in a production of The Royal Hunt of the Sun at the Grafton Theatre in Auckland.

[1] His first on-screen role came in the New Zealand television drama Radio Waves, which although not successful, he described as "nine months of solid work and great fun.

[4] He found working on Neighbours "exciting" and it enabled him to provide for his sons, but he said: "You were a totally replaceable commodity; [the production company] didn't put any value on any of the people appearing in the show.

After discovering he could perform a convincing American accent, Dale attended the film's premiere, finally moving with his family to the United States permanently in January 2000.

[4] Dale, his second wife Tracey, and their then two-year-old son Nick moved into an "awful little flat" in Los Angeles and found an agent.

[1] Dale only received a couple of auditions during his first year in America, but his break came when he was cast as the South African Al Patterson in four episodes of ER.

[1] Many of these have been recurring roles, such as the part of Tom Morrow in JAG and its spin-off NCIS, as well as appearing in three episodes, including the series finale, of The X-Files, playing the "Toothpick Man".

[1] He played the recurring role of Vice President of the United States Jim Prescott for seven episodes of the second season of 24, a part which was originally supposed to be a single scene.

[7][8][9] He had a recurring role as King George in the series Once Upon a Time,[7][10] and Emmett in Hot in Cleveland,[11] before joining the main cast of Dominion in 2014, playing General Edward Riesen.

[16] In March 2008, Dale replaced Peter Davison in the lead role of King Arthur in the London West End production of Monty Python's Spamalot at the Palace Theatre.

[17] He accepted the role because he was a huge fan of Monty Python and considered that "life's too short" for him to have turned down a West End part.

[1] It was not his first experience in musical theatre because he appeared in a 1984 Australian production of Applause, but Dale found the comic timing of the part to be the hardest task.

Dale said his script for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was printed on tin foil so it was impossible to replicate, in order to keep the film's plot a secret.

[13] Despite his mainstream success upon his move to America, Dale remained primarily known for his role as Jim Robinson in Neighbours in the United Kingdom and Australia for several years.

[4][20][21][22] This was spoofed in a promotional ident for the UK's Channel 4 in 2007 which sees Dale taking part in a mock interview about the sudden upturn in his career, before being accosted by an Australian fan, who recognises him as Jim Robinson.

[20] Discussing this association after Ugly Betty's 2007 Golden Globe win, Dale noted: "Every article I read I'm always, 'Ex-soap star Jim Robinson'.

[6] Christopher Rosen of The New York Observer wrote in 2008 that "with his square jaw and seemingly no nonsense attitude, Mr. Dale is the go-to actor when casting directors need a conservative-looking authoritarian.

Rosen says that Dale is "not even...a particularly good actor" but is "fine enough" and "bring[s] a no frills, no gimmicks style to his roles," and "manages to give a consistent performance in every show he appears on.

"[28] Jayne Nelson, writing in magazine SFX, named Dale the second most "serial" science-fiction guest star after Mark Sheppard.

[1][6] Dale describes his life philosophy as being Winston Churchill's quote "Never, never, never give up",[3] and counts Gene Hackman as his "big acting hero".