He worked as a whale handler in a marine mammal show,[11] as entertainment director at Marineland, a musician in medieval dinner theater,[13] and as a street mime and juggler.

[14][9] He has stated that this period was "the happiest of [his] life" and has expressed an interest in teaching juggling, clowning, and other circus arts to disadvantaged youths.

[17] Shortly afterwards, Anderson joined the American soap opera, General Hospital as Dr. Jeff Webber from 1976 to 1981.

Afterwards, Anderson guest-starred as one half of an interracial couple in an episode of The Facts of Life that also served as a backdoor pilot.

[14] Anderson then played Tony Kaiser in the acclaimed TV movie Ordinary Heroes, which aired in 1986.

"[22] During the run of the program, Anderson suffered a number of injuries related to doing his own stunt work,[23] some of which required surgery.

[29] This enabled Davis to retire from acting due to his ailing health and Anderson to take over the smaller role which involved far less on-location shooting so that he could spend more time with his young daughter.

[34] In 1995, he co-starred with John de Lancie in Legend, a comic series of only twelve episodes about a dime novel writer in the Wild West who, against his will, has to play the role of his own fictional character.

Anderson was applauded for his roles as Ernest Pratt and Nicodemus Legend by many critics, most notably John O'Connor from The New York Times.

[19] Dan Castellaneta, the voice actor who portrays Homer Simpson (among other characters), made a guest appearance on Stargate SG-1 ("Citizen Joe") and, in describing his unnatural ability to see the life events of Jack O'Neill, made reference to O'Neill's fondness for The Simpsons.

[36][37] Anderson briefly reprised his role as Angus MacGyver in 2006 when he appeared in a MasterCard commercial during Super Bowl XL.

While the plot follows the "MacGyver Formula", it is somewhat satirical of the series, showing unlikely if not impossible solutions to the obstacles faced by Anderson's character (in one shot, he cuts through a thick rope with a pine-scented air freshener).

[40][41] Anderson cameoed as MacGyver in what seemed to be a Saturday Night Live advertisement parody featuring the show's recurring character MacGruber (portrayed by Will Forte), but was rather a real commercial for both Saturday Night Live and Pepsi, in which the titular character becomes obsessed with the soft drink.

Anderson joined the cast of Fairly Legal on USA Network in fall 2010 in the recurring role of David Smith, appearing in three episodes.

[47] Anderson is a member of the Board of Trustees for Challengers Boys and Girls Club, a youth organization established in 1968 with the help of MacGyver producer Stephen Downing, and featured in an episode from season 4 of the show.

[28][50] From 1996 to 2003, his partner was Apryl A. Prose, mother of his only child, Wylie Quinn Annarose Anderson (born on August 2, 1998).