Galen is a Nashville-based actor, singer, director, animator, and puppeteer. Originally from Clarksville, he received a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Memphis. Galen has worked with most of the major performing arts organizations in Nashville, including Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Nashville Rep, Nashville Children’s Theatre, Nashville Opera, Nashville Symphony, and Studio Tenn.
In other parts of the country, Galen has played the title roles in Cyrano, Phantom, and Jesus Christ Superstar; King Arthur in Camelot; and Matt Friedman in Talley’s Folly. In 1991, Galen originated the role of Gaston in the still-running Beauty and the Beast stage show at Walt Disney World. Other performing highlights include the national tour of Mame starring Juliet Prowse, singing at Carnegie Hall, and with Houston Grand Opera. For Music Theatre International’s official reference recordings, Galen is the voice of King Triton (The Little Mermaid), Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), Pulitzer (Newsies), and Lumiere (Beauty and the Beast).
As a director and animator, Galen has adapted two dozen children’s books into award-winning films for Scholastic/Weston Woods. Other animation clients include Sesame Workshop, NPT, The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Kroger, and Dollywood. As a puppeteer, Galen has performed with the Jim Henson Company and Wishing Chair Productions. In a previous life, he co-authored eight books on computer graphics and was a contributing editor to PC Magazine. Galen lives in Nashville with his wife Laura and son Burton.