Jon Andre Gower (born April 27, 1973) is an American television and film actor.

Life and career

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, Gower began his career at the age of five years as a

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

. His first substantial role was as Brooks Prentiss on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

soap opera ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in the fictional Genoa City (named after the real-life Genoa City, Wiscon ...

'' from 1981 to 1982. He continued with guest starring roles on ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...

'', '' T. J. Hooker'', and '' The Wizard''. In 1986, he starred with Oscar-nominated

Piper Laurie Piper Laurie (born Rosetta Jacobs; January 22, 1932 – October 14, 2023) was an American actress. She is known for her roles in the films '' The Hustler'' (1961), '' Carrie'' (1976), and '' Children of a Lesser God'' (1986), and the miniseries ...

in an episode of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'', " The Burning Man". In 1987, Gower starred in the comedy/horror film ''

The Monster Squad ''The Monster Squad'' is a 1987 American horror comedy film directed by Fred Dekker, and written by Dekker and Shane Black. Peter Hyams and Rob Cohen served as executive producers. It was released by Tri-Star Pictures on August 14, 1987. T ...

''. Later that year, he starred for two seasons on the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

series '' Mr. President'' with

George C. Scott George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor. He had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his portrayal of stern but complex ...

. From 1988 to 1989, Gower had a recurring role on '' The Hogan Family''. Gower currently coaches actors and others entering the entertainment industry. On November 5, 2014, Gower appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor Podcast. Since 2016, Gower and one of his ''The Monster Squad'' castmates, Ryan Lambert, have been co-hosts of the Squadcast w/Ryan & Andre Podcast, for Fitterpiper Entertainment. The podcast covers ''The Monster Squad'', as well as other films, and conventions that Gower and Lambert attend in support of ''The Monster Squad'' and its legacy. In 2018, Gower produced and directed a documentary about the legacy, cult following, and fans of ''The Monster Squad'', titled '' Wolfman's Got Nards''. On July 3, 2021, Gower nearly died after he suffered a massive heart attack while playing

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

with a friend. Gower needed a

pacemaker A pacemaker, also known as an artificial cardiac pacemaker, is an implanted medical device that generates electrical pulses delivered by electrodes to one or more of the chambers of the heart. Each pulse causes the targeted chamber(s) to co ...

installed in his heart. "my right coronary artery ended up being 100 percent blocked with a giant blood clot... Apparently, according to the people that worked on me and the excellent cath lab team, we got here with about 10 minutes to spare" Gower said in a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

video filmed from his hospital bed. A

GoFundMe GoFundMe is an American for-profit crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. From 2010 to the ...

was set up to help pay for Gower's medical bills.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

* Holmstrom, John. ''The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995''. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 392-393.

References

External links

*
The SquadCast
American male child actors American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Los Angeles 1973 births Living people {{US-screen-actor-1970s-stub