Biography

Born in Roswell, New Mexico, Andy was adopted at birth by an Air Force officer and a career nurse, who were relocated out of state when he was only four months old. The arts came naturally to Andy, who lived in the theatre department during high school and was consistently voted class clown. Later he was involved with Improv comedy groups in Boise, performed regional tours for Idaho Theatre for Youth, and worked in Idaho theater productions, shorts, and commercials. 

Restless for greater opportunities, Andy moved to Los Angeles while he was still in his twenties, on his own and having never been there before. A year later he was working as a VO writer-director on a FOX Kid’s TV show, and the following year joined SAG. He spent the next decade working as a writer, director, and actor in dubbed Japanese animation (Anime) and on properties from Venezuela, South Korea, and France. During this time, Andy was constantly training, including improv with the Groundlings, Shakespeare with Robert Reed, audition technique with Sam Christensen, and many other workshops and classes.  

Intrigued by the storytelling possibilities of electronic meda, Andy eventually began focusing on dotcoms and the video game industry. He worked for a variety of developers and distributors during this period, including Vivendi Universal Games, wrote copy for national retailers, and did closed captioning for network television. During this period Andy returned to his theatre roots, performing comedies while in Boise and more dramatic fare in Los Angeles as a member of the Pacific Resident Theatre Ensemble, where he worked with experienced directors, new and established writers, and a wide variety of actors. 

With his writing work in Los Angeles impacted by changes in the economy, Andy spent a few years as a civilian contractor for the US Army in Alaska. Afterward he returned to Idaho and worked as a fundraiser for the Boise Philharmonic while performing in live-action training sessions for the Boise Police Academy and in leading roles on local stages, as a man whose dying wife discovers his affair in FICTION, and as an Iraqi videographer haunted by the head of a man whose execution he filmed in Russ Stoddard’s original play, HEAD. 

After the death of his father, Leroy, and with the blessing of his mother, Marianne, Andy took a DNA test and was able to identify his biological parents, each of whom were residents of New Mexico. After a magical meeting with his New Mexican mother and sister, Andy decided straightaway to move to Albuquerque. Over the course of his professional life Andy has used multiple pen and stage names, but ever since learning that his biological grandfather and father were both prolific New Mexican entertainers, he is happy to embrace his hereditary name: Andy Wickham.