David Hollander is an American actor who portrayed Wesley Sarnac on TV's Call to Glory, and Little Earl on What's Happening!!

As an adult, he transitioned to a career in music with his Cinemaphonic CD series. In addition to his music, he works behind-the-scenes in various aspects of filmmaking.

Full or original name at birth: David Jack Hollander

Date and place of birth: August 7, 1969, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. *

Family: "My dad is from Poland--he left right before the war as a child. My mom is from New York, and her mom is from Tangiers," says the ex-child star. His mother worked as a talent agent, and his father was employed at the New York Times. David has one brother, John Hollander, who's a year older than he.

* David Jack Hollander was not born in 1968, 1970, 1971, nor was he born May 16th as a few sources erroneously report. It is reported that playwright, director, and executive producer of TV's The Guardian, David Hollander, was born May 16th, 1968. But they're not the same person. Unfortunately, a few sources have confused the two, incorrectly ascribing biographical data, as well as some professional credits.

There are actually several different individuals by the name of "David Hollander" in the entertainment/literary fields. The fact that two of them were born just a year apart, has led a few sources to confuse data between them. There's a David Hollander who's a writer, another who's a writer/producer, one who worked in Europe for Disney back in the 1980s, and a former child actor who has successfully segued into the music industry.

By all accounts, David Hollander had a normal childhood. He was an enthusiastic, well-adjusted kid who kept his studies up, was in a gifted student program in school, had a great social life, and still managed to act. He began by appearing in numerous commercials, then quickly moved on to TV guest appearances. Within a year of his TV acting debut, he was cast as a series regular on The McLean Stevenson Show. The show was quickly cancelled, but a string of made-for-TV movies, guest appearances on shows such as Kojak, Eight Is Enough, and Barnaby Jones followed. He occasionally found work in major motion pictures such as Coma and Airplane!, but it was his portrayal of Little Earl on TV's What's Happening!! and Wesley Sarnac on TV's Call to Glory, for which most viewers remember him.

His superb comedic timing as a child, ensured that he would primarily be cast in, and largely be known for comedy. By the time he reached his teens, David was demonstrating genuine talent for drama as well. Brad Radnitz, one-time President of the Writers Guild of America and supervising producer-writer on Call to Glory, said of David, "He could have a tremendous career as an actor. A very bright, inquisitive young man, and a marvelous actor."

David was never one of those narcissistic actors who find their work faultless. He once commented: "I have a lot of trouble watching myself, and dealing with what I do. I'm very, very critical of myself." "Sometimes I just won't watch what I'm in." His work on Call to Glory and the "Welcome to My Nightmare" episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, were arguably his best. They're the performances he justifiably takes the greatest pride in. He delivered a number of first-rate dramatic performances on Call to Glory, with the assistance of some outstanding writing, and guidance from an impressive list of award-winning directors the show attracted.

Asked to comment on his fellow Call to Glory co-stars, he said, "It was an incredible cast. It really took on all the characteristics of a real family. It started from the pilot, when we would all go out to dinner and create this kind of family atmosphere." "I really enjoyed working with Craig (Craig T. Nelson, who played his father)." "Cindy (Cindy Pickett, who portrayed his mother) and Lisa (Elisabeth Shue, who played his sister) were great. They were like my mother and sister. I don't have a sister, and our relationship really took on the aspects of a brother-sister thing." "Keenan Wynn (who played his grandfather) was wonderful." David continued to keep in touch with both Cindy and Lisa for many years following the cancellation of the show. He especially enjoyed the early 1960s period clothes CTG actors wore during the series. "It was a time where I was into really old, funky clothes. I'd help them buy old clothes, and would bring in stuff of my own, and say 'Can I wear this?', and I still wear clothes like that."

While in school, David was a DJ on the campus radio station. This is where he first acquired the nickname D.J. Not only was it apropos for his position, but D.J. also happened to be the initials of his first and middle names. He later became known as Lil' Earl or DJ Lil' Earl, when music became the focus of his career. (Lil' Earl was the character he portrayed on the '70s sitcom What's Happening!!)

David's lifelong love of record collecting provided the impetus for the next step of his career. His passion for collecting vinyl led to the incredible discovery of a huge cache of unwanted albums for sale. These were not your ordinary discarded LPs, but actually an entire collection of "library music." Sometimes called background music, incidental film music or production music, library music consists of musical scores used extensively in B-movies and some older TV series. Library music afforded producers the opportunity to provide a soundtrack for their shows and films at a fraction of the cost of hiring a composer, conductor and musicians. In its heyday, this prerecorded music was the musical score heard on many popular shows. Hollander began compiling some of this eclectic music for re-release. We're not talking about boring elevator music, in fact, some of it was quite innovative.

Much of the original music has been destroyed over the years by companies who saw no value in preserving it. David has made it his mission to try and save this music from obscurity by assembling, archiving, and reintroducing library music to the public. His Cinemaphonic compilations have received a number of rave reviews, and have created a small but enthusiastic group of fans for this relatively obscure genre of music.

Selected film credits:
Coma (1978)
Scavenger Hunt (1979)
Airplane! (1980)
Amy (1981)
Meatballs Part II (1984)
Southlander (2001)

Made-for-television movies -- Pilots -- Miscellaneous TV:
The House at 12 Rose Street
The Winged Colt (1977)
Mom and Dad Can't Hear Me (1978)
The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank (1978)
Mandrake (1979)
One Last Ride (1980)
To Race the Wind (1980)
A Whale for the Killing (1981)
Just a Little More Love (1983)
Packin' It In (1983)

TV guest appearances:
Switch
Jigsaw John
Kojak
What Really Happened to the Class of '65?
Eight Is Enough
Quincy, M.E.
Barnaby Jones
Family
James at 15
$weepstake$ (a.k.a. Sweepstakes)
Tales of the Unexpected
Flo
House Calls
Code Red
The Little Rascals a.k.a. The New Little Rascals
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
Nero Wolfe
Little House on the Prairie
Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories
China Beach

Television series:
The McLean Stevenson Show (1976-77)
What's Happening!! (1978-79)
A New Kind of Family (1979-80)
Lewis & Clark (1981)
Call to Glory (1984-85)

Music credits:
Cinemaphonic: Electro Soul (2000)
Cinemaphonic 2: Soul Punch (2001)

Hobbies/sidelines:
Photography, golf, collecting vinyl records, and when he was younger, he collected various Indian artifacts such as kachina dolls.
Like his Call to Glory co-stars, Craig T. Nelson and Tom O'Brien, D.J. enjoys golfing. It was actor Scatman Crothers, who worked on the nearby set of Chico and the Man back in the '70s, who taught David to golf when he was just a tyke.

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