Have way too much time to kill? You’re welcome to read Greg’s ridiculously long bio! (Personally, we advise against it. But suit yourself.)
Greg Whalen was born in New York City (not on purpose – it’s just where his Mom happened to be at the time), and raised about 100 miles further north in Millbrook, NY. He was born left-handed, biologically harnessing him to an over-active imagination, a creative way of thinking, and other artsy-fartsy stuff. In Kindergarten, he landed the lead role in the school play (okay, not really a “play”, just a 10-minute skit with a bunch of clueless 5-year-olds, but Greg was the lead clueless 5-year-old). In grade school, Greg was a short, pale, skinny kid who did his homework, got harassed by bullies and was terrible at sports… so naturally, he was drawn to magic. In between acting in grade-school plays, Greg devoured every magic book he could find, and at age 12 began performing magic shows for birthday parties and community events. At the age of 13, Greg wrote and delivered an original speech that won him 2nd place in a New York State oratory contest, and at 14, Greg received the award for “Outstanding Achievement in Special Creativity” at his 8th grade graduation. (So that left-handed thing came in handy for something!)
While in high school, Greg acted in plays, performed magic shows, wrote stories for his school’s literary magazine, directed theatre, taught himself how to juggle, wrote jokes for and hosted the high school’s variety show, and won “Best Actor” in a county-wide acting competition. He found the time to do all this by cleverly avoiding even the merest hint of a social life. In his senior year, he also spurted from 5 feet 5 inches to over 6 feet tall. (“Holy Beanstalk, Batman!”)
Greg majored in Theatre at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, where he consistently landed leading roles. Greg also won Hartwick’s Humanities Award for creative writing, and spent a semester abroad in London, England, studying with the Royal Shakespeare Company (oooh, fancy-schmancy!). He graduated from Hartwick with honors in 1984 earning a BA in Theatre Arts. (Huzzah! Let the starving commence! But wait…)
Greg was then awarded a full fellowship to attend the Master of Fine Arts acting program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He spent the next three years performing with Illinois Repertory Theatre, while attending post-graduate classes on acting, directing, playwriting, singing and dancing. (Side note: Greg sends apologies to his former dance instructors for his staggering inability to follow even the most basic choreography.) While in graduate school, Mr. Whalen was employed by the U of I to teach Introduction to Acting classes to undergraduates. He spent his earnings on luxuries like food and rent (the latter of which was actually quite cheap, since he lived in a tiny apartment above a mausoleum – and we wish that was a joke!) When he had a rare night off from rehearsing or acting with Illinois Rep, Greg wrote and performed stand-up comedy at seedy bars. (Did we say “seedy bars”, we meant “classy saloons”!) After three years, Greg received his MFA in Theatre in May 1987, but remained in Champaign through September playing good ol’ reliable Nathan Detroit in Illinois Opera Theatre’s Guys and Dolls.
A few weeks after moving to Chicago in the fall of ’87, Greg landed the lead in Arsenic & Old Lace at the historic Athenaeum Theatre. Shortly after that, he beat out hundreds of other actors to win the title role in Beetle Bailey (an original musical produced by comic strip creator Mort Walker and directed by Tony Award-nominee Rudy Tronto), earning his Actors Equity card. (Greg’s cartoon-ish looks finally paid off!)
In 1988, Greg began his career as a full-time professional comedian. He headlined dozens of comedy clubs across the Midwest and entertained at hundreds of corporate events across the country. He also wrote, directed and acted in original sketch comedy shows and musical reviews for countless clients, and performed frequently as a founding member of the improvisational comedy team The Improv Gods (admittedly not the most humble of names) with the late, and truly great, Tom Kalas.
In 1991, Greg was hired by City Video Prods. to write, direct and act in several comedy videos. One of these videos, in which Greg appeared with an actress friend of his from grad school, Claire Zinnes, caught the eye of a Chicago commercial producer, and Greg and Claire spent the next three years playing a bantering couple in dozens of off-beat TV commercials for Olson Rug Co. (During these years, Greg answered to both his name and also to calls of “Hey, Rug Guy!”)
Meanwhile, the many character voices and celebrity impressions Greg performed in his stand-up act won him representation with SAG/AFTRA voiceover agents. By the mid-90’s, Greg Whalen was an in-demand voice actor in Chicago. Greg lent his carnival of character voices to projects for the Disney Channel, History Channel, VeggieTales, and hundreds of other clients. (Check out the “Voice-Over” page for more details!)
In 2008, Greg was one of the performing artists featured in The Artsiders, a documentary film produced by Kai/Harding that explored the careers of several established Chicago creatives. It aired to critical acclaim on PBS and was nominated for an Emmy Award. (In this film, Greg is outfitted most elegantly in his very best Batman t-shirt and Cubs cap.)
In 2012, needing to give his over-worked vocal cords a rest, Greg began performing magic again, largely silently, to music and pre-recorded narration. Unlike back in his teenage years, most of the tricks Greg now performed were his own original creations! Then, in 2014, he combined his visual magic with his verbal comedy, mimicry, acting and storytelling to create his uniquely entertaining magic show “Stories Set to Magic”. (Check out the “Comedy Magic” page for more details!)
Now approaching his 40th year as a professional entertainer (Yikes! How did four decades blaze by that quickly?), Greg still keeps a busy performance schedule, but no longer accepts out-of-town gigs. Limiting his current performances to the Chicago/Evanston area allows him to spend as much time as possible at home with his lovely, kind and wonderful wife, Felicia… who just happens to be Greg’s biggest fan. (What a coincidence!)