Chad Allen

Chad Allen is an American retired actor and psychologist who became famous as a child and teen star, best known as Matthew Cooper on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993). He was outed at 21 in 1996 when a tabloid published photos of him kissing another man, and he went on to speak openly about being gay, appearing on multiple covers of The Advocate and becoming one of the few young television stars of that era to live publicly as a gay man. He starred as gay private detective Donald Strachey in a series of television films beginning with Third Man Out (2005), and in the gay-themed drama Save Me (2008), which he also produced. His film End of the Spear (2005) generated controversy when some Christian groups objected to a gay actor playing a missionary. A longtime LGBTQ+ activist, Allen retired from acting in 2015 to pursue a career in psychology.