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David Allan Donah is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his appearances as Dean Bates on the ABC sitcom Roseanne (1988-1997; 2018), for his role as Jason Baldridge in the award-winning CBS courtroom drama The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990-92), for his portrayal of Norman Schmeltzer on the hit NBC comedy Saved by the Bell (1989-1993), and as the lead singer and primary songwriter of the bands Drop 6 (1996-2001) and Somis (2002 -2006)
Donah was born in Fullerton, California as the result of a romantic interlude occurring the night of the Valencia High School Christmas Dance of 1967. His mother, Zandra Darlene Hubalck, and father, David Allen Donah, were both still high school students who were compelled by the ethos of the time to marry in order to legitimize his birth. After their divorce, just a few years later, Donah and his younger sister went to live with their maternal grandparents for a time. Eventually, Donah's mother remarried and brought the children to live with her and their new stepfather in Norco, California, where Donah spent the remainder of his childhood.
Donah describes his early life as somewhat lonely and withdrawn. He was bullied at school for being overweight and his parents struggled financially which added a significant amount of instability at home. As an escape, he spent a lot of time immersed in fantasy. Whether in books, in films, or on television, he came to love the idea of getting lost in a reality other than his own and imagining himself as the heroes or villains of the stories he loved. In high school he found a rare respite from the shame of being overweight in playing football, where his girth could at times be seen as an asset. It was also during this time that he realized the potential that physical training offered in transforming his physique and losing the excess weight that had burdened him for so long. A torn ACL during his junior year, however, ended his high school football days and, unable to continue team training as an elective, forced him to select an alternate course. At his mother's suggestion, he chose a theater class. It was in that class that Donah first performed in front of an audience and developed a sincere love of doing so. He poured himself into the study of theater, sought training and opportunity wherever he could find it, and was soon regularly appearing in regional theatrical productions, earning local acclaim and awards.
At age 18, Donah packed his sparse belongings and, with a small amount of savings he had accumulated, moved to Los Angeles. He rented the lowest cost single room he could find and began waiting tables to pay the bills. He had some headshots taken and began looking for an agent, while auditioning for small theater roles as often as possible. After having little to no luck for almost a year, Donah was preparing to return to his hometown when a friend arranged a meeting for him with an agent who agreed to take him on.
Within just a few months he began having some success, initially in commercials, appearing in multiple national and regional ads, and then, in television, where he would go on to play roles on many of the preeminent shows of their time, often at the height of their popularity. In 1994, as part of his recurring role on the Roseanne show, Donah appeared in an episode titled, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" which was viewed by one of the largest viewing audiences for a sitcom ever at that point, with over 30 million viewers tuning in.
In 1996, Donah became the lead singer, and one of the founding members, of the rock band, Drop 6. The group quickly gained a loyal following, began performing to increasingly larger audiences and, on December 31, 1999, headlined the Y2K New Year's Eve Bash at the world-famous Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset Strip. The band went on to garner additional accolades for their live performances including an infamous outdoor show on June 28 2001 in which Drop 6 partially shut down Sunset Blvd. to perform an impromptu concert to a large group of Stone Temple Pilots fans waiting outside the Roxy Theater. With a 30-foot flatbed truck, the band commandeered Sunset Blvd as their stage and performed to the cheering crowd until law enforcement arrived and forced them to leave.
By the end of 2001, unfortunately, the members of Drop 6 began to struggle with artistic differences that resulted in the group's eventual dissolution. Donah and other core members, however, would go on to form a second band, Somis, a harder-edged rock group that embodied the more aggressive, guitar heavy sound of the mid 2000's. Donah also continued to appear regularly in television, film, commercials, and music videos, as well as writing, recording, and performing with Somis. Among the roles he portrayed were the cheating ex-husband in the music video for Sara Evan's chart-topping ballad, "Cheatin" (2005), Mike Fallon on the NBC drama Las Vegas (2003-2008), and host of the international food and culture show, BlendIn TV (2009-2012), which became a viral phenomenon in 2009 and beyond. In 2012, however, Donah's 4-year-old son was diagnosed as having ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). In response, Donah largely withdrew from public life in order to dedicate more of his time to the care and treatment of his son. In 2021, however, Donah released a music video featuring his son, as well as his daughter and wife. Titled "Chase's Mom", the project was a collaboration with his son who was then age 13 and considering film making as a vocation. The video was a parody of the 2003 pop hit, "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne reimagined from the perspective of a middle-aged suburban husband and father.
