Andrew Anthony Barbaria Allen was born in NYC and raised in Aurora, Nebraska by Bahai's. He has slept in the Serengeti, hiked in Machu Picchu, walked the halls of the Taj Mahal, and played guitar for the Philippines Congress. After attending the University of Nebraska, he worked with highly regarded acting instructors in New York and Atlanta. Allen has navigated a varied and extensive career on stage, film and in the business community.
Once flew a Cescna from Kansas City to Atlanta without a pilots license.
In High School, he was a five-sport athlete and All-State football player.
Never met his biological father, James William Barbaria of Staten Island, who died in a bus accident. His mother, Margaret L. (Clark) Allen, remarried and moved the family from Staten Island, NY to Bradshaw, Nebraska. Later they moved to nearby Aurora where his step-father, Stanley, worked initially as a welder for BonnaVilla Homes followed by a career as an Operations Technician for Koch Industries in Aurora.
As a serial entrepreneur, he negotiated more than $20MM in business contracts.
He has two older brothers - Dr John Allen, an Interventional Radiologist in Grand Island, Nebraska & Jim "Top Jimmy" Allen, an Information Technology executive in Des Moines. He also has two younger siblings - Pastor Steve Allen of Grace Chapel in Lincoln, Nebraska and graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary in St Louis. Katrina is the youngest and only sister to five older brothers. She is a chiropractic professional and wife of a farmer in Aurora, Nebraska. The family lost Wesley Wayne Allen in a car accident in September of 1992 - he was 16 years old.
