St. Paul native Ian Anthony Dale gets advice from cop brother for TNT show
By Amy Carlson Gustafson
July 5, 2015
Ian Anthony Dale had dreams of being a major league baseball player, but an injury led him away from the field and onto the stage. For more than a decade, Dale’s been carving out a successful acting career in Los Angeles.
The 36-year-old St. Paul native is currently on TNT’s new drama “Murder in the First.” In the fall, he will be seen on a couple of episodes of the CW’s “Hart of Dixie” and also returning to his role on CBS’ “Hawaii Five-O.”
Dale, who grew up in St. Paul’s Midway area and attended Cretin-Derham Hall High School, remembers catching the acting bug during his junior year.
“My friends were encouraging me to audition for a school play and I thought it sounded like a horrible idea,” he said on the phone from Los Angeles. “I was horribly shy and insecure. But I went ahead and did and was petrified throughout the process. I ended up getting a part that led to my discovery of theater.”
At the time, baseball was his true passion. During his senior year he had a shoulder injury, but continued to play. He helped his team snag the 1996 state championship.
“I decided to play through the pain instead of getting surgery and so I did irreparable damage to my shoulder,” he said. “I tried to get surgery and rehab it and play in college, but it never came back. I was fortunate to make the discovery of theater roughly around the same time my baseball career was coming to an end, so I had a perfect new hobby to put my passion into.”
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dale moved to Los Angeles, working on set design before moving in front of the camera.
In “Murder in the First,” which debuted last month, Dale plays police lieutenant Jim Koto, a complicated man who straddles the line between cop and politician. When it comes to getting advice on the part, Dale turns to his brother Sgt. Robert Dale, a homicide detective in the Minneapolis Police Department.
“I’ve played a handful of detectives throughout my career and every time I do and I have a question regarding anything technical or authenticity, he’s the first person I call,” Dale said.
“I’ve always been fascinated with his career and what he does. He’s always been forthcoming in sharing with me his experiences, so I have a direct line to the psychology of somebody in law enforcement and it’s so invaluable. He’ll also be the first person to tell me when I do something wrong. It’s best to check with him beforehand to make sure I’m always doing it right and being authentic.”
On “Hawaii Five-O” his character, Adam Noshimuri, is attempting to legitimize the family business and having a steamy romance with Grace Park’s Kono Kalakaua.
“It’s the first time in my career I’ve really gotten to play a romantic lead,” he said. “For an Asian-American actor that’s kind of a benchmark — it doesn’t happen everyday.”
Dale was to return to Minnesota over the Fourth of July holiday to visit family and friends. He says his parents — Jack, who was on the 1968 Olympic hockey team and also played for the Minnesota Gophers, and his mom, Olga, who was born in Japan and has worked in the nursing profession for more than 50 years — were always supportive of his decision to pursue acting. Aside from some business in the Twin Cities, he will be hanging out with his family — Mom and Dad now live in Cannon Falls — during his short time home.
“When I come home, I’m typically a homebody,” he said. “I see my parents and family so seldom now, I just want to spend as much time with them as possible.”
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