Rod Harrel

Rod Harrel (born 1960) is an actor-writer-director in theatre, video production and film productions. He currently lives in Los Angeles.

Rod Harrel was born in Yakima, Washington, the third son of Audress Harrel, a journeyman mechanic who worked at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and Eileen Harrel. He moved to Vancouver, Washington, with his family in 1972 and graduated from Evergreen High School in 1978. While there he studied drama for three years under teacher Jon Kerr. In college he first studied under Dr. George L. Meshke and in 1981, he received his A.A. degree from Shoreline Community College in Seattle, Washington. While in Seattle he studied under Morry Hendrickson and Willy Clarke.

Harrel made his professional stage debut on his 21st birthday in 1981 at Seattle's Brass Ring Theatre as Officer O'Hara in Joseph Kesselring's macabre comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace. In 1985, he started producing videos with his own Orthicon Ghost Productions. Harrel made his stage debut in Portland, Oregon, playing Carl Cooper in Douglas Gower's play Daddies at the Blue Room for Portland Civic Theatre in December 1985. "Harrel does a particularly good job of portraying a backwoods hippie-religious fanatic without making Carl seem ridiculous—indeed, he gives Carl surprising dimension." He also met two longtime collaborators: director Douglas Mouw and Cathy J. Lewis.