The fact is, Shawn is an experienced, professional actor and improviser with many years of training. His first major milestone came when he was accepted into the Acting Apprentice Company at Actors Theater Louisville. If this program is ‘the Marine Corp of the American Stage,’ then the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program is where Shawn received his Special Forces Training… and his MFA.

In addition to commercials, corporate videos, a bevy of student and short films, a few features and countless staged-readings of screenplays, Shawn has been on the boards at all of Seattle’s major theaters including the Seattle Repertory Theatre in the Seafarer, Grapes of Wrath at the Intiman, Red Badge of Courage, and Jason and the Golden Fleece both at Seattle Children’s Theatre as well as ACT where he played Vincent Van Gogh in Vincent in Brixton, Michal in The Pillowman, and Adam Graves in the Seattle premier of Stephen Dietz’s new play Yankee Tavern.

His film credits include Nothing Against Life, Un Film de James, Dishonesty, Safe Passage, A Night in the Sunlight, Gimme Music, Gimme Shelter, The Delivery, TTY, 8 Minutes to Love, Bullets, Blood and a Fistful of Cash, Professional Courtesy, Buffalo Bill’s Defunct, Homeland and Yonder. Shawn has also had guest starring roles on the TV shows Leverage, Grimm and The Fugitive.

Yet, despite all of this real acting, he is most often recognized as the ‘bearded BECU guy,’ from an ad campaign that appeared on buses, billboards, ATMs and in-flight magazines all over the Northwest for what seemed like years but was really decades.