Alan is one of a very elite group of actors who has starred in two successful television series in his career. The first being the Emmy Award winning L.A. Law, where he created the complex character of Douglas Brackman that earned him both a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination. In the second series, Dharma & Greg, which now appears nightly in syndication, Alan starred as Larry Finkelstein the hippie father.

Born in Boston, Rachins pursued a rigorous academic schedule at the Wharton School of Finance. He always had a passion for acting and decided to move to New York to study with teachers William Ball, Warren Robertson, Kim Stanley and Harvey Lembeck, among others. Over the next decade, he performed in a succession of plays, including the original Broadway productions of After the Rain and Hadrian the Seventh, as well as the original off-Broadway productions of The Trojan Women and the outrageous and controversial Oh! Calcutta.

In 1972, Rachins put his acting career on hold when he was accepted as a fellow in the writing and directing programs at the American Film Institute. He went on to sell scripts to a variety of shows, including Hill Street Blues, Fall Guy, Hart to Hart and Knight Rider. He also directed an episode of Paris with James Earl Jones, as well as an Equity waiver play. Alan’s Hill Street Blues episode won an Emmy that season for the talented actress Barbara Babcock.

Despite his burgeoning successes as a writer and director, Rachins returned to his acting career with a leading role in Henry Jaglom’s independent film, Always. This critically acclaimed film brought him wide-spread attention and ultimately led to his role on L.A.Law.

Alan continued to work in feature films such as Heart Condition co-starring with Denzel Washington and Bob Hoskins, Paul Verhoven’s Showgirls, Rob Reiner’s North, Meet Wally Sparks, Starquest, Leave it to Beaver, and the independent feature, Taken.

On television, Alan has starred in the two hour reunion LA LAW: The Movie on NBC, The Elian Gonzales Story for the Fox Family Channel as well as the highest rated MOW for the Animal Planet entitled, The Retrievers, starring alongside Robert Hayes and Robert Wagner. Additional television appearances include the Jackie Collins miniseries, Lady Boss, as well as in Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Silent Singer. Other starring roles include the television movies, She Says She’s Innocent, Single Women, Married Men, Tales From the Crypt, and Unwed Father.

Off-Broadway and regional theatre appearances most recently include the world premiere of Arthur Laurents’ two-hander Attacks Of The Heart at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, N.J. directed by David Saint. At the Cape Playhouse, he played the part of Matthew Harrison Brady in Inherit The Wind. Additionally, he tackled the role of Albin, the flamboyant transvestite in the famed Jupiter Theater production of La Cage Aux Folles, was seen in Love Letters with Swoosie Kurtz at the Coronet Theatre in Beverly Hills and starred in the Reprise production of Promises, Promises with Jason Alexander, Jean Smart and Alan Thicke at the Freud Theatre in Los Angeles.

Happily married, Alan and Joanna have a son, Robert. The couple has formed a production company, Allofit Productions, which has acquired books and original screenplays to develop for television and feature films.