This handsome, tousled-haired television lead since the mid-1970s has proved most convincing playing free-spirited and sometimes deceptively dumb proletarian types in sitcoms ("My Two Dads") and light-hearted adventures ("B.J. and the Bear"). A TV veteran, Evigan can be counted among the ranks of the almost perpetually employed, dropping in on series ranging from "Matlock" to "The Six Million Dollar Man" and appearing in numerous telefilms and specials in between stints as series regulars.
Evigan started out as a song-and-dance man, stomping the boards in the 1971-72 pre-Broadway touring company of "Jesus Christ Superstar". He moved on to the Broadway production, first playing Annas before ascending to the title role. This success lead to playing Danny Zuko in "Grease" on Broadway in 1973. A singer-musician, he was well cast in "Hereafter" (NBC, 1975), a sitcom pilot developed by Norman Lear, as one of three forgotten singers who make a pact with the devil's son in a return for a year at the top of the music field. The pilot failed to fly in its original form but returned retooled as "A Year at the Top" (CBS, 1977), a late summer replacement series. Evigan as "Greg" co-starred with future David Letterman sidekick "Paul" Shaffer.
Evigan was engaging as the star of "B.J. and the Bear" (NBC, 1979-81). He played B J 'Billy Joe' McKay, a guitar-plucking independent trucker who roamed the roads with his pet chimpanzee 'The Bear' before starting his own trucking business with pretty female drivers. Laughs and babes took precedence over action in this non-taxing entertainment. B J's corrupt nemesis, Sheriff Lobo (Claude Akins), was even spun off into his own series.
The run of "B.J. and the Bear" was followed by a few years of TV-movies, guest shots and a co-starring role (with Rod Taylor and Kirstie Alley) on the failed espionage series "Masquerade" (ABC, 1983-84). Evigan went on to settle into another series berth, co-starring with Paul Reiser in the mild family sitcom "My Two Dads" (NBC, 1987-90). The unlikely premise had two men who had both been intimate with the same woman--now deceased--some years before getting joint custody of the 12-year-old girl who was fathered by one of them. Incidentally, Evigan performed the theme songs for both this and his previous series.
Still the workhorse, Evigan next joined forces with Connie Selleca on the short-lived detective series "P.S. I Luv U" (CBS, 1991) before shifting gears to sci-fi. He was a troubled crimefighter of the 21st century in a series of four 1993 "TekWar" adventures ("TekWar", "TekLords", "TekLab" and "TekJustice") aired as part of the syndicated "Action Pack" TV-movie series. Adapted from William Shatner's ("Star Trek"'s Captain Kirk) popular series of sci-fi potboilers, the telefilms gave Evigan an opportunity to show his action mettle as an ex-cop battling both criminals peddling a dangerous mind stimulant and his own personal demons. He reprised the role for a short-lived cable series (USA Network, 1995). Landing on his feet, Evigan joined the cast of the aging youth-oriented primetime soap "Melrose Place" in the 1996-97 season as a gay surgeon/recovering addict and potential romantic interest for the ever unlucky-in-love Matt (Doug Savant). The following year, he was tapped as one of the leads of the short-lived Fox serial "Pacific Palisades".
Evigan has yet to make a significant impact in features. He made his debut in "Scorchy" (1976), a detective melodrama starring Connie Stevens as an undercover cop. Evigan also appeared in several obscure titles, mostly direct-to-video, before receiving a bit more exposure with a lead in "DeepStar Six" (1989), a cheesy underwater horror outing from schlockmeister Sean S Cunningham.