Steve Dakota

Steve Dakota is known for his work on Butterscotch (2010), The Golden Tree (2010) and Moneyball (2011). He grew up in Lakewood, Calif. with his parents John and Bea and his sister Judy. Steve is a graduate of CSU Sacramento and the US Defense Information School. His TV acting debut occurred in the ABC mini-series War and Remembrance.After leaving music and broadcasting in the rear view, Steve worked in public service for the remainder of his career. Virtually all of his time in public service was in public affairs, a military and governmental term for public relations. At the 25-year mark he departed the public affairs arena and focused on reducing homelessness among veterans in California. As State Homeless Veterans Advocate, California Department of Veterans Affairs, he collaborated with the nonprofit California Association of Veteran Service Agencies. The members included Vietnam Veterans of California, Swords to Plowshares, U.S. Vets, led by actor Gregory Peck's son Stephen Peck, New Directions, and Vietnam Veterans of San Diego. While serving in this capacity, Steve submitted a legislatively-mandated report, A Study on the Status of Homeless Veterans in California, to the Office of Gov. Gray Davis. By the time Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast in 2005, Steve had been back in public affairs for two months. The heartbreaking scenes of death and destruction on CNN motivated him to volunteer as a public information officer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA assigned Steve to hot, humid Texas where thousands of traumatized evacuees from the Gulf Coast sought refuge. In addition to media relations, he assisted a couple who lost everything except their car and the clothes on their backs, and helped reunite a husband and wife separated during the Superdome evacuation and bused to different states. In retrospect he said Katrina was his most rewarding assignment. Consequently, Steve retains a lasting thought concerning disaster victims or for that matter homeless veterans. He said, quoting the late American singer/songwriter Phil Ochs, "There but for fortune may go you or I." Show less «