Andy Harlan

Andrew Harlan (Andy) was born on July 28, 1966, in Manhattan to Dorothy Charlotte and Joe Prussack. He grew up in Livingston, N.J. Andy was an active child and loved to play sports. The Dallas Cowboys being his favorite team. When Andy was 6 years old his mother passed away from a battle with cancer. Andy attended Livingston High School and played on the Varsity Football Team. Although Andy was not that interested in school, he was extremely smart and tested with a high IQ. Andy eventually moved in with his grandmother and Great Aunt Anna in Short Hills.

After High School, Andy, went on to the University of Syracuse. After one year he discovered that his passion was in acting. He left Syracuse and went back to New York City to study at the Lee Strasberg School of Acting. Many accounts of his acting showed him to be a talented actor. Over the next several years, Andy preformed in many plays. He also had parts in some movies including Donnie Brasco and a Man Apart. At the height of his acting career, he was asked to play a recurring role in the television series LA Law. Although Andy was finding success in his acting career, he felt he would be even more successful if he lived in Los Angeles.

While in Los Angeles Andy continued to pursue his acting career. After a few years he decided to return to NJ to help care for his elderly grandmother and aunt. He stayed with them until they passed away in the late 1990’s. He was a great caretaker and had an interest in medicine and healing.

In the summer of 2000 Andy met Jennifer Wanniski in Morristown where he was living after the passing of his grandmother. A year later Jennifer and Andy moved to Topanga Canyon, California with their dog Sunny and were married on September 2, 2001. Shortly after that Jennifer gave birth to their first daughter, Ashley Christine Harlan (2/6 /2002).

Throughout Andy’s life he was always interested in fitness, nutrition and body building. In high school he created a gym in his basement and would help train his friends. While living in California he spent lots of time at Gold’s Gym in Venice. Again, his expertise of fitness was easily spotted and before long he became a personal trainer. In this role he was highly sought after and was being approached by television studios to train their actors. Although this put his acting career to the side this was a profession that Andy was very passionate about.

Later Andy and Jennifer would be blessed with another little girl. Charlotte Noel Harlan was born on July 27, 2007, just one day before her father’s birthday. She was named after Andy’s mother. The couple was blessed one last time when Jennifer got pregnant and gave birth to Andy’s son Andrew Harlan Jr. who they called A.J. on 10/12/2010. After living between NJ and California the Harlan family relocated to Las Vegas. Andy continued his passion for fitness throughout his life. He loved his children and was always the dad seen outside playing with all of the kids. He also loved dogs and had Labrador Retrievers up until his death. 

A great sense of humor and the ability to make people laugh was just one of Andy’s many great qualities. He could make anybody laugh and was full of charm. Andy was often told he should look into a comedy career. Andy had a small warehouse of jokes form years back and told them throughout his life still thinking they were the funniest jokes he ever heard. He was pulling out some of those old jokes days before his death.

On October 3,2024 Andy died in his sleep at his family home. He is survived by his children Ashley (22), Charlotte (17), and AJ (13). A private viewing will be held at Davis Funeral Home on October 19th at 10AM.