San Mateo-born Dennis Haysbert is an accomplished actor in movies and television, and his net worth is around $42 million. However, these days, he’s best known for appearing as the Allstate spokesperson.
His commercials typically end with one of the two Allstate Corporation official slogans, either Are you in good hands? or That’s Allstate’s stand. More recently however his commercials have combined the two with “That’s Allstate’s stand. Are you in good hands?”. He has also appeared in Spanish language commercials with the line “Con Allstate, Estás En Buenas Manos.” (You’re in good hands with Allstate.)
In 2009–2010 Allstate used the Neil Sedaka song “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” in television commercials to promote Allstate’s car insurance. Breaking up is hard to do, the ads averred, unless one has an Allstate agent to undertake the deed for the customer (switching from another insurer to Allstate). The viewer learned that “breaking up is easy to do” as reassured on the screen by Haysbert. In his role as spokesman for Allstate, Haysbert officiated the coin toss prior to the 2007 Sugar Bowl between LSU and Notre Dame.
In 2008, Haysbert was featured in national television ads to raise public awareness about lending discrimination. The ads were commissioned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. In one of these ads, Haysbert warns consumers about lenders’ targeting minorities for inferior loan products.
For the 2006 college football season, Haysbert did voice work for ticket sales promotions for Brigham Young University. He did it as a favor to his younger brother Adam, who played wide receiver at BYU in the early 1980s.
Haysbert also voices the Military Channel’s commercials with their official slogan: “The Military Channel—Go Behind the Lines.”
His commanding, yet soothing voice has likely made a number of consumers wonder if they are actually in good hands if they’re not Allstate customers. Haysbert made his movie debut in the late 1970s in Lou Grant, but his first big breakthrough role was in Major League, in 1989. He was also the father of Omar Epps’ character in the 2000 cult classic, Love and Basketball.
Dennis Haysbert is also well-known by 24 fans for his role as president David Palmer on the show, and got a Golden Globe nomination for his outstanding performance. He has stated that his role on the show help Barack Obama to win his real-life presidential election, since 24 normalized the idea of a Black president.
Haysbert has also done voice work for various video games, such as Irving Lambert in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, the narrator in Call of Duty: Finest Hour and David Palmer in 24: The Game.