Gale Hansen is an American actor whose film career peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is best known for his role as Charlie Dalton, nicknamed “Nuwanda,” in the famous film *Dead Poets Society* (1989), where he played a rebellious and nonconformist young man who was a crucial member of Keating's circle.

In his typical roles, Hansen often played charismatic, strong-willed young characters with a penchant for challenging convention. His other notable film credits include Permanent Record (1988), a teen drama, and the comedy Shag (1989), which further established his screen presence as an iconic face of youth cinema of that period.