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On February 18, 1932 (which happened to be his 43rd birthday) Dahlen wrote a letter to U. S. Congressman Samuel Dickstein on behalf of the "Picture Players' Alliance," one of several organizations representing extras in motion pictures. Not only was this during the Depression era, but it was a time when Hollywood had an influx of hopefuls, both American and foreign-born, all clamoring for work in films. Dickson, who would later earn the dubious distinction of being the only member of the United States House of Representatives who moonlighted as a spy for the USSR, was Chairman on the Committee on Immigration and Naturalization. Dahlen's letter to the Congressman began with good wishes, went on to describe the difficulty of working as an extra with so many people competing for the same jobs and finally, reaching his point: "At the various studios, or the Central Casting who are the most favored workers the American actors and actresses, or the foreigners?" He went on to suggest that the studios catered to foreign actors and offered to do his "duty" and "locate these foreigners" for the Immigration Department if needed. Whether the Congressman replied to Dahlen's appeal is unknown. As an extra, most, if not all of Dahlen's work, including the part of a newspaper man in Citizen Kane, was uncredited, but he remained a working actor for over 20 years.

By 1920 Ed Dahlen had settled in Los Angeles where pursued an acting career. Dahlen made a living as an extra in motion pictures, and may have been a more colorful character off camera than on.

In 1908, Edward attended Waldorf College in Forest City, Iowa, where he went by the name of Ed Mosestad, but by 1910 he took his adopted family's surname and from that time on was known as Edward Dahlen. After college Dahlen took a job as a cook on the Northern Pacific Railway, then moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota where he worked as a collector.

When Edward's mother died in 1894, he was adopted by Ole and Jane Dahlen, an older couple in Mount Valley, Iowa.

Born Jakob Edvard Mossestad in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, Edward Dahlen was the youngest son of Andrew Ollson Mossestad and his first wife Olina. The family emigrated to the United States in 1891 when Edward was two years old, settling in Forest City, Iowa where his father worked as a veterinary surgeon.