Ben Daniels
Encyclopedia
Ben Daniels is an English
actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
(LAMDA), he has taken on roles in numerous productions. On television he has appeared in, among other shows, The Lost Language of Cranes
(1991), Conspiracy (2001), Cutting It
(2002–2005), Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005), The Virgin Queen
(2005) and The State Within
(2006). On the silver screen, Daniels has appeared mostly in supporting roles, including parts in The Bridge
(1992), Beautiful Thing
(1996), I Want You
(1998), Madeline
(1998) and Doom
(2005). An exception was the 1997 independent film Passion in the Desert
, based on a short story
by novelist Honoré de Balzac
.
Daniels has had most success with theatre work. He was nominated for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards
for 900 Oneonta (1994), for Best Actor in the M.E.N.
Theatre Awards for Martin Yesterday (1998), and for Best Supporting Actor in the 15th Laurence Olivier Awards
for Never the Sinner (1991). He eventually won the latter award at the 25th Laurence Olivier Awards (2001), as well as the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2001 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Theatre Awards, for his performance in the Arthur Miller
play All My Sons
. Other theatre credits include Tales From Hollywood (2001), Three Sisters
(2003), Iphigenia at Aulis (2004), The God of Hell
(2005), The Wild Duck
(2005–2006) and Thérèse Raquin
(2006). In 2008 Daniels made his Broadway
début with American actress Laura Linney
in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses
(Dangerous Liaisons), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award
for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
.
in Warwickshire, England
. His father was an engineer at Rolls-Royce
and later a grocer, while his mother owned a children's clothes shop. He has an older and a younger sister. Daniels has recalled: "I was quite a shy child, but quite disruptive as well. I was very sneaky and underhand."
According to Daniels, drama lessons at O-levels
gave him a voice, and when he attended sixth form
studies at Stratford College in Stratford-upon-Avon
between 1980 and 1982, doing A-levels in theatre studies and English literature, he attended Royal Shakespeare Company
performances avidly. A fellow student recalled that Daniels, whom he knew as Dave, "was very serious about his work, and struck me as incredibly intelligent. ... You got the sense his mind was working; the cogs were ticking over". Daniels subsequently trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
(LAMDA) for three years.
, the lead singer of The Moody Blues
, as a teenager in two of the band's music video
s, Your Wildest Dreams
(1986) and I Know You're Out There Somewhere
(1988). In 1992, he made an appearance in Casualty
in the infamous plane crash episode "Cascade", playing the co-pilot of the doomed plane. Since then, he has taken on parts in many UK television dramas, such as Robin in The Lost Language of Cranes
(1991), based on David Leavitt
's 1986 book; the Biblical character Jonathan
in the 1997 Emmy-nominated TV film David; the philandering Finn Bevan in Cutting It
(2002–2005); and Nicholas Brocklehurst, the British Counsellor for External Affairs at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., in the BBC
television mini-series The State Within
(2006) – the latter role was notable for an unexpected same-sex kiss between Daniels' character and another person. In 2008 he appeared in Lark Rise to Candleford
, a BBC production based on three semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside written by Flora Thompson
.
Daniel has also played a number of real-life characters: German State Secretary Dr. Josef Bühler
in Conspiracy, 2001 a dramatization of the Wannsee Conference
at which the Final Solution
was endorsed; the English author and journalist Ian Fleming
, creator of James Bond
, in Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005); Sir Francis Walsingham
, Queen Elizabeth I
's spymaster, in The Virgin Queen
(2005); and English writer Saki
in Who Killed Mrs De Ropp? (2007). In addition, he has made guest appearances in a number of British TV drama series, including Soldier Soldier
(1992), A Touch of Frost
(1992), Outside Edge (1994) and Spooks
(2005).
Daniels may be most recognizable to American audiences for appearing in the 1996 gay film Beautiful Thing
, written by Jonathan Harvey
and based on his play of the same name. Daniels portrayed Tony, boyfriend of Sandra, the protagonist Jamie's mother. In an independent film directed by Lavinia Currier titled Passion in the Desert
(1997), based on a short story
by novelist Honoré de Balzac
, Daniels, in one of the few films where he has the lead role, acted as a French soldier named Augustin Robert. His character becomes lost in the desert during Napoleon
's invasion of Egypt and develops a strange bond with a leopard he meets. Passion in the Desert, which was nominated for a Golden Seashell award, also featured renowned French actor Michel Piccoli and was filmed in Jordan and in Utah, USA. Other feature films that Daniels has starred in are The Bridge
(1992), Michael Winterbottom
’s I Want You
(1998); Madeline
(1998), in which he was cast as the somewhat sinister British tutor Leopold; and Doom
(2005), loosely based on the computer game of the same name. He was offered roles in the 2000 releases The Patriot
with Oscar-winning actor/director Mel Gibson
, and in Vertical Limit
, but turned them down, stating: "The money was good, but it wasn't for me".
In the theatre, Daniels is in his element – he has said "I love doing theatre – it's tough and keeps you on your toes as an actor." He has appeared on stage in Shakespeare
's All's Well That Ends Well
and As You Like It
(1999–2000), and appeared as Mercutio
in a 1994 TV production of Romeo and Juliet
. Other theatre credits include Beckett
's Waiting for Godot
(1994); 900 Oneonta (1994), which earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards
; Martin Yesterday (1998), for which he was nominated as Best Actor in the M.E.N.
Theatre Awards; Naked (1998) alongside Juliette Binoche
; Christopher Hampton
's Tales From Hollywood (2001); Chekhov
's Three Sisters
(2003); Iphigenia at Aulis (2004), Sam Shepard
's The God of Hell
(2005), and Ibsen
's The Wild Duck
(2005–2006). In 2006 Daniels appeared in Émile Zola
's Thérèse Raquin
as Laurent, Thérèse's lover; a reviewer pronounced their performances "riveting". He won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Theatre Awards and the 25th Laurence Olivier Awards
in 2001 for his performance in the Arthur Miller
play All My Sons
. He was first nominated for the latter award earlier in his career, in 1991, for his performance as Richard Loeb, a real-life murderer of a 14-year-old boy, in another stage play titled Never the Sinner at the Playhouse Theatre, but lost to David Bradley
. In 2008, Daniels fulfilled a lifetime ambition when he made his Broadway
début headlining as the Vicomte de Valmont with American actress Laura Linney
in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses
(Dangerous Liaisons). Preview performances began on April 11 and the show opened 1 May 2008. Daniels was nominated for a Tony Award
for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
for his role.
Some of the information in this table was obtained from .
Some of the information in this table was obtained from the following sources: ; .
Some of the information in this table was obtained from the following sources: ; .
– he has remarked "Out? I've never been in" – and lives with stage actor Ian Gelder
. They began seeing each other during a 1993 production of Joe Orton
's Entertaining Mr Sloane
. Daniels was already sure of his sexuality in his teens, although he did not discuss the matter with his parents because they did not have a very close emotional relationship. He was "cautious about mentioning it when I left drama school, because AIDS
was terrifying everyone and there was a huge, homophobic
backlash." He decided to be open about being gay at the age of 24 years, while appearing in an all-star benefit performance of Martin Sherman
's Bent
. Daniels has said:
In 2007, Daniels was ranked number 79 in the annual Pink List of 100 influential gay and lesbian people in Britain published by The Independent on Sunday
, down from number 47 in 2006.
In his spare time, he is an amateur painter and Ashtanga yoga
devotee.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art is a leading British drama school in west London. LAMDA's president is Timothy West and its new principal is Joanna Read, who recently succeeded Peter James...
(LAMDA), he has taken on roles in numerous productions. On television he has appeared in, among other shows, The Lost Language of Cranes
The Lost Language of Cranes
The Lost Language of Cranes is a novel by David Leavitt, first published in 1986. A British TV movie of the novel was made in 1991. The movie was released on dvd in 2009.-Plot introduction:...
(1991), Conspiracy (2001), Cutting It
Cutting It
Cutting It was a popular BBC television programme set in Manchester, England, which ran for four series between 2002 and 2005.- Series 1 :...
(2002–2005), Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005), The Virgin Queen
The Virgin Queen (TV show)
The Virgin Queen is a 2005 BBC and Power co-production, four-part miniseries based upon the life of Queen Elizabeth I, starring Anne-Marie Duff...
(2005) and The State Within
The State Within
The State Within is a 2006 Seven-episode British television political drama, written by Lizzie Mickery and Daniel Percival, produced by Grainne Marmion as a joint BBC–BBC America production, that was broadcast by BBC1 in the United Kingdom from Thursday, 2 November 2006.The protagonist of The State...
(2006). On the silver screen, Daniels has appeared mostly in supporting roles, including parts in The Bridge
The Bridge (1992 film)
The Bridge is a 1992 independent film based on the novel by Maggie Hemingway. Directed by Sydney Macartney, it stars Saskia Reeves, David O'Hara, Joss Ackland, Rosemary Harris, Anthony Higgins, and Geraldine James...
(1992), Beautiful Thing
Beautiful Thing
Originally Beautiful Thing is a play written by Jonathan Harvey and first performed in 1993. A screen adaptation of the play was released in 1996 by Channel 4 Films, with a revised screenplay also by Harvey. Initially, the film was only intended for television broadcast but it was so well-received...
(1996), I Want You
I Want You (1998 film)
I Want You is an 1998 English crime film directed by Michael Winterbottom.-Plot:Martin is an ex-convict who returns home and finds that Helen , his former girlfriend is involved with someone else...
(1998), Madeline
Madeline (1998 film)
Madeline is a live-action adaptation of the book series by Ludwig Bemelmans, starring Hatty Jones as the title character, Frances McDormand as Miss Clavel and Nigel Hawthorne as Lord Cuckoo Face aka Lord Covington. The film encompasses the plots of four Madeline books...
(1998) and Doom
Doom (film)
Doom is a 2005 science fiction horror film, loosely based on the Doom series of video games created by id Software. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak....
(2005). An exception was the 1997 independent film Passion in the Desert
Passion in the Desert
Passion in the Desert, or Simoom: A Passion in the Desert, is a 1998 film based on a short story by Honoré de Balzac titled A Passion in the Desert...
, based on a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by novelist Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
.
Daniels has had most success with theatre work. He was nominated for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards
Evening Standard Awards
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
for 900 Oneonta (1994), for Best Actor in the M.E.N.
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
Theatre Awards for Martin Yesterday (1998), and for Best Supporting Actor in the 15th Laurence Olivier Awards
Laurence Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...
for Never the Sinner (1991). He eventually won the latter award at the 25th Laurence Olivier Awards (2001), as well as the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2001 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Theatre Awards, for his performance in the Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
play All My Sons
All My Sons
All My Sons is a 1947 play by Arthur Miller. The play was twice adapted for film; in 1948, and again in 1987.The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947 and ran for 328 performances...
. Other theatre credits include Tales From Hollywood (2001), Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
(2003), Iphigenia at Aulis (2004), The God of Hell
The God of Hell
The God of Hell is a play by American playwright Sam Shepard. The play was written in part as a response to the events of September 11, 2001, and has been described by Shepard as "a take-off on Republican fascism." The plot concerns Wisconsin dairy farmer Frank and his wife Emma, and how their...
(2005), The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Plot:The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home following a self-imposed...
(2005–2006) and Thérèse Raquin
Thérèse Raquin
Thérèse Raquin is the title of a novel and a play by the French writer Émile Zola. The novel was originally published in serial format in the journal L'Artiste and in book format in December of the same year.-Plot introduction:Thérèse Raquin tells the story of a young woman, unhappily married to...
(2006). In 2008 Daniels made his Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
début with American actress Laura Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Les liaisons dangereuses (play)
Les liaisons dangereuses is a play by Christopher Hampton adapted from the 1782 novel of the same title by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The plot focuses on the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, rivals who use sex as a weapon of humiliation and degradation, all the while enjoying their...
(Dangerous Liaisons), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play presented since 1947, is awarded to actors in productions of new or revival plays.-1940s:*1947 - José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac / Fredric March – Years Ago...
.
Biography
Early life and education
Ben Daniels was born on 10 June 1964 in NuneatonNuneaton
Nuneaton is the largest town in the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth and in the English county of Warwickshire.Nuneaton is most famous for its associations with the 19th century author George Eliot, who was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for...
in Warwickshire, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. His father was an engineer at Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Motors
Rolls-Royce Motors was created from the de-merger of the Rolls-Royce car business from Rolls-Royce Limited in 1973. The original Rolls-Royce Limited had been nationalised in 1971 due to the financial collapse of the company, caused in part by the development of the RB211 jet engine...
and later a grocer, while his mother owned a children's clothes shop. He has an older and a younger sister. Daniels has recalled: "I was quite a shy child, but quite disruptive as well. I was very sneaky and underhand."
According to Daniels, drama lessons at O-levels
Ordinary Level
The O-level is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education . It was introduced as part of British educational reform in the 1950s alongside the more in-depth and academically rigorous Advanced Level in England, Wales and Northern Ireland A-level...
gave him a voice, and when he attended sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
studies at Stratford College in Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
between 1980 and 1982, doing A-levels in theatre studies and English literature, he attended Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
performances avidly. A fellow student recalled that Daniels, whom he knew as Dave, "was very serious about his work, and struck me as incredibly intelligent. ... You got the sense his mind was working; the cogs were ticking over". Daniels subsequently trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art is a leading British drama school in west London. LAMDA's president is Timothy West and its new principal is Joanna Read, who recently succeeded Peter James...
(LAMDA) for three years.
Professional career
One of Daniels' earliest roles was appearing as Justin HaywardJustin Hayward
Justin Hayward is an English musician, best known as singer, songwriter and guitarist in the rock band The Moody Blues.Hayward was born in Dean Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, England...
, the lead singer of The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
, as a teenager in two of the band's music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s, Your Wildest Dreams
The Other Side of Life
The Other Side of Life is the twelfth album by the rock band The Moody Blues. It contains the major hit, "Your Wildest Dreams," which, like "Nights in White Satin" before it, was a top-10 hit in the United States. It is the third album of the Patrick Moraz era, and the first for flautist and...
(1986) and I Know You're Out There Somewhere
Sur La Mer
Sur La Mer is the fourteenth album released by The Moody Blues'. It features the hit single "I Know You're Out There Somewhere," a sequel to their 1986 hit "Your Wildest Dreams." Much of the music on this album would fit in the "synthpop" genre, though it does bear more rock and acoustic...
(1988). In 1992, he made an appearance in Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
in the infamous plane crash episode "Cascade", playing the co-pilot of the doomed plane. Since then, he has taken on parts in many UK television dramas, such as Robin in The Lost Language of Cranes
The Lost Language of Cranes
The Lost Language of Cranes is a novel by David Leavitt, first published in 1986. A British TV movie of the novel was made in 1991. The movie was released on dvd in 2009.-Plot introduction:...
(1991), based on David Leavitt
David Leavitt
David Leavitt is an American novelist.-Biography:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Leavitt is a graduate of Yale University. and a professor at the University of Florida...
's 1986 book; the Biblical character Jonathan
David and Jonathan
David and Jonathan were heroic figures of the Kingdom of Israel, whose covenant was recorded favourably in the books of Samuel. Jonathan was the son of Saul, king of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and David was the son of Jesse of Bethlehem and Jonathan's presumed rival for the crown...
in the 1997 Emmy-nominated TV film David; the philandering Finn Bevan in Cutting It
Cutting It
Cutting It was a popular BBC television programme set in Manchester, England, which ran for four series between 2002 and 2005.- Series 1 :...
(2002–2005); and Nicholas Brocklehurst, the British Counsellor for External Affairs at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television mini-series The State Within
The State Within
The State Within is a 2006 Seven-episode British television political drama, written by Lizzie Mickery and Daniel Percival, produced by Grainne Marmion as a joint BBC–BBC America production, that was broadcast by BBC1 in the United Kingdom from Thursday, 2 November 2006.The protagonist of The State...
(2006) – the latter role was notable for an unexpected same-sex kiss between Daniels' character and another person. In 2008 he appeared in Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford
Lark Rise to Candleford is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the countryside of north-east Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England, at the end of the 19th century. They were written by Flora Thompson and first published together in 1945...
, a BBC production based on three semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside written by Flora Thompson
Flora Thompson
Flora Jane Thompson was an English novelist and poet famous for her semi-autobiographical trilogy about the English countryside, Lark Rise to Candleford.-Early life and family:...
.
Daniel has also played a number of real-life characters: German State Secretary Dr. Josef Bühler
Josef Bühler
Josef Bühler was a Nazi war criminal, secretary and deputy governor to the Nazi-controlled General Government in Kraków during World War II.- Background :...
in Conspiracy, 2001 a dramatization of the Wannsee Conference
Wannsee Conference
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting of senior officials of the Nazi German regime, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference was to inform administrative leaders of Departments responsible for various policies relating to Jews, that Reinhard Heydrich...
at which the Final Solution
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
was endorsed; the English author and journalist Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
, creator of James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
, in Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005); Sir Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham
Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...
, Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
's spymaster, in The Virgin Queen
The Virgin Queen (TV show)
The Virgin Queen is a 2005 BBC and Power co-production, four-part miniseries based upon the life of Queen Elizabeth I, starring Anne-Marie Duff...
(2005); and English writer Saki
Saki
Hector Hugh Munro , better known by the pen name Saki, and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirised Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy...
in Who Killed Mrs De Ropp? (2007). In addition, he has made guest appearances in a number of British TV drama series, including Soldier Soldier
Soldier Soldier
Soldier Soldier is a British television drama series. The title comes from a traditional song of the same name.Produced by Central Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of seven series and 82 episodes from 1991 to 1997...
(1992), A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....
(1992), Outside Edge (1994) and Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
(2005).
Beautiful Thing
Originally Beautiful Thing is a play written by Jonathan Harvey and first performed in 1993. A screen adaptation of the play was released in 1996 by Channel 4 Films, with a revised screenplay also by Harvey. Initially, the film was only intended for television broadcast but it was so well-received...
, written by Jonathan Harvey
Jonathan Harvey (playwright)
Jonathan Harvey is a British playwright whose work has earned multiple awards. He is also a former secondary school English teacher.-Life and works:...
and based on his play of the same name. Daniels portrayed Tony, boyfriend of Sandra, the protagonist Jamie's mother. In an independent film directed by Lavinia Currier titled Passion in the Desert
Passion in the Desert
Passion in the Desert, or Simoom: A Passion in the Desert, is a 1998 film based on a short story by Honoré de Balzac titled A Passion in the Desert...
(1997), based on a short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by novelist Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
, Daniels, in one of the few films where he has the lead role, acted as a French soldier named Augustin Robert. His character becomes lost in the desert during Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's invasion of Egypt and develops a strange bond with a leopard he meets. Passion in the Desert, which was nominated for a Golden Seashell award, also featured renowned French actor Michel Piccoli and was filmed in Jordan and in Utah, USA. Other feature films that Daniels has starred in are The Bridge
The Bridge (1992 film)
The Bridge is a 1992 independent film based on the novel by Maggie Hemingway. Directed by Sydney Macartney, it stars Saskia Reeves, David O'Hara, Joss Ackland, Rosemary Harris, Anthony Higgins, and Geraldine James...
(1992), Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom is a prolific English filmmaker who has directed seventeen feature films in the past fifteen years. He began his career working in British television before moving into features...
’s I Want You
I Want You (1998 film)
I Want You is an 1998 English crime film directed by Michael Winterbottom.-Plot:Martin is an ex-convict who returns home and finds that Helen , his former girlfriend is involved with someone else...
(1998); Madeline
Madeline (1998 film)
Madeline is a live-action adaptation of the book series by Ludwig Bemelmans, starring Hatty Jones as the title character, Frances McDormand as Miss Clavel and Nigel Hawthorne as Lord Cuckoo Face aka Lord Covington. The film encompasses the plots of four Madeline books...
(1998), in which he was cast as the somewhat sinister British tutor Leopold; and Doom
Doom (film)
Doom is a 2005 science fiction horror film, loosely based on the Doom series of video games created by id Software. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak....
(2005), loosely based on the computer game of the same name. He was offered roles in the 2000 releases The Patriot
The Patriot (2000 film)
The Patriot is a 2000 historical war film directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Robert Rodat, and starring Mel Gibson, Chris Cooper, and Heath Ledger. It was produced by the Mutual Film Company and Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures...
with Oscar-winning actor/director Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
, and in Vertical Limit
Vertical Limit
Vertical Limit is a 2000 thriller action film directed by New Zealander Martin Campbell starring, among others, Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney and Scott Glenn...
, but turned them down, stating: "The money was good, but it wasn't for me".
In the theatre, Daniels is in his element – he has said "I love doing theatre – it's tough and keeps you on your toes as an actor." He has appeared on stage in Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well
All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....
and As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
(1999–2000), and appeared as Mercutio
Mercutio
Mercutio a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. He is a close friend of Romeo, and Romeo's cousin Benvolio, and also a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, being neither a Montague nor a Capulet, Mercutio is one of the few in Verona...
in a 1994 TV production of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
. Other theatre credits include Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
(1994); 900 Oneonta (1994), which earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards
Evening Standard Awards
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December...
; Martin Yesterday (1998), for which he was nominated as Best Actor in the M.E.N.
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
Theatre Awards; Naked (1998) alongside Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche
Juliette Binoche is a French actress, artist and dancer. She has appeared in more than 40 feature films, been recipient of numerous international accolades, is a published author and has appeared on stage across the world. Coming from an artistic background, she began taking acting lessons during...
; Christopher Hampton
Christopher Hampton
Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
's Tales From Hollywood (2001); Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's Three Sisters
Three Sisters (play)
Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...
(2003); Iphigenia at Aulis (2004), Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
's The God of Hell
The God of Hell
The God of Hell is a play by American playwright Sam Shepard. The play was written in part as a response to the events of September 11, 2001, and has been described by Shepard as "a take-off on Republican fascism." The plot concerns Wisconsin dairy farmer Frank and his wife Emma, and how their...
(2005), and Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Plot:The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home following a self-imposed...
(2005–2006). In 2006 Daniels appeared in Émile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
's Thérèse Raquin
Thérèse Raquin
Thérèse Raquin is the title of a novel and a play by the French writer Émile Zola. The novel was originally published in serial format in the journal L'Artiste and in book format in December of the same year.-Plot introduction:Thérèse Raquin tells the story of a young woman, unhappily married to...
as Laurent, Thérèse's lover; a reviewer pronounced their performances "riveting". He won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Theatre Awards and the 25th Laurence Olivier Awards
Laurence Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Award is presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Named after the renowned British actor Laurence Olivier, they are given for West End shows and other productions staged in London...
in 2001 for his performance in the Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
play All My Sons
All My Sons
All My Sons is a 1947 play by Arthur Miller. The play was twice adapted for film; in 1948, and again in 1987.The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947 and ran for 328 performances...
. He was first nominated for the latter award earlier in his career, in 1991, for his performance as Richard Loeb, a real-life murderer of a 14-year-old boy, in another stage play titled Never the Sinner at the Playhouse Theatre, but lost to David Bradley
David Bradley (actor)
David Bradley is an English character actor. He has recently become known for playing the caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch, in the Harry Potter film franchise.-Life and career :...
. In 2008, Daniels fulfilled a lifetime ambition when he made his Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
début headlining as the Vicomte de Valmont with American actress Laura Linney
Laura Linney
Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...
in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Dangerous Liaisons
Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 drama film based upon Christopher Hampton's play, Les liaisons dangereuses, which in turn was a theatrical adaptation of the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos....
(Dangerous Liaisons). Preview performances began on April 11 and the show opened 1 May 2008. Daniels was nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play presented since 1947, is awarded to actors in productions of new or revival plays.-1940s:*1947 - José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac / Fredric March – Years Ago...
for his role.
Film
| Year(s) of appearance |
Film | Role | Awards and nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Wish You Were Here Wish You Were Here (1987 film) Wish You Were Here is a 1987 British drama/comedy film starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell. The film was written and directed by David Leland. The original music score was composed by Stanley Myers.-Plot:... |
Policeman | |
| 1992 | The Bridge The Bridge (1992 film) The Bridge is a 1992 independent film based on the novel by Maggie Hemingway. Directed by Sydney Macartney, it stars Saskia Reeves, David O'Hara, Joss Ackland, Rosemary Harris, Anthony Higgins, and Geraldine James... |
Rogers | |
| 1993 | Rwendo (short film Short subject A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all... ) |
[Unknown] | |
| 1995 (UK), 1996 (US) |
Beautiful Thing Beautiful Thing Originally Beautiful Thing is a play written by Jonathan Harvey and first performed in 1993. A screen adaptation of the play was released in 1996 by Channel 4 Films, with a revised screenplay also by Harvey. Initially, the film was only intended for television broadcast but it was so well-received... |
Tony | |
| 1998 | Passion in the Desert Passion in the Desert Passion in the Desert, or Simoom: A Passion in the Desert, is a 1998 film based on a short story by Honoré de Balzac titled A Passion in the Desert... |
Augustin Robert | |
| 1998 | I Want You I Want You (1998 film) I Want You is an 1998 English crime film directed by Michael Winterbottom.-Plot:Martin is an ex-convict who returns home and finds that Helen , his former girlfriend is involved with someone else... |
D.J. Bob | |
| 1998 | Madeline Madeline (1998 film) Madeline is a live-action adaptation of the book series by Ludwig Bemelmans, starring Hatty Jones as the title character, Frances McDormand as Miss Clavel and Nigel Hawthorne as Lord Cuckoo Face aka Lord Covington. The film encompasses the plots of four Madeline books... |
Leopold the Tutor | |
| 1999 | Fanny and Elvis | Andrew | |
| 2001 | Married/Unmarried | Danny | |
| 2002 | Fogbound | Leo | |
| 2005 | Doom Doom (film) Doom is a 2005 science fiction horror film, loosely based on the Doom series of video games created by id Software. It was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak.... |
Goat | |
| 2012 | Jack the Giant Killer | Fumm, a Giant |
Some of the information in this table was obtained from .
Television
| Year(s) of appearance |
Television programme or series | Role | Awards and nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Wall of Tyranny (US: Freedom Fighter) |
Streimer | |
| 1989 (2 episodes) |
The Paradise Club "Family Favours" |
D.C. (Detective Constable Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:... ) Webster |
|
| 1989?–1990 (unknown episodes) |
Capital City (1989–1990) | Colin | |
| 1990 (1 episode) |
Drop the Dead Donkey Drop the Dead Donkey - Major characters :* Gus Hedges — The unctuous Chief Executive of the company, and yes-man to Sir Roysten Merchant. A management stereotype, complete with clichés and clumsy metaphors, he swiftly transforms GlobeLink from a serious news network to a ratings-chasing tabloid channel... (1990–1998) "Old Father Time" |
Jack Davenport | |
| 1991 | The Lost Language of Cranes The Lost Language of Cranes (film) The Lost Language of Cranes is a 1991 British television film. Made by the BBC for their Screen Two series; it is an adaptation of the 1986 novel of the same name by David Leavitt.... |
Robin | |
| 1992 (1 episode) |
Casualty Casualty (TV series) Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The... (1986–present) "Cascade" |
First Officer Graham Marda | |
| 1992 (1 episode) |
Soldier Soldier Soldier Soldier Soldier Soldier is a British television drama series. The title comes from a traditional song of the same name.Produced by Central Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of seven series and 82 episodes from 1991 to 1997... (1991–1997) "The Last Post" |
Capt. Andy Wright | |
| 1992 (1 episode) |
A Touch of Frost A Touch of Frost (TV series) A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield.... (1992–present) "Conclusions" |
Roger Massie | |
| 1993 (1 episode) |
The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries Roderick Alleyn Roderick Alleyn is a fictional character who first appeared in 1934. He is the policeman hero of the 32 detective novels of Ngaio Marsh. Marsh and her gentleman detective belong firmly in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, although the last Alleyn novel, Light Thickens, was published as late as... (1990–1994) "Death at the Bar" |
Norman Cubitt | |
| 1994 | Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a... |
Mercutio Mercutio Mercutio a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. He is a close friend of Romeo, and Romeo's cousin Benvolio, and also a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, being neither a Montague nor a Capulet, Mercutio is one of the few in Verona... |
|
| 1994 (5 episodes) |
Outside Edge (1994–1996) | Alex Harrington | |
| 1996 | Truth or Dare | Ben | |
| 1997 | David David David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary... |
Jonathan David and Jonathan David and Jonathan were heroic figures of the Kingdom of Israel, whose covenant was recorded favourably in the books of Samuel. Jonathan was the son of Saul, king of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and David was the son of Jesse of Bethlehem and Jonathan's presumed rival for the crown... |
|
| 1998 (1 episode) |
Silent Witness Silent Witness Silent Witness is a BBC crime thriller series focusing on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in February 1996, the series is still airing to the present day, with a fifteenth series expected to air in January 2012. The series was... (1996–present) "Brothers in Arms" |
Owen Johnson | |
| 1999 | Aristocrats Aristocrats (TV mini-series) Aristocrats is a 1999 Television series, based on the biography by Stella Tillyard. The series consists of six episodes of 50 minutes each and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC, starting on 22 June 1999... |
Lord Kildare | |
| 2000 | Britannic Britannic (film) Britannic is a romantic drama film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith. It stars Edward Atterton and Amanda Ryan as star-crossed lovers on the forgotten sister ship of the , the HMHS Britannic... |
Townsend | |
| 2001 | Conspiracy | Dr. Josef Bühler Josef Bühler Josef Bühler was a Nazi war criminal, secretary and deputy governor to the Nazi-controlled General Government in Kraków during World War II.- Background :... |
|
| 2002–2005 | Cutting It Cutting It Cutting It was a popular BBC television programme set in Manchester, England, which ran for four series between 2002 and 2005.- Series 1 :... |
Finn Bevan | |
| 2003 | Real Men | D.I. (Detective Inspector Inspector Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. However, it is not an equivalent rank in each police force.- Australia :... ) Matthew Fenton |
|
| 2004 | Marple: 4.50 from Paddington 4.50 From Paddington 4.50 from PaddingtonThe article time reads: Four-fifty from Paddington. In the United Kingdom's time notation, hours and minutes may be separated by a dot rather than a colon sign... (US: What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw) |
Alfred Crackenthorpe | |
| 2005 | Ian Fleming: Bondmaker | Ian Fleming Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of... |
|
| 2005 (1 episode) |
Spooks Spooks Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a... (2002–present) "The Russian" |
Oleg Korsakov | |
| 2005 | The Virgin Queen The Virgin Queen (TV show) The Virgin Queen is a 2005 BBC and Power co-production, four-part miniseries based upon the life of Queen Elizabeth I, starring Anne-Marie Duff... |
Sir Francis Walsingham Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security... |
|
| 2006 | The State Within The State Within The State Within is a 2006 Seven-episode British television political drama, written by Lizzie Mickery and Daniel Percival, produced by Grainne Marmion as a joint BBC–BBC America production, that was broadcast by BBC1 in the United Kingdom from Thursday, 2 November 2006.The protagonist of The State... |
Nicholas Brocklehurst | |
| 2007 | Who Killed Mrs De Ropp? | Saki Saki Hector Hugh Munro , better known by the pen name Saki, and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirised Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy... |
|
| 2008 (1 episode) |
Lark Rise to Candleford Lark Rise to Candleford Lark Rise to Candleford is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the countryside of north-east Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England, at the end of the 19th century. They were written by Flora Thompson and first published together in 1945... |
Rushton, the Post Office inspector | |
| 2008 | The Passion The Passion (TV serial) The Passion is a television drama serial produced by the BBC and HBO Films in association with Deep Indigo Productions. It tells the story of the last week in the life of Jesus. The serial was first proposed by Peter Fincham in 2006, on the success of the contemporary-set Manchester Passion... |
Caiaphas Caiaphas Joseph, son of Caiaphas, Hebrew יוסף בַּר קַיָּפָא or Yosef Bar Kayafa, commonly known simply as Caiaphas in the New Testament, was the Roman-appointed Jewish high priest who is said to have organized the plot to kill Jesus... |
|
| 2009– | Law & Order: UK | James Steel | |
| [Unknown] | The Crossing | Adrian | |
| [Unknown] | Great Writers: Thomas Mann Thomas Mann Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual... |
Hans Castorp | |
| [Unknown] | Murky Waters | Bracken Burke | |
| [Unknown] | One by One | Bob | |
| 2011 | Women in Love | Will Brangwen |
Some of the information in this table was obtained from the following sources: ; .
Theatre
| Year(s) of appearance |
Performance | Role | Awards and nominations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Never the Sinner by John Logan John Logan (writer) John David Logan is an American screenwriter, playwright and film producer.-Personal life:Logan was born in San Diego on September 24, 1961. His parents emigrated to the US from Northern Ireland via Canada. The youngest of three children, he has an older brother and sister...
|
Richard Loeb |
|
| 1993 | Entertaining Mr Sloane Entertaining Mr Sloane Entertaining Mr Sloane is a play by the English playwright Joe Orton. It was first produced in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 and transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre on 29 June 1964.-Plot summary:Act 1... (1964) by Joe Orton Joe Orton John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
|
Sloane | |
| 1994 | Waiting for Godot Waiting for Godot Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's... (1948–1949) by Samuel Beckett Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
|
Lucky | |
| 1994 | 900 Oneonta by David Beaird David Beaird David Beaird is an American film and stage director, screenwriter, and playwright.-Career:In 1973 he was recipient of the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the play "The Hot l Baltimore" at the Ivanhoe Theatre in Chicago, Illinois...
|
Tiger |
|
| 1998 | Martin Yesterday Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester |
Matt |
Manchester Evening News The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies... Theatre Awards (nominated) (1998) |
| 1998 | Naked
|
Franco | |
| 1999–2000 | As You Like It As You Like It As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility... (1599 or 1600) by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
|
Orlando | |
| 2001 | All My Sons All My Sons All My Sons is a 1947 play by Arthur Miller. The play was twice adapted for film; in 1948, and again in 1987.The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947 and ran for 328 performances... (1947) by Arthur Miller Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
|
Chris Keller |
|
| 2001 | Tales from Hollywood (1984) by Christopher Hampton Christopher Hampton Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
|
Ödön von Horváth Ödön von Horváth Edmund Josef von Horváth was a German-writing Austro-Hungarian-born playwright and novelist... |
|
| 2003 | Three Sisters Three Sisters (play) Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm... (1900) by Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
|
Lt. Col. Aleksandr Ignatyevich Vershinin | |
| 2004 | Iphigenia at Aulis (410 BC) by Euripides Euripides Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most... , translated by Don Taylor Don Taylor (director) Donald Victor Taylor was an English writer, director and producer, active across theatre, radio and television for over forty years... (1990)
|
Agamemnon Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area... |
|
| 2005 | The God of Hell The God of Hell The God of Hell is a play by American playwright Sam Shepard. The play was written in part as a response to the events of September 11, 2001, and has been described by Shepard as "a take-off on Republican fascism." The plot concerns Wisconsin dairy farmer Frank and his wife Emma, and how their... (2004?) by Sam Shepard Sam Shepard Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
|
Welch | |
| 2005–2006 | The Wild Duck The Wild Duck The Wild Duck is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Plot:The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home following a self-imposed... (1884) by Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
|
Gregers Werle | |
| 2006 | Thérèse Raquin Thérèse Raquin Thérèse Raquin is the title of a novel and a play by the French writer Émile Zola. The novel was originally published in serial format in the journal L'Artiste and in book format in December of the same year.-Plot introduction:Thérèse Raquin tells the story of a young woman, unhappily married to... (1873) by Émile Zola Émile Zola Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism... , adapted by Nicholas Wright
|
Laurent | |
| 2008 | Les Liaisons Dangereuses Dangerous Liaisons Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 drama film based upon Christopher Hampton's play, Les liaisons dangereuses, which in turn was a theatrical adaptation of the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.... (Dangerous Liaisons) (first produced 1985) by Christopher Hampton Christopher Hampton Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
|
Vicomte de Valmont |
|
| 2011 | Luise Miller (1782–1784) by Friedrich Schiller Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
|
The Chancellor | |
| [Unknown] | All's Well That Ends Well All's Well That Ends Well All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623.... (1601–1608) by William Shakespeare William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
|
Bertram | |
| [Unknown] | The Brontës of Haworth by ?Alan Ayckbourn Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
|
James Feather | |
| [Unknown] | Cracks
|
Gideon | |
| [Unknown] | Electra Electra (Euripides) Euripides' Electra was a play probably written in the mid 410s BC, likely after 413 BC. It is unclear whether it was first produced before or after Sophocles' version of the Electra story.-Background:... (probably after 413 BC) by Euripides Euripides Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
|
Pylades Pylades In Greek mythology, Pylades is the son of King Strophius of Phocis and of Anaxibia, daughter of Atreus and sister of Agamemnon and Menelaus. He is mostly known for his strong friendship with his cousin Orestes, son of Agamemnon.-Orestes and Pylades:... |
|
| [Unknown] | Family Circles (1970) by Alan Ayckbourn Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
|
James | |
| [Unknown] | The Hypochondriac
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Cleante | |
| [Unknown] | Pride and Prejudice Pride and Prejudice Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England... based on Jane Austen Jane Austen Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived... 's 1813 book
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George Wickham | |
| [Unknown] | The Tutor The Tutor The Tutor is an 18th-century German play by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz. It has the subtitle "Or The Benefits of a Private Education". In the 20th century, it was adapted by Bertolt Brecht — see The Tutor .... (1774) by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz was a Baltic German writer of the Sturm und Drang movement.-Life:...
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Bollwerk |
Some of the information in this table was obtained from the following sources: ; .
Personal life
Daniels is openly gayGay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
– he has remarked "Out? I've never been in" – and lives with stage actor Ian Gelder
Ian Gelder
Ian Gelder is an English actor who appeared in the TV movie of Rumpole of the Bailey as his university lecturer son. He has also played many other roles on stage and screen. His partner is actor Ben Daniels...
. They began seeing each other during a 1993 production of Joe Orton
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
's Entertaining Mr Sloane
Entertaining Mr Sloane
Entertaining Mr Sloane is a play by the English playwright Joe Orton. It was first produced in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 and transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre on 29 June 1964.-Plot summary:Act 1...
. Daniels was already sure of his sexuality in his teens, although he did not discuss the matter with his parents because they did not have a very close emotional relationship. He was "cautious about mentioning it when I left drama school, because AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
was terrifying everyone and there was a huge, homophobic
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
backlash." He decided to be open about being gay at the age of 24 years, while appearing in an all-star benefit performance of Martin Sherman
Martin Sherman
Martin Sherman is an American dramatist and screenwriter, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-nominated play Bent , which explores the persecution of homosexuals during the Holocaust...
's Bent
Bent (play)
Bent is a 1979 play by Martin Sherman. It revolves around the persecution of gays in Nazi Germany, and takes place during and after the Night of the Long Knives....
. Daniels has said:
In 2007, Daniels was ranked number 79 in the annual Pink List of 100 influential gay and lesbian people in Britain published by The Independent on Sunday
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, down from number 47 in 2006.
In his spare time, he is an amateur painter and Ashtanga yoga
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga is a system of yoga popularized by K. Pattabhi Jois, and which is often promoted as a modern-day form of classical Indian yoga...
devotee.
External links
- Ben Daniels at bbc.co.uk Drama
- Ben Daniels at Film4
- Ben Daniels at GaydarNation
- Ben Daniels at Hello!
- Ben Daniels at the Royal National Theatre
- "Ben Daniels on IRC, the logfile..." – transcript of an online chat with Ben Daniels from the Official Dutch Beautiful Thing Fanclub
- Official website of Cutting It
- Official website of The State Within
- Official website of Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway, 12 April – 6 July 2008