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Jeff Daniels

 
American Theater Guide: Jeff Daniels
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Daniels, Jeff (b. 1955), actor. The genial, innocent‐looking leading man of films and television often returns to the theatre, both in New York and at the Purple Rose Theatre, which he founded in his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan. Daniels was educated at Central Michigan University and trained at the Circle Repertory Theatre, where he first started performing in 1976. Among his stage roles of interest were the quiet gardener Jed Jenkins in 5th of July (1978), the scholar Tom researching the memoirs of a secretive old woman in The Golden Age (1984), the young Alan facing up to his estranged father in Lemon Sky (1985), and the Vietnam vet Lyman living in a California forest in Redwood Curtain (1993).

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Actor: Jeff Daniels
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Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Feb 19, 1955 in Athens, Georgia
  • Occupation: Actor, Writer, Director
  • Active: '80s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Comedy, Drama
  • Career Highlights: Terms of Endearment, Speed, Dumb and Dumber
  • First Major Screen Credit: Fifth of July (1982)

Biography

Though he has never achieved the high profile or widespread acclaim of a Robert De Niro, Jeff Daniels ranks as one of Hollywood's most versatile leading men and over his career he has played everything from villains and cads to heroes and romantic leads to tragic figures and lovably goofy idiots, in movies of almost every genre. Daniels has also worked extensively on television and stage, where he first distinguished himself by winning an Obie for a production of Johnny Got His Gun.

Blonde, cleft-chinned, and handsome in a rugged all-American way, Daniels made his screen debut playing PC O'Donnell in Milos Forman's Ragtime (1981). His breakthrough came when he was cast as Debra Winger's inconstant husband in Terms of Endearment (1983). Daniels has subsequently averaged one or two major feature films per year with notable performances, including: his memorable dual portrayal of a gallant movie hero/self-absorbed star who steps out of celluloid to steal the heart of lonely housewife Mia Farrow in Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo (1984); his turn as a man terrified of spiders who finds himself surrounded by them in the horror-comedy Arachnophobia; and his role as Union officer Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, who led his troops into doom in Gettysburg (1993).

In 1994, Daniels took a radical turn away from drama to star as one of the world's stupidest men opposite comic sensation Jim Carrey in the Farrelly brothers' hyperactive Dumb and Dumber. This lowest-common-denominator comedy proved one of the year's surprise hits and brought Daniels to a new level of recognition and popularity. Since then, Daniels has alternated more frequently between drama and comedy. His television credits include a moving portrayal of a troubled Vietnam vet in a Hallmark Hall of Fame production, Redwood Curtain. Daniels still maintains his connection to the stage and manages his own theatrical company. Before launching his acting career, he earned a degree in English from Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, MI.

The later '90s found Daniels turning homeward and venturing into new territories through his labor of love, the Purple Rose Theater. Located in the small town of Chelsea, MI, the bus garage turned playhouse was designed to give Midwestern audiences the opportunity to enjoy entertainment generally reserved for big-city dwellers. Though he continued to appear in such films as Fly Away Home (1996) and Pleasantville (1998), Daniels made his feature directorial debut with the celluloid translation of his successful Yooper stage comedy Escanaba in da Moonlight (2000). Set in the Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P., hence "Yooper"), the tale of redemption by means of bagging a buck mixed the regionally accented humor of Fargo with the eccentricities inherent to northerners and served as an ideal directorial debut for the Michigan native. A modest regional success, Daniels would subsequently appear in such wide releases as Blood Work and The Hours (both 2002) before returning to the director's chair for the vacuum-salesman comedy Super Sucker (also 2002). Later reprising his role as Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain from Gettysburg, Daniels once again went back in time for the Civial War drama Gods and Generals (2002). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: Jeff Daniels
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For other persons named Jeff Daniels, see Jeff Daniels (disambiguation).
Jeff Daniels
Born Jeffrey Warren Daniels
February 19, 1955 (1955-02-19) (age 54)
Athens, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation Actor, musician, playwright
Years active 1980–present
Spouse(s) Kathleen Treado (1979-present)
Official website

Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor, musician and playwright. He founded a non-profit theatre company, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in his home state of Michigan. He has performed in a number of stage productions, both on and off-Broadway. He has been nominated for the Tony Award as Best Actor for the Broadway play God of Carnage (2009), along with his other three cast-mates. He has had a thriving film career, from his debut in 1981 in Ragtime, through State of Play in 2009. For his film work, he has received three Golden Globe Award nominations, including as Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical for Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) (hence the name of his theatre company). He has also received nominations by the Screen Actors Guild, Satellite Awards, and several for his work in The Squid and the Whale (London Critics Circle Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, Chlotrudis Awards and Gotham Awards).

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Early life

Daniels was born in Athens, Georgia and grew up in Chelsea, Michigan, where his father, Robert Lee Daniels, still owns the local lumber yard. He was raised Methodist.[1] Daniels attended Central Michigan University and participated in their theater program. In the Summer of 1976 he attended the Eastern Michigan University (EMU) drama school to participate in a special Bi-Centenniel Repertory programme where he performed in Hot L Baltimore and three other plays performed in repertoire. Marshall Mason was the guest director at EMU and he invited Jeff to come to New York to work at the Circle Repertory Theatre where he performed in The Fifth of July by Lanford Wilson in the 1977-1978 season. He also performed in New York in The Shortchanged Review (1979) at Second Stage Theatre.[2] It was the first show of the inaugural season for Second Stage Theatre.

Stage career

Daniels has starred in a number of New York productions, on and off Broadway. On Broadway, he has appeared in Lanford Wilson's Redwood Curtain, A. R. Gurney's The Golden Age and Wilson's Fifth of July, for which he won a Drama Desk Award for Best Supporting Actor. Off-Broadway, he received a Drama Desk nomination for Wilson's Lemon Sky, and an Obie Award for his performance in the Circle Repertory Company production of Johnny Got His Gun. He returned to the stage in 2009, appearing in Broadway's God of Carnage with Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis and James Gandolfini.[3]

In 1991, he founded the regionally-acclaimed[4] Purple Rose Theatre Company, a non-profit stage company in his childhood and current home of Chelsea, Michigan. He is currently Executive Director of PRTC, and has written 11 plays for them.

Film career

Although primarily a dramatic actor, Daniels has also been cast in other genres such as the 2002 suspense thriller Blood Work and in the 1994 comedy Dumb and Dumber as Harry Dunne, Lloyd Christmas' best friend. Daniels portrayed Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in Gettysburg, as well as the prequel Gods and Generals.

Most notably, Daniels is also known for his roles in movies such as Speed, Terms of Endearment, My Favorite Martian, Gettysburg, Arachnophobia, Because of Winn-Dixie, and The Squid and the Whale. More recently, he appeared in the movie RV with Robin Williams, as well as State of Play. He continues to act and will appear in more upcoming movies.

Musical career

He has focused on recording a number of songs that he has written throughout his life, apparently marking key moments. He has kept busy with frequent gigs and two full length albums, Grandfather's Hat and Jeff Daniels Live and Unplugged.[citation needed]

Personal life

Daniels has been married to his high school sweetheart, Kathleen Rosemary Treado, since 1979. (They married on Friday the 13th because he wore the number 13 on his baseball uniform.)

Around 1983,[5] Daniels found his gathering sense of mastering the acting craft consolidated when Woody Allen complimented his performance in The Purple Rose of Cairo -- he believed he could meet any director's expectations, since he had met Allen's—to the point of announcing to his wife that his career success was ensured.

Their first child was born in 1984, and in 1986, Daniels moved his home to Chelsea, Michigan, where the couple had grown up.

They have three children: Benjamin (born 1984), Lucas (born 1987), and Nellie (born 1990).

Daniels is a baseball fan who follows the Detroit Tigers and is also an avid Detroit Red Wings fan;[citation needed] he is not averse to the Detroit Pistons but he's not so keen on the Detroit Lions.[vague]

He has appeared as the TV spokesperson for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation promoting Michigan's effectiveness in bringing in new companies,[vague] featured on CNBC.

He has written, directed, and starred in two films by Purple Rose Films, each set in Michigan: Escanaba in da Moonlight and Super Sucker.

He was inducted into the Michigan Walk of Fame on May 25, 2006 in Lansing, Michigan.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ Preview Interview with Cast of Because of Winn-Dixie
  2. ^ Downstage Center interview broadcast April 20, 2007
  3. ^ Gandolfini Stars on Broadway in God of Carnage The Associated Press, January 12, 2009
  4. ^ Live Professional Stage Theatre in Chelsea, Michigan at The Purple Rose Theatre
  5. ^ "Worth the Wait", Fran Schumer, New York Times, June 2, 1996 says "... Woody Allen filmed The Purple Rose of Cairo [in Piermont, NY] in 1983...." -- although Mia Farrow and Her Director on Their Film Collaboration, New York Times, January 22, 1984, says "... The Purple Rose of Cairo ... is still in production...."

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American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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