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Jeff Daniels extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Jeff Daniels
Born	Jeffrey Warren Daniels February 19, 1955 (1955-02-19) (age 55) Athens, Georgia, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, musician, playwright
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Kathleen Treado (1979-present)
Official website

Jeffrey Warren 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).

Contents 1 Early life 2 Stage career 3 Film career 4 Musical career 5 Personal life 6 Filmography 7 References 8 External links

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-acclaimed⁴ 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 "Pleasantville", 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 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.

He delivered the Winter commencement address at the University of Michigan on December 20th, 2009, and was granted an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts.⁶

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1981	Ragtime	P. C. O'Donnell
1983	Terms of Endearment	Flap Horton
1985	The Purple Rose of Cairo	Tom Baxter	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1985	Marie	Eddie Sisk
1986	Heartburn	Richard
1986	Something Wild	Charles Driggs	Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1987	Radio Days	Biff Baxter
1988	The House on Carroll Street	Cochran
1988	Sweet Hearts Dance	Sam Manners
1989	Checking Out	Ray Macklin
1990	Arachnophobia	Ross Jennings	Saturn Award for Best Actor
1990	Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael	Denton Webb
1991	Love Hurts	Paul Weaver
1991	The Butcher's Wife	Dr. Alex Tremor
1992	Grand Tour: Disaster in Time	Ben Wilson	International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actor
1992	There Goes the Neighborhood	Willis Embry
1992	Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story	Tom Noonan	made for TV
1993	Rain Without Thunder	Jonathan Garson
1993	Gettysburg	Lt. Colonel Joshua Chamberlain
1994	Speed	Harry Temple
1994	Dumb and Dumber	Harry Dunne
1996	Fly Away Home	Thomas Alden	Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor
1996	2 Days in the Valley	Alvin Strayer
1996	101 Dalmatians	Roger Dearly
1997	Trial and Error	Charlie Tuttle
1998	Pleasantville	Bill Johnson
1999	My Favorite Martian	Tim O'Hara
1999	All the Rage	Warren Harding	retitled It's the Rage for US cable TV
2000	The Crossing	George Washington	made for TV
2000	Chasing Sleep	Ed Saxon
2000	Cheaters	Dr. Gerard Plecki	HBO film
2001	Escanaba in da Moonlight	Reuben Soady
2002	Super Sucker	Fred Barlow
2002	Blood Work	Jasper "Buddy" Noone
2002	The Hours	Louis Waters
2003	Gods and Generals	Lt. Colonel Joshua Chamberlain
2003	I Witness	James Rhodes
2004	The Goodbye Girl	Elliot Garfield	made for TV
2004	Imaginary Heroes	Ben Travis
2005	The Squid and the Whale	Bernard Berkman	Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead Nominated – ALFS Award for Actor of the Year
2005	Because of Winn-Dixie	a preacher
2005	Good Night, and Good Luck.	Sig Mickelson
2006	RV	Travis Gornicke
2006	Infamous	Alvin Dewey
2007	The Lookout	Lewis
2007	Mama's Boy	Mert Rosenbloom
2007	A Plumm Summer	narrator
2008	Sweet Nothing in My Ear	Dan Miller	made for TV
2008	Space Chimps	Zartog	voice only
2008	Traitor	Carter
2009	State of Play	Representative George Fergus
2009	The Answer Man	Arlen Faber
2009	Away We Go	Jerry Farlander
2009	Paper Man	Richard Dunn
2010	Howl	Professor David Kirk

References

External links

• Jeff Daniels at the Internet Movie Database
• Jeff Daniels at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jeff Daniels at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Jeff Daniels Music Interview
• Jeff Daniels interview