More about Jeff Daniels
Daniels spent his childhood in Chelsea, Mich., and attended the drama school at Eastern Michigan University.
After appearing in films like “Terms of Endearment” (1985) and “The Purple Rose of Cairo” (1985), Daniels departed from dramatic roles in his performance alongside Jim Carrey in “Dumb and Dumber” (1994). It was one of his most commercially successful films. His other notable roles on the big screen include “Pleasantville” (1998), “The Squid and the Whale” (2005) and “Steve Jobs” (2015).
In addition to his work in film, Daniels has found great success in television. Starring as Will McAvoy in Aaron Sorkin’s HBO drama series “The Newsroom” (2012-2014) earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2012. He would be nominated for the same award in 2013 and 2014.
His other critically acclaimed performances for television include Hulu’s miniseries “The Looming Tower” (2017) and Netflix’s western miniseries “Godless” (2017).
Daniels is also known for his work on the stage. His performances in
Gods of Carnage
(2009) and
Blackbird
(2016) were met with critical praise. Most recently, Daniels received a third Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play following his 2018-2019 turn as Atticus Finch in the Aaron Sorkin stage adaptation of
To Kill a Mockingbird.
On top of these performances, Daniels also writes for the stage. Over a dozen of his plays have been performed at the Purple Rose Theatre Company, a nonprofit stage company in Chelsea, Mich., that he founded in 1991. The theatre’s focus is on developing new creative work based on life in the Great Lakes Basin—places just like Lakeside Chautauqua.
Some of the theatre’s funding comes from the proceeds of Daniels’s music career. He has six full-length albums:
Jeff Daniels Live and Unplugged, Jeff Daniels Live at The Purple Rose Theater, Grandfather's Hat, Keep It Right Here, Together Again,
and
Days Like These.
