Birthdate: Dec 9, 1976
Birthplace: San Diego, California
Kevin Daniels (birthname: Kevin Dwight Daniels Jr.) is an American actor whose career starting in 1998 has mainly involved television episodic appearances to roles for the big screen, starting with a supporting role in co-writer/director James Mangold’s Kate & Leopold (1998), starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, with Liev Schreiber, Breckinridge Meyer, Natasha Lyonne, Bradley Whitford, and Philip Bosco, and which grossed a fair $76 million globally.
Daniels was cast by writer/producer/director Rod Shelton in his buddy cop comedy for Columbia/Sony Pictures and Revolution Studios, Hollywood Homicide (2003), starring Harrison Ford, Josh Hartnett, Lena Olin, Bruce Greenwood, Isaiah Washington, Lolita Davidovich, Keith David, Master P, Dwight Yoakum, and Martin Landau, but losing money with a $51 million global gross.
Daniels then joined the cast of the disaster-thriller, Ladder 49 (2004), starring Joaquin Phoenix, John Travolta, Morris Chestnut, Robert Patrick, Balthazar Getty, and Jay Hernandez under Jay Russell’s direction, and which grossed over $102 million worldwide for Buena Vista Distribution/Touchstone Pictures. Daniels played in the indie comedy, Neurotica (2004), co-written and directed by Roger Rawlings and featuring Hallie Bulleit, Geneva Carr, David Conley, and Brian d’Arcy James.
Director-producer Michael Bay cast Kevin Daniels for a supporting role in the sci-fi thriller, The Island (2005), starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Steve Buscemi. Still, he fared poorly for a Bay movie (costing $126 million) with a $163 million global return. Daniels got his first co-starring role in a feature with the rom-com directed by Robert Schenkman And Then Came Love (2007), starring Vanessa Williams, Eartha Kitt, Michael Boatman, Stephen Spinella, and Ben Vereen, and released by Warner Premiere.
Daniels followed with a bit role in director/co-writer/producer Josh C. Waller’s horror movie, Raze (2013), with Zoë Bell, Rachel Nichols, Tracie Thoms, Rosario Dawson, and Sherilyn Fenn, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival before an IFC Midnight release. Daniels reunited with filmmaker Waller and joined the cast of David Morse, Cory Monteith, Mike Vogel, and Ciarán Hinds for the crime drama, McCanick (2013), premiering at the Toronto Film Festival before a release by Eagle Films.
Kevin Daniels had a major supporting role in writer-director Ryan Rothmaier’s horror-suspense movie, The Watcher (2016), with Erin Cahill and Edi Gathegi. Then Daniels was cast by star/director/writer J. Lee for the comedy-drama, aTypical Wednesday (2020), with Cooper J. Friedman, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Michael Ealy, Seth Green, and Beth Grant. Daniels was cast in support of co-writer/director Nick Simon’s horror comedy, Untitled Horror Movie (2021), with Luke Blaine, Darren Barney, Timothy Granaderos, Claire Holt, Katherine McNamara, Emmy Raver-Lampman, and Kal Penn.
Daniels landed a starring role in co-directors/co-writers Chris Beyrooty’s and Connor Martin’s horror thriller, Shelter in Place (2021), with Brendan Hines, Ola Kaminska, Tatiana Marjanovic, and Jet Reynolds, and premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival and released by 1091 Pictures. Daniels joined writer-director Mike Doyle as co-star of the drama, Passing Through (2023), with Amy Ryan and Charles Warburton, and then Daniels shifted to star (spoofing Tyler Perry) in the parody, Not Another Church Movie (2024), written and directed by Johnny Mack and featuring Vivica A. Fox, Lamorne Morris, Tisha Campbell, Mickey Rourke (as The Devil), and Jamie Foxx (as God), and which was released wide by Briarcliff Entertainment.
Kevin Daniels’s next major role was in the thriller, Chasing Midnight (date to be announced), directed by James Allen Bradley and co-starring Brian Austin Green, Jewel Staite, Martin Cummins, Allison Lynch, Lance Gibson, Kelsey Andries, William Oboh, and produced by Factory Film Studio.
Kevin Daniels was born and raised by his parents in San Diego, California. Daniels was selected for and studied at the Juilliard School from 1994 to 1998 when he was a member of the Julliard’s Drama Division’s Group 27. Daniels’s height is 6’ 5”.
Winner, Best Short Film, Harlem Film Festival Awards (2018).
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What’s In a Name?: Kevin Daniels goes by the nickname “KD”.
No Closet: Daniels is openly gay.