Used the name Dwight Gooden very early in his career but found he was getting confused (online,) with the New York Mets baseball legend of the same name so started to use the stage name Daniel Jude Cole (aka Daniel Cole). When he applied and got his Equity(UK) membership found he could not use Daniel Jude Cole or Daniel Cole because (apparently,) there was another actor with the name Daniel Cole (who may well have been him as he was once registered with an online agency called Talent Gallery as Daniel Cole). So on the spur of the moment and chose the surname Gennis and got his Equity Union Card.