Jeff Daniels

Overview

Born
February 19, 1955 · Athens, Georgia, USA
Birth name
Jeffrey Warren Daniels
Height
6′ 2¾″ (1.90 m)

Biography

Family

Spouse
Children
Parents

Trivia

Had he not gone into acting, he would likely be working in his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan, with his siblings at the Chelsea Lumber Company, owned by the Daniels' family. The Chelsea Lumber Co. provided all the building materials for the construction of his Purple Rose Theater.
Daniels has been married to his high school sweetheart, Kathleen Rosemary Treado, since 1979. They have three children: Benjamin (born 1984), Lucas (born 1987), and Nellie (born 1990). A baseball fan and an avid Detroit Tigers fan, he married his wife on Friday the 13th because he wore the number 13 on his baseball uniform.
In the 2013 Hollywood Reporter Drama Actor Emmy Roundtable, Jeff Daniels was asked to tell a story about his worst audition moment ever. He recounted his first meeting with famed casting agent Juliet Taylor; he had been told to lie on his resume and say that he had studied with the acting teacher Sandy Meisner, so when Taylor asked Daniels about studying with Meisner, Daniels said "yeah, she was great." Sanford "Sandy" Meisner was a man.
He won his Leading Actor Emmy Award for The Newsroom (2012) the night before principal photography of Dumb and Dumber To (2014) began.
Founder of the Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, Michigan, named after Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) in which he starred.

Quotes

[on how he got through filming a sex scene in The Squid and the Whale (2005) with Anna Paquin, who had 9 years earlier played his daughter in the goose-filled family film Fly Away Home (1996)]: We tried not to think about ... you know, geese.
One of the more noble things the Oscars can do is pay attention to movies no one knows about. Blockbusters don't need much help.
(2009 - on living in Michigan) I love living in Michigan, which has been great for my kids and my family. I just never did buy this idea that you have to live in Los Angeles to be an actor. I didn't see that as a requirement in my job description. We do have an airport in Michigan. Basically, years ago we had a child and wanted to raise our baby in a part of the country that we understood. My agent said, 'If you're willing to go to L.A. at your own expense for a meeting, then we're fine. Don't ever tell us that you can't afford it.' I think Michigan keeps you sane and on an even keel through the ups and downs. In Michigan, I do fireworks, shovel snow and live life.
[on the death of James Gandolfini] If Broadway has a version of a guy you want in your foxhole, Jim Gandolfini was mine. During our time together in "God of Carnage" we played 320 performances together. He didn't miss one. Sadly, I now miss him like a brother.
[on The Lookout (2007) co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt] Of the actors I've worked with under 30, Joe was the least interested in anything other than what happened between 'action' and 'cut'. He had no entourage, and I never saw him on a cell discussing his career with a publicist.