Jeff Daniels
Biography
Jeffrey Warren Jeff Daniels is an American actor born on February 19, 1955, in Athens, Georgia. He founded the Purple Rose Theatre Company, a non-profit theatre company located in his home state of Michigan. Throughout his career, he has performed in multiple stage productions both on and off Broadway and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor for his role in the 2009 Broadway play God of Carnage alongside his three cast-mates. Daniels has maintained a film career that spans from his 1981 debut in Ragtime through State of Play in 2009. His film work includes a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo in 1985, contributing to a total of three Golden Globe nominations.
Career overview
Jeffrey Warren Jeff Daniels is an American actor born on February 19, 1955, in Athens, Georgia. He established the non-profit Purple Rose Theatre Company in his home state of Michigan and has performed in numerous stage productions both on and off Broadway. For his work in the Broadway play God of Carnage in 2009, he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor alongside his three cast-mates.
Daniels has maintained a thriving film career that spans from his feature film debut in 1981 in Ragtime through State of Play in 2009. Throughout his cinematic career, his film work has earned him three Golden Globe Award nominations. Among these is a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for his role in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo in 1985.
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Career timeline
Full filmography
- The Brink of War (2026) as Ronald Reagan
- The American Revolution (2025) as Thomas Jefferson (voice)
- Paddy Chayefsky: Collector of Words (2025) as Self
- A Man in Full (2024) as Charlie Croker
- Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024) as Self
- Shrinking (2023)
- Shrinking (2023) as Randy
- The American Buffalo (2023) as (voice)
- The Saint of Second Chances (2023) as Narrator (voice)
- Bye Bye Barry (2023) as Self
- American Rust (2021) as Det. Del Harris
- American Rust (2021) Executive Producer
- Hemingway (2021) as Ernest Hemingway (voice)
- Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age (2021) as Self
- 9/11: Inside the President's War Room (2021) as Self - Narrator (voice)
- Washington (2020) as Self - Narrator
- Impractical Jokers: Dinner Party (2020) as Himself
- Adam (2020) as Mickey
- The Comey Rule (2020) as James Comey
- The Kelly Clarkson Show (2019) as Self
- Guest Artist (2019) as Joseph Harris
- Guest Artist (2019) Writer
- Guest Artist (2019) Producer
- The Catcher Was a Spy (2018) as Bill Donovan
- The Looming Tower (2018) as John O'Neill
- The Emperor's Newest Clothes (2018) as The Emperor
- The Russian Five (2018) as self
- Godless (2017) as Frank Griffin
- The Hunt for the Zodiac Killer (2017) Creator
- Rolling Stone: Stories from the Edge (2017) as Narrator
- Allegiant (2016) as David
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015) as Self
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015) as Casting Reject
- The Martian (2015) as Theodore "Teddy" Sanders
- Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter (2015) as Self
- Hunting Hitler (2015) Creator
- Steve Jobs (2015) as John Sculley
- ARES: live (2015) as Teddy Sanders
- Of Miracles and Men (2015) as Self - Narrator
- "That's Awesome!": The Story of 'Dumb and Dumber To' (2015) as Self
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014) as Self
- Variety Studio: Actors on Actors (2014) as Self
- Off Camera with Sam Jones (2014) as Self
- Dumb and Dumber To (2014) as Harry Dunne
- James Gandolfini: Tribute to a Friend (2013) as Self
- The Newsroom (2012) as Will McAvoy
- Looper (2012) as Abe
- Impractical Jokers (2011) as Self
- Howl (2010) as Professor David Kirk
- State of Play (2009) as George Fergus
- Away We Go (2009) as Jerry Farlander
- The Answer Man (2009) as Arlen Faber
- Paper Man (2009) as Richard Dunn
- Space Chimps (2008) as Zartog (voice)
- Traitor (2008) as Carter
- A Plumm Summer (2008) as Narrator
- Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008) as Dan Miller
- The Graham Norton Show (2007) as Self
- Mama's Boy (2007) as Mert Rosenbloom
- The Lookout (2007) as Lewis
- RV (2006) as Travis Gornicke
- Robin Williams: A Family Affair (2006) as Self
- Infamous (2006) as Alvin Dewey
- RV Nation: The Culture of Road Warriors (2006) as Self
- Barry Sonnenfeld: The Kosher Cowboy (2006) as Self
- Still Dumb After All These Years (2006) as Self
- Robin Williams: A Family Affair (2006) as Self
- RV Nation: The Culture of Road Warriors (2006) as Self
- The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2005) as Self
- The Colbert Report (2005) as Self
- Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) as Sig Mickelson
- The Squid and the Whale (2005) as Bernard Berkman
- Because of Winn-Dixie (2005) as Preacher
- The Goodbye Girl (2004) as Elliot Garfield
- Imaginary Heroes (2004) as Ben Travis
- The Five People You Meet In Heaven (2004) as Blue Man
- Dumb and Dumber - Making Of (2004) as Self
- Remembering Ragtime (2004) as P. C. O'Donnell (archive footage)
- Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003) as Self
- Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003) as Self - Guest
- The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003) as Self
- Gods and Generals (2003) as Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
- I Witness (2003) as James Rhodes
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Chris Farley (2003) as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- The Hours (2002) as Louis Waters
- Blood Work (2002) as Jasper 'Buddy' Noone
- Super Sucker (2002) as Fred Barlow
- Super Sucker (2002) Director
- Super Sucker (2002) Writer
- Chasing Sleep (2001) as Ed Saxon
- Escanaba in da Moonlight (2001) as Rueben Soady
- Escanaba in da Moonlight (2001) Director
- Cheaters (2000) as Dr. Gerard Plecki
- The Crossing (2000) as Gen. George Washington
- Family Guy (1999) as Jeff Daniels (voice)
- My Favorite Martian (1999) as Tim O'Hara
- All the Rage (1999) as Warren Harding
- Pleasantville (1998) as Mr. Johnson
- Saturday Night Live: A Tribute to Chris Farley (1998) as Self
- The View (1997) as Self
- Trial and Error (1997) as Charles Tuttle
- Walt Disney World's 25th Anniversary Party (1997) as Self
- The Daily Show (1996) as Self
- 101 Dalmatians (1996) as Roger
- Fly Away Home (1996) as Thomas Alden
- 2 Days in the Valley (1996) as Alvin Strayer
- Redwood Curtain (1995) as Lyman Fellers
- Dumb and Dumber (1994) as Harry Dunne
- Speed (1994) as Harry
- Late Show with David Letterman (1993) as Self - Guest
- Frasier (1993) as Doug (voice)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993) as Self - Guest
- Gettysburg (1993) as Col. Joshua Chamberlain
- Rain Without Thunder (1993) as Jonathan Garson
- The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992)
- HBO First Look (1992)
- Timescape (1992) as Ben Wilson
- There Goes the Neighborhood (1992) as Willis Embry
- Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story (1992) as Tom Noonan
- The Butcher's Wife (1991) as Dr. Alex Tremor
- Breakfast with the Arts (1991)
- America's Classic Ballparks (1991) as Narrator
- Arachnophobia (1990) as Ross Jennings
- Love Hurts (1990) as Paul Weaver
- Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990) as Denton Webb
- No Place Like Home (1989) as Mike Cooper
- LIVE with Kelly and Mark (1988)
- The House on Carroll Street (1988) as Cochran
- Sweet Hearts Dance (1988) as Sam Manners
- Checking Out (1988) as Ray Macklin
- The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988) as Lt. Steve Maryk
- Trying Times (1987) as Jim
- Radio Days (1987) as Biff Baxter
- Something Wild (1986) as Charles Driggs
- Heartburn (1986) as Richard
- The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) as Tom Baxter / Gil Shepherd
- Marie: A True Story (1985) as Eddie Sisk
- MTV Video Music Awards (1984) as Self - Presenter
- Terms of Endearment (1983) as Flap Horton
- An Invasion of Privacy (1983) as Francis Ryan
- American Playhouse (1982) as Jed Jenkins
- Fifth of July (1982) as Jed Jenkins
- Ragtime (1981) as P.C. O'Donnell
- A Rumor of War (1980) as Chaplain
- CBS News Sunday Morning (1979) as Self
- Saturday Night Live (1975) as Self - Host
- Saturday Night Live (1975) as Self - Cameo (uncredited)
- Hawaii Five-O (1968) as Neal Forrester
- Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951) as Lyman Fellers
- 2034
- Starman as Ed Watkins
- Broadway: The Next Generation as Self
- Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story as Ralph Teetor (voice)
- Gerald R. Ford: A Test of Character as Narrator