JEFF DANIELS (Travis Gornicke) made his feature film debut in Milos Forman’s Ragtime, but it was his portrayal of Debra Winger’s husband in Terms of Endearment that catapulted him to stardom. Woody Allen was among the first to recognize the actor’s talent and comic ability and cast Daniels in a starring role in The Purple Rose of Cairo. He then went on to star in a number of films, including Something Wild, The Butcher’s Wife, Checking Out, Fly Away Home, 101 Dalmatians, Speed, Pleasantville, Arachnophobia, Gettysburg, Dumb and Dumber, Blood Work, The Hours, Gods and Generals, Imaginary Heroes and Because of Wynn-Dixie. His most recent appearances were in George Clooney’s Goodnight, and Good Luck and his acclaimed role in Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale, which earned him his third Golden Globe nomination as Best Actor. He was previously nominated for Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild and Woody Allen’s The Purpose Rose of Cairo. He will next be seen in Doug McGrath’s Infamous, scheduled for an October 2006 release.
Television credits include the recent “Five People You Meet In Heaven” (based on Mitch Albom’s best-selling novel), TNT’s remake of Neil Simon’s “The Goodbye Girl,” Robert Altman’s “The Caine Mutiny Court Martial,” Lee Grant’s “No Place Like Home,” A&E’s “The Crossing,” NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and “Cheaters” for HBO.
Daniels’ appearances on Broadway include Lanford Wilson’s “Redwood Curtain” and “Fifth of July,” for which he won a Drama Desk Award for Best Supporting Actor. Off-Broadway, Daniels received a Drama Desk nomination for “Lemon Sky,” as well as an Obie for his performance in the Circle Repertory Company production of “Johnny Got His Gun.”
Back home in Chelsea, Michigan, he has continued his passion for the theater by founding the Purple Rose Theater Company, which is dedicated to encouraging and developing mid-western actors, playwrights, directors and designers. All of Daniels’ own plays have premiered there: “Shoe Man” (Detroit News Critics Award for Best New Play), “The Tropical Pickle,” “The Vast Difference,” “Thy Kingdom’s Coming,” “Apartment 3A,” “Boom Town,” “Escanaba in da Moonlight,” “Across the Way” (which was nominated for Best New Play by the American Theatre Critics Association), “Norma & Wanda” and most recently, “Guest Artist.”
Since the 1970s, Jeff has been composing songs, and recently recorded “Jeff Daniels – Live and Unplugged,” a collection of live performances which humorously and touchingly reflect on his life and career. Proceeds from the sale of this CD go to support The Purple Rose Theater.
In 1999, Daniels formed Purple Rose Films, a Michigan-based independent production company. His first film as writer/director/actor was Escanaba in da Moonlight, a comedy about deer hunting based on his hit play. His second film, Super Sucker, a comedy about mid-western vacuum cleaner salesmen, won the Audience Award for Best Feature at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
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