A respected and accomplished actor of both stage and screen, Jeff Daniels brings more than 30 years of experience to his title role as an uneasy novelist struggling with writer's block and the responsibilities of adulthood in Paper Man.
Born in Georgia and raised in Michigan, Daniels launched his professional career at the age of 21 when he was invited to join the Circle Repertory Company in New York in 1976. While there, Daniels appeared in such plays as Corinne Jacker’s My Life co-starring William Hurt and Christopher Reeve, John Olive’s Minnesota Moon and Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July, where his portrayal of Jed Jenkins won him his first widespread recognition. After appearing in three different productions of Fifth of July (including a successful one on Broadway) and filming the play for television’s American Playhouse, Daniels returned to Circle Rep to appear in a one-man adaptation of Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun, for which he won a 1983 Obie Award.
Daniels made his movie debut in Milos Foreman’s Ragtime in 1981 and he has since gone on to appear in more than 50 films, including Something Wild, The Purple Rose of Cairo and The Squid and the Whale (all of which garnered him Golden Globe nominations), Pleasantville, Gettysburg, Blood Work, Terms of Endearment, The Hours, The Lookout, Dumb and Dumber, Speed, Good Night and Good Luck, Infamous, 101 Dalmatians, Arachnophobia, Fly Away Home, 2 Days in the Valley, Gods and Generals and The Answer Man.
In 1991, Daniels founded the Purple Rose Theater Company in his hometown of Chelsea, Michigan, which has since gained a national reputation as a launching pad for new American plays. Daniels has written 12 plays for the non-profit theater, including Guest Artist, which was a runner-up for the Steinberg New Play Award, and Escanaba in da Moonlight, the film version of which Daniels adapted, starred in and directed in 2001. Daniels’ second writer/director vehicle in which he also stars, the 2002 comedy Super Sucker, won that year’s Audience Award for Best Feature at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
Daniels is also a skilled singer/songwriter who has toured across the country and released three CDs: Live and Unplugged at the Purple Rose, Grandfather’s Hat and Together Again. The proceeds of his recordings (jeffdaniels.com) help to support the Purple Rose Theater.
Most recently, Daniels return to the Broadway stage opposite James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden for a production of Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage, which earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play. His most recent films include 2009’s Away We Go and State of Play and the upcoming Howl, a drama concerning the obscenity trial of famed poet Allen Ginsberg.
