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Jeff Daniels is an American musician, playwright and a famous actor, who is also the founder of Purple Rose Theatre Company. Here are 45 interesting facts about the actor -
- He acted alongside Jim Carrey in 1994 comedy movie “Dumb and Dumber.” It was his one of the most successful films commercially.
- The Farrelly Brothers initially didn’t want Daniels in the movie but was insisted by Jim Carrey. However they offered him just $50000 for the role expecting him to reject it, but Daniels accepted without any negotiation.
- Daniels was offered $50000, which he accepted without a second thought. At the same time, his co-star Carrey was offered $7 million for the movie “Dumb and Dumber.”
- He is the proud founder of “Purple Rose Theatre Company” in Chelsea, Michigan in 1991. He is the executive director of this non-profit stage company and has written 15 plays for them.
- He was born as Jeffery Warren Daniels on 19 February 1955 in Athens, Georgia, to Marjorie .J Ferguson and Robert Lee Daniels.
- He lived in Georgia for only six weeks and grew up in Chelsea, Michigan where his father owned a lumber yard until his death in 2012.
- He attended Eastern Michigan University drama school and participated in various plays including “The Hot L Baltimore.”
- The guest director at Eastern Michigan University, Marshall Mason was impressed by Daniel’s performance and invited him to New York and work for Circle Repertory Theatre.
- He won Drama Desk Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part in Lanford Wilson’s “Fifth of July.” He also received nomination for Drama Desk Award for “Lemon Sky.”
- He also received Obie Award for his performance in “Johnny Got His Gun”, a production of Circle Repertory Company.
- He made his screen debut in 1981 movie “Ragtime.”
- He got his big breakthrough in 1983 when he was cast as husband to Debra Winger in the movie “Terms of Endearment.” The movie won Oscar for best picture.
- He was nominated for Golden Globe for his performance in “Purple Rose of Cairo” directed by Woody Allen.
- Later on Daniels opened a playhouse called “The Purple Rose” in his hometown Chelsea, Michigan.
- In the movie “Gettysburg” he acted as Joshua Chamberlain alongside Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang and Sam Elliot. The television movie became so popular that it garnered theatrical release.
- Originally Michael Keaton was cast as lead in “Purple Rose of Cairo.” After ten days of shoot Woody Allen wasn’t happy and replaced him with Daniels.
- He was again nominated at Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance in “Something Wild” alongside Melanie Griffith.
- He won Saturn Award for Best Actor based on his performance in the movie “Arachnophobia” in 1990.
- He was cast as an officer in LAPD Bomb Squad alongside Keanu Reeves in the action movie “Speed.” It was a big box office success grossing more than $350 million.
- He hosted Saturday Night Live for the second time on 14 January 1995 with Luscious Jackson. His first was with musical guest Color Me Badd on 5 October 1991.
- In the movie “101 Dalmations” Daniel’s face was rubbed with raw hot dogs in order to make the puppies lick his face in cue.
- He once said that on the sets of “101 Dalmations,” he often heard a strong authoritative voice shout “sit” and he would immediately sit in a chair, only to be told “Not you, Jeff.”
- He played father to Anna Paquin in the 1996 movie “Fly Away Home,” based on a true story of William Lishman’s and Joseph Duff’s experiments on migrating birds.
- Nine years later he filmed a sex scene together with Anna Paquin in the 2005 movie “The Squid and The Whale.”
- He played Bill Johnson, a diner owner in the 1998 movie “Pleasantville,” alongside Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon.
- His star status was severely dented when he acted in the movie “My Favorite Martian.”
- In the movie “The Hours,” Zeljko Ivanek was replaced by Jeff Daniels in mid-production. Hence all the scenes between Meryl Streep and Ivanek were re-shot with Daniels.
- He acted in the movie “The Hours” alongside Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Julianne Moore. A monetary success after the failure of “My Favorite Martian.”
- He reprised his role as Joshua Chamberlain in 2003 movie “Gods and Generals.” The movie garnered mostly negative reviews from those who gave favorable review to “Gettysburg.”
- Originally Bill Murray was set to star in “The Squid and The Whale,” but he backed out at the last minute. Daniels was lucky to get the nod and boost his falling career.
- He received his third Golden Globe nomination for his performance in the movie.
- He was cast in supporting role in the Oscar nominated movie “Good Night and Good Luck,” directed by George Clooney.
- For the movie “RV” in 2006, RV driving lessons were cancelled for Daniels when he arrived on his own RV. He is a life-long fan of camping and owns an RV for years.
- He did all the banjo playing in the musical scenes in the movie “RV.”
- For his charity album titled “Jeff Daniels Live and Unplugged,” he composed a song titled “Recreational Vehicle.” It is about his misadventures with RV.
- He spent some time at Michigan Commission for the Blind Training Center in Kalamazoo to learn basic skill used daily by blind people, in order to perform well as a blind man in the movie “The Lookout.”
- He was nominated at Satellite Awards for Best Actor for his performance as a blind man in “The Lookout.”
- In 2012, electronics company Apple used his voice for their iPhone 5 ads.
- He played as CEO John Sculley in the biopic “Steve Jobs,” directed by Danny Boyle.
- He has written number of songs throughout his life, marking key moments. He has also recorded those songs from time to time.
- He was featured on the cover of magazine “Guitar Aficionado,” on the April-May 2011 edition, and also on the cover of magazine “Making Music” on July-August 2011 edition.
- He married his high school sweetheart Kathleen Rosemary on Friday, July 13, 1979. He wore the number 13 on his baseball uniform.
- He has three children – Benjamin born on 1984, Lucas born on 1987 and Nellie born on 1990.
- He was inducted into Michigan Walk of Fame on May 25, 2006.
- He was also honored with Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts at University of Michigan on December 20, 2009.
