Birth
March 14, 1976. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Physical
Height: 5' 11" (1.80 m) Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown
WIFE
Rachael Leigh Cook. August 14th, 2004 - Present
CHILDREN
Charlotte Easton Gillies. Born: September 28th, 2013
Theodore Vigo Sullivan Gillies. Born: April 4th, 2015
Early Life
Daniel was born in Winnipeg, Canada. His parents moved back to their native New Zealand when Daniel was five. He grew up in Invercargill and then in Hamilton where he attended Hamilton Boys High School. He has three siblings.
Daniel became interested in acting at a young age, although Daniel's family has a strong medical background. His father is a pediatrician, his mother a nurse, and his great-great-great grandfather was the renowned plastic surgeon pioneer, Sir Harold Gillies. His first role was Mrs. Peter Rabbit in a school play!
Daniel attended Hamilton Boys High School as a youth and then went on to study at Unitec, Auckland in 'Performing and Screen Arts'. His stage credits include: The Godboy, in which he won a Chapman-Tripp Theatre award for Best Actor for his role as 'Jimmy Sullivan.' Other credits include The Lower Depths, Anthony and Cleopatra, PlayLunch, Julius Ceaser and The Judas Kiss. He has also written and directed his own play, 'Maybe'. 'Maybe' was performed at the 'Unitec Performance and Screen Arts Theatre'.
Branching out from theatre, he landed a lead role in the New Zealand television series 'Street Legal' playing 'Tim O'Connor' for two seasons.
After realizing that his career opportunities in New Zealand were limited, Daniel moved to Sydney, Australia for a short time, and from there back to Canada, before ending up in Los Angeles, where he soon landed the role of 'John Jameson' in 'Spider-Man 2'.
CAREER
In addition to appearing in films, 'Uncross the Stars', 'Bride and Prejudice', and 'The Sensation of Sight', Daniel has guested on television shows such as 'Masters of Horror', 'NCIS', 'The Glades' and 'True Blood'. From 2010 he had a recurring role on The CW drama 'The Vampire Diaries' as Original vampire Elijah Mikaelson, from which developed its own spin-off supernatural drama, 'The Originals'.
In 2012, Daniel was cast as a lead in the Canadian supernatural medical series 'Saving Hope', as Dr. Joel Goran. 'Saving Hope' was expanded from 13 to 18 episodes in its second season due to its popularity as the number one summer drama in Canada. It has been renewed by CTV for a fourth season. He concluded starring in this role at the season three finale.
Daniel wrote, directed and starred in his first own film, Broken Kingdom, which - in a unique marketing strategy - was released online in October of 2012; a long and difficult labor of love which took almost five years, and a huge personal toll, both emotionally and financially. The finished product, however, is something of which Daniel is justifiably proud. The accompanying documentary produced by Paiman Kalayeh and John Lyons-Murphy, 'Kingdom Come' follows Daniel's quest to raise funds and is quoted as being a 'must view for independent film makers'.
In January of 2013 Daniel was cast in 'The Vampire Diaries' spin-off 'The Originals', whose back-door pilot aired as an episode of TVD in April. He continues to play the role of Elijah Mikaelson. The Originals was picked up to series by The CW, and after being very successful in the 2013/14 television season, it was chosen for an early renewal. 'The Originals' begins its third season in the American fall.
Hobbies
Daniel enjoys doing a form of mixed martial arts - muay thai - in his spare time. He is an avid reader and photographer, as well as an accomplished poet! He is currently writing two other screenplays which we hope to see on film in the future, and is determined that one day, Tom Selleck will play the role of his father. ;)
Current
Daniel and Rachael currently live in the cities Los Angeles and Atlanta, raising their children and juggling their busy acting schedules.