Daniel Mays was born on 31 March 1978 and is an English actor having had television roles in EastEnders, Rehab, Red Riding, Ashes to Ashes, Outcasts, Mrs Biggs, Line of Duty, Des and White Lines, and film roles in Pearl Harbor, All or Nothing, Vera Drake, Shifty, Made in Dagenham, Byzantium, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
13 Facts About Daniel Mays
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Daniel Mays attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, before going on to become a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2000 with an Acting Diploma.
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In 2000, Daniel Mays' debut role was a slot in EastEnders.
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Daniel Mays started his big screen career in 2001, as a pilot in the film Pearl Harbor.
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Daniel Mays's big break happened in 2002, when Mike Leigh cast him in both All or Nothing and Vera Drake, and Mays has said that working with Leigh was a big influence, advising that no stone be unturned when creating truly believable characters.
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In 2010, Daniel Mays starred as Eddie O'Grady in the film Made in Dagenham.
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In 2011, Daniel Mays appeared in the BBC sci-fi series Outcasts.
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Daniel Mays then played a criminal on a curfew after serving a 10-year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend when he was 19 in the programme Public Enemies, which aired on BBC One in early January 2012.
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For much of the latter half of 2013, Daniel Mays performed on stage.
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In 2016, Daniel Mays starred in series 3 of BBC drama Line of Duty as Sergeant Danny Waldron, an armed response officer whose troubled and abusive childhood comes under investigation as part of wider investigation of police corruption throughout the serial.
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In 2016, Daniel Mays played the part of Aston in Harold Pinter's play The Caretaker directed by Matthew Warchus at The Old Vic Theatre in London opposite Timothy Spall and George MacKay.
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In 2020, Daniel Mays starred as lead investigator Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay in the ITV three-part television drama miniseries Des, about the 1983 arrest of the serial killer Dennis Nilsen, and as Marcus in the Ibiza based whodunnit series White Lines.
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In March 2023, Daniel Mays made his musical debut as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls directed by Nicholas Hytner at the Bridge Theatre.