Daniel Mays
{{Short description|British actor (born 1978)}}
{{for|people of a similar name|Daniel May (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1978|03|31}}
| birth_place = Epping, Essex, England
| occupation = Actor
| alma_mater = Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
| years_active = 1995–present
| spouse = Louise Burton
| children = 2
| website = {{url|danielmays.co.uk}}
}}
Daniel Mays (born 31 March 1978) is an English actor having had television roles in EastEnders (2000), Rehab (2005), Red Riding (2008), Ashes to Ashes (2010), Outcasts (2011), Mrs Biggs, Line of Duty, Des and White Lines (2020), and film roles in Pearl Harbor (2001), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Shifty, Made in Dagenham, Byzantium (2012), and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).
Mays has been nominated for best supporting actor at both the BIFAs (2008), and the BAFTAs (2017), as well as having extensive experience in theatre. In 2024, he was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre.
Early life
Born in Epping, Essex, the third of four boys, Mays was brought up in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, by his electrician father and bank cashier mother. He attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, before going on to become a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), graduating in 2000 with an Acting Diploma.{{Cite web |url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/daniel-mays/ |title=Student & graduate profiles: Daniel Mays |work=RADA |access-date=19 October 2020}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8821202684740Daniel |title="20 Questions With… Daniel Mays" |first=Terri |last=Paddock |date=11 February 2008 |work=whatsonstage.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616054156/http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8821202684740Daniel |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 June 2011}}
Acting career
In 2000, Mays' debut role was a slot in EastEnders.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/apr/12/film-daniel-mays-shifty |title='Deeply scary, deeply lovable' |first=Amy |last=Raphael |work=theguardian.com |date=12 April 2009}} Mays started his big screen career in 2001, as a pilot in the film Pearl Harbor. His 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.
In 2005, he was cast in the BBC drama Rehab,{{Cite web |title=Funland Starts this autumn on BBC Three |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/09_september/27/funland_mays.shtml |work=bbc.co.uk |date=27 September 2005}} then in 2008, played the role of Michael Myshkin in Channel 4's adaptation of David Peace's Red Riding trilogy.{{Cite web |last=Barnett |first=David |url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/3660397.City_gives_a_backdrop_to_new_drama/ |title=Bradford: City gives a backdrop to new drama |work=Bradford Telegraph & Argus |date=9 September 2008}}
His appearance in the 2008 independent British crime film Shifty, co-starring Riz Ahmed, earned him a nomination for best supporting actor at the British Independent Film Awards.{{Cite web |title=The nominations and jury members for the 11th annual British Independent Film Awards (BIFA 2008) |url=https://www.bifa.film/news/2008-nominations-and-jury-announced-11th-british-independent-film-awards/ |work=BIFA |date=28 October 2008}}
In 2010, Mays starred as Eddie O'Grady in the film Made in Dagenham. In the same year, he played DCI Jim Keats in the third series of Ashes to Ashes, in which he portrayed a character that was the antagonist of Philip Glenister's Gene Hunt.{{cite news |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/showbiz/ashes-to-ashes-daniel-mays-602039 |title=Ashes To Ashes: Daniel Mays |work=Manchester Evening News |date=28 April 2010}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/03_march/10/ashes6.shtml |title=Ashes To Ashes series three press pack: Daniel Mays |publisher=BBC |date=3 March 2010}}
In 2011, Mays appeared in the BBC sci-fi series Outcasts.{{cite web |title=Outcasts |publisher=BBC One |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x8fw4 |access-date=13 October 2017}} He had roles in No One Gets Off in This Town and a supporting role in the Steven Spielberg film The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. He 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. He played Ronnie Biggs in a 5-part drama called Mrs Biggs. In 2012, he starred alongside Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan in the vampire film Byzantium.{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/byzantium-film-qxnzzxq6vlgtodu0nzez |title=Byzantium-Contains very strong language, strong violence, sex and sex references |publisher=bbfc.co.uk |date=31 May 2013}}
For much of the latter half of 2013, Mays performed on stage. Performing in Nick Payne's Same Deep Water As Me at the Donmar Warehouse alongside Nigel Lindsay{{cite web |url=http://www.donmarwarehouse.com/whats-on/donmar-warehouse/2013/the-same-deep-water-as-me |title=Past productions – Donmar Warehouse |publisher=Donmar Warehouse |access-date=13 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202172930/http://www.donmarwarehouse.com/whats-on/donmar-warehouse/2013/the-same-deep-water-as-me |archive-date=2 February 2014 |url-status=dead}} and in the first major revival of Jez Butterworth's debut play Mojo at the Harold Pinter Theatre. He starred alongside Ben Whishaw, Brendan Coyle, Rupert Grint and Colin Morgan.{{cite web |url=http://soniafriedman.com/productions/mojo |title=Sonia Friedman Productions |publisher=soniafriedman.com |access-date=13 October 2017}}
In 2016, 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. He was nominated for a BAFTA Television Award for Supporting Actor for his role.{{cite web |url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/2017/television/supporting-actor |title=Television: Supporting Actor in 2017 |publisher=BAFTA |access-date=9 May 2020}} In 2016, 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/the-caretaker-old-vic-12732 |title=The Caretaker |publisher=British Theatre Guide |access-date=26 January 2021}} The same year, Mays portrayed Tivik in the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.{{cite web |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-q9gqvm/rogue-one/ |title=Rogue One: Review |first=Terry |last=Staunton |publisher=radiotimes.com |access-date=8 November 2021}}
In 2020, 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.{{cite web |url=https://metro.co.uk/2020/05/18/white-lines-season-2-daniel-mays-believes-netflixs-new-show-crying-another-series-12720164/ |title=White Lines season 2: Daniel Mays believes Netflix's new show is 'crying out for another series' |first=Abigail |last=Gillibrand |publisher=metro.co.uk |access-date=18 May 2020}}
In March 2023, Mays made his musical debut as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls directed by Nicholas Hytner at the Bridge Theatre. He left the production temporarily in July (where the role was taken over by Owain Arthur) due to filming commitments before returning to it in October. For his performance, Mays was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical 2024.
Personal life
Mays has a son and a daughter with makeup artist Louise Burton.{{cite news |url=https://hitberry.com/daniel-mays-finally-getting-married-to-his-girlfriend-louise-burton-who-is-also-the-mother-of-his-children/ |title=Finally, Daniel Mays married his girlfriend Louise Burton, who is also the mother of his children |first=Ryan |last=Neville |work=hitberry.com |date=10 January 2016 |access-date=24 November 2017}} As of 2005, he was living in Crouch End, an area in the London Borough of Haringey. A keen football fan, he is a supporter of Leyton Orient.{{cite news |url=http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,15134_5171580,00.html |title=On Soccer AM… This Saturday Gazza joins Max and Helen |work=Sky Sports |date=17 April 2009}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable"
|+Key | style="background:#FFFFCC;"| {{dagger|alt=Not yet released}} |Denotes works that have not yet been released |
=Film=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |
| scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| rowspan="2"|2001
| Skin Deep | Flashback youth | Short film |
| Pearl Harbor
| Pilot No. 3 | |
| 2002
| Jason | |
| 2004
| Sid | |
| rowspan="2"|2005
| Martin | |
| The Best Man
| Pool Guy | |
| rowspan="2"|2006
| Middletown | Jim Hunter | |
| A Good Year
| Bert the Doorman | |
| rowspan="2"|2007
| Tommy Nettle | |
| Saddam's Tribe: Bound by Blood
| Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti | |
| rowspan="3"|2008
| Dave Shilling | |
| Shifty
| Chris | |
| Bitter
| Unknown | Short film |
| rowspan="2"|2009
| Young Journalist | |
| The Firm
| Yeti | |
| rowspan="4"|2010
| Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang | Blenkinsop | |
| Hippie Hippie Shake
| Widgery | |
| Made in Dagenham
| Eddie | |
| No One Gets Off in This Town
| | |
| 2011
| The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn | Allan | |
| 2012
| Noel | |
| 2013
| Nathan Bartnick | |
| 2015
| Barnaby | |
| rowspan="3"|2016 |
| Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
| Tivik |
| The Infiltrator
| Frankie | |
| 2017
| George Flood | |
| rowspan="3"|2018
| Colin | |
| Two for Joy
| Lias | |
| Shaun
| William | |
| rowspan="2"|2019
| Danny Anderson | |
| 1917
| Sergeant Sanders | |
| 2020
| Dean West | |
| 2022
| Geoff Taylor | |
| rowspan="2"|2023
| Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget | Fetcher | Voice, replacing Phil Daniels{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/wallace-gromit-new-film-chicken-run-2-cast-title-aardman-netflix-1235077972/|title=New 'Wallace & Gromit' Film in Works From Aardman/Netflix; 'Chicken Run 2' Cast and Title Unveiled|last=Ritman|first=Alex|date=20 January 2022|website=The Hollywood Reporter}} |
| Your Christmas or Mine 2
| Geoff Taylor | |
| 2025
| style="background:#FFFFCC;"|{{dagger|alt=Not yet released}} The Thursday Murder Club | | Post-production |
| rowspan="2" | {{TableTBA}}
| style="background:#FFFFCC;"|{{dagger|alt=Not yet released}} The Scurry | Grant | Post-production |
| style="background:#FFFFCC;"|{{dagger|alt=Not yet released}} Untitled Ric Roman Waugh film
| | Filming |
=Television=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |
| scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Title ! scope="col" | Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1996
| Patrick Nuffy | Episodes 2.5–2.6 |
| 2000
| Kevin | 4 episodes |
| rowspan="2"|2001
| In Deep | Dave Street | Episode 1.5: "Ghost Squad: Part 1" |
| The Bill
| Warren Debdale | Episode 17.46: "Temptation" |
| rowspan="4"|2002
| Manchild | Mechanic | Episode 1.1: "Fiftysomething" |
| NCS: Manhunt
| Danny Bird | Episodes 1.1 and 1.6 |
| Dead Casual
| | TV film |
| Tipping the Velvet
| Jimmy Burns | |
| 2003
| Rehab | Adam | TV film |
| rowspan="2"|2004
| Carlton | 10 episodes |
| Keen Eddie
| Ronnie Wiggensey Jr. | Episode 1.8: "Sticky Fingers" |
| rowspan="3"|2005
| Beneath the Skin | Moz Burnside | TV film |
| Class of '76
| DS Steven Grant | TV film |
| Funland
| Carter Krantz | 11 episodes |
| rowspan="3"|2007
| Consent | Steve | TV film |
| Saddam's Tribe
| Uday | TV film |
| Half Broken Things
| Michael |
| rowspan="2"|2008
| Steve | TV film |
| Consuming Passion: 100 Years of Mills & Boon
| TV film |
| rowspan="3"|2009
| Plus One | Rob Black | 5 episodes |
| Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983
| Michael Myshkin | |
| The Street
| Mark | Episode 3.2 |
| rowspan="2"|2010
| Hustle | Mervyn Lloyd | Episode 6.5: "Conned Out of Luck" |
| Ashes to Ashes
| 8 episodes |
| rowspan="2"|2011
| Outcasts | Cass Cromwell | |
| Doctor Who
| Alex | Series 6, episode 9: "Night Terrors" |
| rowspan="3"|2012
| Miniseries |
| Public Enemies
| Eddie Mottram | |
| Mrs Biggs
| |
| rowspan="2"|2014
| Samuel Pepys | 4 episodes |
| Common
| Tommy Ward | TV film |
| rowspan="1"|2016
| Sergeant Danny Waldron | Series 3 |
| rowspan="3"|2017
| Cullen | |
| Born to Kill
| Bill | |
| Against the Law
| Docu-drama |
| rowspan="3"|2018
| Urban Myths: The Sex Pistols Vs. Bill Grundy | Mike Housego | 1 episode |
| My Dinner with Hervé
| Casey | TV film |
| The Interrogation of Tony Martin
| DC Peters | TV film |
| rowspan="3"|2019
| Porters | Anthony De La Mer | Regular, 6 episodes (series 2) |
| Good Omens
| Arthur Young | Season 1, 6 episodes |
| Temple
| Lee Simmons | 8 episodes |
| rowspan="3"|2020
|Des | Peter Jay | Miniseries |
| White Lines
| Marcus | |
| Code 404
| DI John Major |
| rowspan="3"|2022
| Shane | Series 7 Episode 4 |
| Magpie Murders
| Locke / Chubb | 6 episodes |
| Maryland
| PC Moody | TV film |
| 2023
| Sydney Jackson |
| 2024
| Franklin | Miniseries |
| 2024
| Locke / Chubb |
| 2025
|style="background:#FFFFCC;"|{{dagger|alt=Not yet released}} A Thousand Blows | William Punch Lewis | Completed |
| 2025
|style="background:#FFFFCC;"|{{dagger|alt=Not yet released}} Bookish | Eric Wellbeloved | In Production |
Awards and nominations
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" |
| Year
! Award ! Category ! Work ! Result ! {{Tooltip|Ref.|Reference(s)}} |
|---|
| 2004
| Reims International Television Days | Best Actor | Rehab | {{won}} | style = "text-align: center;"|{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8756134/awards?ref_=nm_ql_2 |title=Daniel Mays Awards |work=IMDB (Index source only) |access-date=4 February 2023}} |
| 2008
| British Independent Film Awards | BIFA TV Award for Best Supporting Actor | Shifty | {{nom}} |
| 2013
| Most Popular Male Drama Performance | {{nom}} |
| 2017
| British Academy Television Awards | BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actor | {{nom}} |
| 2024
| {{nom}} | align=center|[https://variety.com/2024/theater/global/olivier-awards-nominations-full-list-1235939291/amp/ Olivier Award Nominees] |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official|http://www.danielmays.co.uk/}}
- {{IMDb name|990547}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mays, Daniel}}
Category:20th-century English male actors
Category:21st-century English male actors
Category:Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Category:English male film actors
Category:English male stage actors
Category:English male television actors
Category:Male actors from Essex