Daniel Ryan (born 1968 as Daniel O'Brien) is an English actor and writer. He is known for starring as Darren Alexander in the BBC

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...

'' Linda Green'', Andrew Gilligan in '' The Government Inspector'', Andy Coulson in '' Steel River Blues'' and Kenny Reed in '' The Whistleblowers''. His stage credits include ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'', ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict ...

'' and ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Bat ...

''.

Early life

Ryan was born in Culcheth near

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

to parents who owned a bingo hall. He and his younger brother attended

Culcheth High School Culcheth High School is a community school for students aged 11–16, located in Warrington, Cheshire. It serves many of the surrounding areas with a student base of over 1,000 students. In 2010, it opened a brand new £28,000,000 campus, com ...

. Despite playing in a school band called Darker Than Shark he was enthused by a

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Sena ...

-educated drama teacher. He attended the Lancashire Schools Arts Workshop in

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

, before being accepted into LAMDA.

Career

On graduation, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company on an 18-month contract. In 1995 he played a paralysed man in a Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives advert. Ten years after graduation, he played the part of Bottom in '' A Midsummer Night’s Dream'' at RSC in 1999/2000. He has also starred in both ''Fallout'' and ''Posh'' at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal ...

, and was in ''Mammals'' at the BushTheatre and later on tour. In 2008 he appeared in ''

Gethsemane Gethsemane () is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great reso ...

'', a new play by David Hare at the National Theatre. Ryan played Andy in the 2001 ITV drama '' Bob & Rose''. In December 2007, he appeared in the Series 17 episode of ''

Heartbeat A heartbeat is one cardiac cycle of the heart. Heartbeat, heart beat, heartbeats, and heart beats may refer to: Computing *Heartbeat (computing), a periodic signal to indicate normal operation or to synchronize parts of a system *Heartbeat, clus ...

'' called " Touch and Go", in which he played Max Philpott who murdered long running character PC Phil Bellamy. He appeared on the Teen Drama '' Skins'' as the father of the third generation character Rich Hardbeck in 2011 and 2012. He took over the role of Harry (Sandy's husband, previously played by David Michaels) in the special reunion episodes of BBC sitcom '' As Time Goes By'' alongside Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer. Ryan also appeared in the 2008 '' Doctor Who'' episode "

Midnight Midnight is the transition time from one day to the next – the moment when the date changes, on the local official clock time for any particular jurisdiction. By clock time, midnight is the opposite of noon, differing from it by 12 hours ...

". He played Felix Sansome in “Wild Justice”, S5:E2 of '' Lewis'', which aired April 2011. In 2012, he appeared as antagonist Barry Flint in The Girl Who Lived, the fourth episode of the ninth season of New Tricks. In 2014, he appeared in ''

Salting the Battlefield ''Salting the Battlefield'' is a 2014 British political thriller television film, written and directed for the BBC by the British writer David Hare. It follows '' Page Eight'', which aired on BBC Two in August 2011 and '' Turks & Caicos'', whi ...

'' as Bill Catcheside. He is also known for playing the role of Dan in the Sky Living comedy-drama '' Mount Pleasant'' since 2011. In 2015 he appeared as Steve Baker in S7:E1 of '' Doc Martin'', and as Colonel Anthony Forbes-Leith in the BBC TV series ''

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective who is featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936 written by English author G. K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuiti ...

'' episode 3.9 "The Truth in the Wine". He has played Welsh butcher Bryn Brindsley in the ITV war-time drama '' Home Fires'' from 2015. In 2018 he starred in the ITV mini-series '' Innocent'', as the lead character's brother, Phil Collins. In February 2019 he played Gerald Baynes in '' Death in Paradise'' S8.E8. Also in February he appeared as Alec Sidden in ''The Seagull'', S9:E4 of ''

Vera Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarrag ...

'', and in April 2019 as Detective Inspector Anthony ‘Tony’ Manning in '' The Bay''. In 2022 he played Gary in ''

Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek (d ...

'' at the National Theatre.

References

Ginger and Nuts Radio Show, January 2022
/ref>

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Daniel 1968 births Living people People from Culcheth Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Royal Shakespeare Company members English male stage actors English male Shakespearean actors English male television actors British male dramatists and playwrights Male actors from Lancashire