Daniel Bonjour (born September 28, 1981) is a South Africa–born actor, director and screenwriter best known for his roles in '' The Walking Dead'', ''

Frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...

'', and '' iZombie''.

Early life

Bonjour was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. His father is South African commercial editor and director who worked under the name Trevor Hill and his mother is Swiss. He moved with his family to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

at the age of 5 and returned to South Africa at 8. At the age of 12 his family relocated to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. He attended

Mercer Island High School Mercer Island High School (MIHS) is a public high school located in Mercer Island, Washington, United States, as part of the Mercer Island School District. As of the 2022–23 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,524 students and 7 ...

and graduated from

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

Career

Daniel starred in his first movie when he was 12, but didn't continue his career until 2007 starring predominantly in indie films and landed his first role as series regular in the science fiction series ''

RCVR RCVR (pronounced ''Receiver'') is a transmedia science fiction series created for the Internet by producer-director David van Eyssen, which offers an explanation for the exponential growth in science and technology since the late 19th century. Th ...

'' for which he received the Best Actor Award from the International Academy of Web Television. In 2016 Daniel was cast as Daniel Lawrence in the CW series ''

'' opposite Peyton List and

Mekhi Phifer Mekhi Phifer ( ; born December 29, 1974) is an American actor. Beginning his career in the mid-1990s, Phifer was known for a few notable roles in films including ''Clockers (film), Clockers'', ''Soul Food (film), Soul Food'', ''High School High' ...

. Daniel is the first ever winner of the

International Academy of Web Television The International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) was founded in 2008 and is devoted to the advancement of the arts and sciences of streaming television and web series production. Since 2011, the academy has hosted an annual awards ceremony ca ...

for Male Actor in a Drama in 2013. ''

'' was the first project where he performed in his native South African accent. Daniel is also a writer and the grand prize winner of the Final Draft Screenwriting competition, having won the feature film category in 2015. He has worked on several award-winning video games including the ''

Hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...

'' series, ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

'', and ''

Life is Strange ''Life Is Strange'' is a series of adventure games published by Square Enix's Square Enix External Studios, External Studios. Created by Dontnod Entertainment, the series debuted with the Life Is Strange (video game), eponymous first install ...

''.

Personal life

Daniel is married to actress Jelly Howie. They have two children, a son named Brixton Riot Bonjour and a daughter named Charli Rainbow Bonjour. Daniel has one brother named Pascal who lives in Seattle, as do both his parents. He was forced to leave his honeymoon with Jelly Howie in Thailand to fly to Atlanta to film ''The Walking Dead''. People magazine included Daniel as one of Hollywood's hottest up and comers in their

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''Peopl ...

'One's to Watch' category.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonjour, Daniel Living people 1981 births 21st-century South African male actors Boston College alumni Male actors from Johannesburg Mercer Island High School alumni South African male film actors South African male television actors South African male video game actors South African male voice actors