Jeff Daniels - 'Ray'

After attending Central Michigan University, Jeff Daniels later joined the Circle Repertory Company in New York and, soon after, performed in Corinne Jacker's My Life with the late Christopher Reeve and William Hurt. It was the role of Jed Jenkins in the New York production of Lanford Wilson's Fifth of July, however, that won Daniels his first widespread recognition and he won a Drama Desk Nomination for Best Supporting Actor and would later reprise this role for television. In 1993, he won an OBIE Award for the one man show adaptation of Dalton Trumbo's World War I novel, Johnny Got His Gun. Daniels made his feature film debut in Milos Forman's Ragtime and his first popular success came with his next project, Terms of Endearment, as Debra Winger's philandering husband. Next came two leading roles in Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo. A listing of some of Daniels' other film credits includes: Mike Nichols' Heartburn; Jonathan Demme's Something Wild; Woody Allen's Radio Days; Arachnophobia; Speed; Dumb & Dumber; Pleasantville; Blood Work; The Hours; The Squid and The Whale; Infamous; RV; Good Night, and Good Luck; Because of Winn-Dixie. Upcoming films include Mama's Boys and The Lookout. TV: Redwood Curtain, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, A&E's The Crossing, TNT's remake of Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl and Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven. In 1991, Daniels established the Purple Rose Theatre Company, a not-for-profit professional theatre featuring Midwestern actors, directors, playwrights and designers. He has written several plays for the Purple Rose. His first play, Shoe Man, won the Detroit News 1990-91 Best New Play Award. Opening the 2002-03 Purple Rose Season, Daniels' Across the Way was nominated as a Finalist for Best New Play by the American Theatre Critics Association. His latest comedy, Norma & Wanda broke box office records at the Purple Rose.