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His natural eye for observation helped him tremendously in the theatre and he continued taking classes and performing. It didn’t take away from his studies in school, though. He was a naturally bright and he was able to juggle the responsibilities of his school work and participating in something he loved. When he reached high school, he participated in the school plays and it was there that he met his high school girlfriend, Christine. She was in the ensemble of the musical where he was the lead and he was smitten from the beginning. Young lost was not built to last and, once Daniel was accepted into Boston University to study theatre, he broke up with Christine, as she had opted to stay back in Chicago and study nursing.
Going to school in Boston, away from his family and friends, was at first rough on Daniel. He had always been close to his family, his mother in particular, and he often grew homesick for Chicago. To account for that, he threw himself deep into his studies, taking in every single ounce of information that he could from his acting professors. The goal of becoming a working actor was something he wanted to achieve and, at first, his goal was to go to New York to be a Broadway actor. One of his professors noted that he had a subtle sensitivity for acting and gave Daniel the advice to perhaps try his hand at film and television upon graduation. Los Angeles was so far away from all of his friends and family but Daniel was determined to make his dreams happen so he moved to Los Angeles with the hopes of being a working actor.
What he didn’t account for was that he was a dime a dozen in Hollywood. He used connections to get himself an agent and manager but, even then, he was simply booking very low budget indie movies and the occasional commercial. To make up for that, he was waiting tables and bartending, like most of Hollywood, waiting for his break to come. He had all but given up and was ready to move to New York or back to Chicago when his agent called and had him audition for a new television show, “My So-Called Life”. He had been on numerous auditions before and was sure that this one would end like all the others and end in heartbreak. To his surprise, and the surprise of his agent and manager, he booked the show and he could feel the tide start to shift for him. The show wouldn’t last very long, much to his chagrin, and he found it hard after to book anything, but he was slowly getting called into the room, getting close to something. When he landed the role in Fight Club, his career started to gain a little upward momentum and he was feeling confident in his abilities once more.
The stability that he found was incredible and, when he went back to visit his family in 2003 to share with them all that he had accomplished he also had a chance run in with his high school girlfriend, Christine. It was wonderful to reconnect with someone who knew him before he was a relatively famous actor and he found some comfort that she wasn’t in show business. They reconnected and had a whirlwind romance that ended in them marrying six months after reconnecting. Daniel was starting to finally feel like he had it all, which was culminated when they would welcome their first daughter into the world in early winter 2006.
With his career picking up steam, Daniel was often away from home and on set, which left Christine frustrated. She was extremely jealous and was constantly accusing Daniel of cheating on her with a number of his female costars. While this was the farthest thing from the truth, it drove a wedge in the couple’s relationship and the couple hit a breaking point in 2010, separating three months into the couple’s third pregnancy. Daniel never confirmed the separation to the media, opting to keep his private life just that, private, however he did start casually dating in 2011. In 2013, he would begin a relationship with actress Natalia Parrish and before the press could break any news of the couple, he announced his separation to his wife to the media.
In 2015, Daniel wanted to make things official with Natalia and end his long suffering marriage. His wife, however, had different ideas and instead tried to trap Daniel with news that she was expecting their fourth child. Baffled on how that could be, Daniel rushed to her side, where she seemingly blackmailed him into staying with her based on their prenuptial agreement that would leave her with next to nothing. Daniel never called off the separation but did call off his relationship with Natalia, mostly to protect her should Christine use any damning information against him. He has since retained a lawyer and is in the process of coming up with legal action against her to end his marriage, though he is being very private about the information. Despite his family drama, his career is just where he would like it to be; he’s working on projects that interest him, not projects that provide him with the most accolades.