Biography
Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor, musician and playwright. He founded a non-profit theatre company, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in his home state of Michigan. He has performed in a number of stage productions, both on and off Broadway. He has been nominated for the Tony Award as Best Actor for the Broadway play God of Carnage (2009), along with his other three cast-mates. He has had a thriving film career, from his debut in 1981 in Ragtime, throug...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
2024
as Self
Christopher Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films and played dozens of other roles that displayed his talent and range as an actor, ...

Bye Bye Barry
2023
as Self
When NFL superstar Barry Sanders vanished at the height of his career, he left the NFL world in shock. He was still in his prime, chasing the all-time...

The Saint of Second Chances
2023
as Narrator (voice)
Mike Veeck, son of MLB franchise owner Bill Veeck, blows up his father's career. Exiled from the game he loves, the younger Veeck spends the next few ...

9/11: Inside the President's War Room
2021
as Narrator
Experience the events of September 11, 2001 through the eyes of President Bush and his closest advisors as they personally detail the crucial hours an...

Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age
2021
as Self
Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age explores the world of Broadway from 1959 through the early 1980s as recounted by a diverse cast of Broadway stars who ...

Adam
2020
as Mickey
A hard-living salesman becomes a quadriplegic after an accident.

Guest Artist
2019
as Joseph Harris
Joseph Harris, a legendary, but troubled playwright comes to small Michigan town at Christmastime to mount his latest play. Greeting the cynical New Y...

Guest Artist
2019
Writer, Producer
Joseph Harris, a legendary, but troubled playwright comes to small Michigan town at Christmastime to mount his latest play. Greeting the cynical New Y...

The Emperor's Newest Clothes
2018
as The Emperor
Hans Christian Andersen's classic tale gets a colorful, music-filled makeover in the whimsical special. Filled with bold animation, catchy musical num...

The Catcher Was a Spy
2018
as Bill Donovan
Former major league baseball player Moe Berg lives a double life working for the Office of Strategic Services in World War II Europe.

The Russian Five
2018
as self
The story of the five Russian hockey stars who helped the Detroit Red Wings win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships and created one of the most mem...

Broadway: The Next Generation
2017
as Self
A look at the past, present and future of the Great White Way.

Allegiant
2016
as David
Beatrice Prior and Tobias Eaton venture into the world outside of the fence and are taken into protective custody by a mysterious agency known as the ...

Steve Jobs
2015
as John Sculley
Set backstage at three iconic product launches and ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac, Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital...

The Martian
2015
as Theodore "Teddy" Sanders
During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and ...

"That's Awesome!": The Story of 'Dumb and Dumber To'
2015
as Self
An expansive, five-part 45 minute making-of with cast and crew interviews.

Of Miracles and Men
2015
as Self - Narrator
On a Friday evening in Lake Placid, New York, a plucky band of American collegians stunned the vaunted Soviet national team, 4-3 in the medal round of...

Dumb and Dumber To
2014
as Harry Dunne
20 years since their first adventure, Lloyd and Harry go on a road trip to find Harry's newly discovered daughter, who was given up for adoption.

James Gandolfini: Tribute to a Friend
2013
as Self
In the half-hour tribute, friends and colleagues remember the three-time Emmy winner, who died June 19 at age 51. The special features clips of Gandol...

Looper
2012
as Abe
In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send th...

Howl
2010
as Professor David Kirk
It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the...

Paper Man
2009
as Richard Dunn
A coming-of-middle-age comedy that chronicles the unlikely friendship between failed author Richard Dunne and a Long Island teen who teaches him a thi...

Away We Go
2009
as Jerry Farlander
Verona and Burt have moved to Colorado to be close to Burt's parents but, with Verona expecting their first child, Burt's parents inexplicably decide ...

State of Play
2009
as George Fergus
When a congressional aide is killed, a Washington, D.C. journalist starts investigating the case involving the Representative, his old college friend.

The Answer Man
2009
as Arlen Faber
Twenty years ago, Arlen Faber wrote a book about spirituality that became wildly popular. These days, he's a curmudgeonly recluse who only enjoys the ...

Traitor
2008
as Carter
When straight arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former ...

Space Chimps
2008
as Zartog (voice)
Three chimps are sent into space to explore the possibility of alien life when an unmanned space shuttle crash lands on an uncharted planet.

A Plumm Summer
2008
as Narrator
Based on a true-story - A Plumm Summer tells the remarkable tale of two young brothers, Elliott and Rocky Plumm, who go head-to-head with the FBI in o...

Sweet Nothing in My Ear
2008
as Dan Miller
Family drama about a deaf and hearing couple who struggle to decide whether or not to give their deaf son a cochlear implant.

Mama's Boy
2007
as Mert Rosenbloom
A twenty-nine year-old slacker who lives with his mom realizes his sweet set-up is threatened when she hears wedding bells with her self-help guru bea...

The Lookout
2007
as Lewis
Chris is a once promising high school athlete whose life is turned upside down following a tragic accident. As he tries to maintain a normal life, he ...

Infamous
2006
as Alvin Dewey
While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith.

Barry Sonnenfeld: The Kosher Cowboy
2006
as Self
The cast of RV talk about how irrepressably wacky that Barry Sonnenfeld is.
RV Nation: The Culture of Road Warriors
2006
as Self
The cast and crew of RV (2006) comment on the titular vehicle

Robin Williams: A Family Affair
2006
as Self
The cast and crew of RV (2006) comment on how Robin Williams is "always on," "amazingly brilliantly talented," and "the sweetest guy to work with."

RV
2006
as Travis Gornicke
Climbing aboard their mammoth recreational vehicle for a cross-country road trip to the Colorado Rockies, the Munro family – led by dysfunctional patr...

Still Dumb After All These Years
2006
as Self
Through interviews with the Farrelly Brothers, the producers of the film and Jeff Daniels we learn about casting decisions, how the script was proved ...

The Squid and the Whale
2005
as Bernard Berkman
Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing w...

Good Night, and Good Luck.
2005
as Sig Mickelson
The story of journalist Edward R. Murrow's stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunts in the early 1950s.

Because of Winn-Dixie
2005
as Preacher
A girl, abandoned by her mother when she was three, moves to a small town in Florida with her father. There, she adopts an orphaned dog she names Winn...

The Five People You Meet In Heaven
2004
as Blue Man
On his 83rd birthday, Eddie, a war vet and a maintenance worker at the Ruby Pier amusement park, dies while trying to save a girl who is sitting under...

Remembering Ragtime
2004
as P. C. O'Donnell (archive footage)
Memories from the making of the classic Milos Forman film "Ragtime".

Imaginary Heroes
2004
as Ben Travis
Matt Travis is good-looking, popular, and his school's best competitive swimmer, so everyone is shocked when he inexplicably commits suicide. As the f...

The Goodbye Girl
2004
as Elliot Garfield
Musical dancer on the way out (at 36) Paula McFadden had it swell with actor Tony DeSanti, but instead of taking her to Hollywood he gets a European m...

Dumb and Dumber - Making Of
2004
as Self
The Cast and Crew talk about "Dumb and Dumber" (1994).

Saturday Night Live: The Best of Chris Farley
2003
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
He's gone-but he'll never be forgotten. The best of Chris Farley's wildly funny SNL performances are here, including motivational speaker Matt Foley, ...

I Witness
2003
as James Rhodes
After 27 bodies are discovered in a collapsed tunnel in Tijuana, a man tries to unravel the mystery before becoming the next victim.

Gods and Generals
2003
as Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
The film centers mostly around the personal and professional life of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, a brilliant if eccentric Confederate general, from th...

The Hours
2002
as Louis Waters
The story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings a...

Blood Work
2002
as Jasper 'Buddy' Noone
Still recovering from a heart transplant, a retired FBI profiler returns to service when his own blood analysis offers clues to the identity of a seri...

Super Sucker
2002
as Fred Barlow
Two door to door vaccuum cleaner salesmen hilariously compete against each other.

Super Sucker
2002
Director, Writer
Two door to door vaccuum cleaner salesmen hilariously compete against each other.

Chasing Sleep
2001
as Ed Saxon
A college professor wakes up to find his wife has not returned home, then struggles to understand her disappearance.

Escanaba in da Moonlight
2001
as Rueben Soady
A macho man in a family on the eve of deer-hunting season must deal with the eldest son's curse of never having bagged a buck.

Escanaba in da Moonlight
2001
Director
A macho man in a family on the eve of deer-hunting season must deal with the eldest son's curse of never having bagged a buck.

Cheaters
2000
as Dr. Gerard Plecki
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic compet...

The Crossing
2000
as Gen. George Washington
A made-for-TV dramatization of George Washington's perilous gamble of crossing the Delaware River and attacking the British forces at Trenton.

It's the Rage
1999
as Warren Harding
A rich cross-section of urban USA find their lives changed when their fates collide at gunpoint. At the centre of it all are Helen and Warren Harding,...

My Favorite Martian
1999
as Tim O'Hara
Ambitious television reporter Tim O'Hara stumbles upon a martian whose spaceship has accidentally crashed on Earth. Thinking this is his ticket to a P...

Pleasantville
1998
as Mr. Johnson
Geeky teenager David and his popular twin sister, Jennifer, get sucked into the black-and-white world of a 1950s TV sitcom called "Pleasantville," and...

Saturday Night Live: A Tribute to Chris Farley
1998
as Self
Chris Farley was one of the most popular comedians of the 1990s, thanks to his hilarious skits on "Saturday Night Live," which featured Matt Foley, ev...

Trial and Error
1997
as Charles Tuttle
An actor poses as a lawyer to help his sick friend, and problems develop.

Walt Disney World's 25th Anniversary Party
1997
as Self
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the most magical place on earth!

101 Dalmatians
1996
as Roger
An evil, high-fashion designer plots to steal Dalmatian puppies in order to make an extravagant fur coat, but instead creates an extravagant mess.

Fly Away Home
1996
as Thomas Alden
Amy is only 13 years old when her mother is killed. She goes to Canada to live with her father, an eccentric inventor whom she barely knows. Amy is mi...

2 Days in the Valley
1996
as Alvin Strayer
In a sleepy bedroom community of LA's San Fernando Valley, the murder of a professional athlete by two hit men sets into motion a chain of events that...

Redwood Curtain
1995
as Lyman Fellers
Geri Riordan is adopted, half-Vietnamese, eighteen, and a piano prodigy. She also feels as if she doesn't know who she really is, and when her adopted...

Dumb and Dumber
1994
as Harry Dunne
Lloyd and Harry are two men whose stupidity is really indescribable. When Mary, a beautiful woman, loses an important suitcase with money before she l...

Speed
1994
as Harry
Jack Traven, an LAPD cop on SWAT detail, and veteran SWAT officer Harry Temple thwart an extortionist-bomber's scheme for a $3Â million ransom. As they...

Gettysburg
1993
as Col. Joshua Chamberlain
In the summer of 1863, General Robert E. Lee leads the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with the goal of marching t...

Rain Without Thunder
1993
as Jonathan Garson
This evocative faux documentary imagines a dystopian near future in which the government monitors every woman's sexual activity. At its center is Alli...

There Goes the Neighborhood
1992
as Willis Embry
A dying prisoner whispers the location of his loot to the facility's psychologist, who heads to the New Jersey suburbs to find it. Two prisoners overh...

Teamster Boss: The Jackie Presser Story
1992
as Tom Noonan
For a generation, the mobs main money machine was the Teamsters Union. When Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, the fight was on to see who could follow him. Jac...

Timescape
1992
as Ben Wilson
Before they can complete renovations on their new inn, a father and daughter are visited by a woman seeking immediate lodging for her strange group of...

America's Classic Ballparks
1991
as Narrator
Actor Jeff Daniels narrates this documentary that explores the nostalgic wonders of four beloved baseball stadiums from yesteryear: Fenway Park in Bos...

The Butcher's Wife
1991
as Dr. Alex Tremor
A clairvoyant woman thinks that she's met her future husband because she's seen him in a dream. They marry and he takes her back to his butcher shop i...

Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
1990
as Denton Webb
Movie star Roxy Carmichael is abandoning the bright lights of Hollywood, Calif. and returning to her small Ohio hometown -- at least long enough to de...

Arachnophobia
1990
as Ross Jennings
A large spider from the jungles of South America is accidentally transported in a crate with a dead body to America where it mates with a local spider...

Love Hurts
1990
as Paul Weaver
The story of Paul Weaver and his strained relationships with women and his family.

No Place Like Home
1989
as Mike Cooper
A Pittsburgh apartment superintendent loses his job and home when the apartment building where he lives and works at is suddenly destroyed by fire. Da...

Checking Out
1988
as Ray Macklin
When his best friend dies of a heart attack, Ray Macklin becomes a man obsessed with his own mortality. Convinced that all his aches and pains are an ...

Sweet Hearts Dance
1988
as Sam Manners
Wiley and Sandra have been happily married for years and are now in the process of breaking up. Sam, his childhood friend, is just beginning to fall i...

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
1988
as Lt. Steve Maryk
A full-length adaptation, originally staged as a play, of the court-martial segment from the novel "The Caine Mutiny".

The House on Carroll Street
1988
as Cochran
Emily Crane is fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, and takes a part-time job as companion to an old l...

Radio Days
1987
as Biff Baxter
The Narrator tells us how the radio influenced his childhood in the days before TV. In the New York City of the late 1930s to the New Year's Eve 1944,...

Something Wild
1986
as Charles Driggs
A free-spirited woman "kidnaps" a yuppie for a weekend of adventure. But the fun quickly takes a dangerous turn when her ex-con husband shows up.

Heartburn
1986
as Richard
Rachel is a food writer at a New York magazine who meets Washington columnist Mark at a wedding and ends up falling in love with him despite her reser...

Marie: A True Story
1985
as Eddie Sisk
In 1978 Tennessee, a single mother and political appointee risks her career and her life to blow the whistle on rampant corruption in the penal system...

The Purple Rose of Cairo
1985
as Tom Baxter / Gil Shepherd
Cecilia is a waitress in New Jersey, living a dreary life during the Great Depression. Her only escape from her mundane reality is the movie theatre. ...

Terms of Endearment
1983
as Flap Horton
Aurora, a finicky woman, is in search of true love while her daughter faces marital issues. Together, they help each other deal with problems and find...

An Invasion of Privacy
1983
as Francis Ryan
A woman on a remote island is raped by a local resident and finds her fight for justice impeded by community prejudice.

Fifth of July
1982
as Jed Jenkins
Ken Talley, a Vietnam vet who lost his legs in combat, lives in a farmhouse in rural Missouri with his lover, Jed. Traumatized and bitter, Ken struggl...

Ragtime
1981
as P.C. O'Donnell
A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nos...
Gerald R. Ford: A Test of Character
N/A
as Narrator
What can America learn from its past? The story of President Ford illuminates a fascinating moment in US history as the country was divided amid socia...

Blind Logic: The Ralph R. Teetor Story
N/A
as Ralph Teetor (voice)
The documentary follows the remarkable journey in America's heartland of automotive pioneer and visionary, Ralph R. Teetor.
Reykjavik
N/A
as Ronald Reagan
At the most dangerous point of the Cold War, political enemies Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Iceland over one long, tense weekend to dec...