Daniel "Dan" Byrd (born
November 20,
1985) is an
American actor. Most notably, Byrd starred in the 2006 remake of
The Hills Have Eyes and the
Hilary Duff film,
A Cinderella Story.
Biography
Early life
Byrd was born in
Marietta, Georgia. He has one sister, Molly Byrd and one brother, Ryan Byrd. The 8-year-old Byrd went to see a live performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's
The Phantom of the Opera on
Broadway and was inspired to become an actor. Byrd attended A.L. Burruss Elementary School and Marietta Middle School and moved to California at age 13 to pursue acting full time. He briefly attended high school in Glendale, California, but after one semester he became home schooled.
Career
Byrd's breakthrough role came in 1998, after countless local productions and commercials, when he was cast in the Lifetime Network television series
Any Day Now , starring
Annie Potts and
Lorraine Toussaint. While he had a small role in the 2000 film 28 Days starring Sandra Bullock, his first major film role was in the 2004 movie,
A Cinderella Story. Also in 2004 he had a starring role in
Clubhouse, a new television series about baseball that was canceled shortly after its debut.
In 2006, Byrd starred in two horror films, the
remake of the
Wes Craven 1977 classic
The Hills Have Eyes and the
Tobe Hooper film
Mortuary. He also had a role in the crime thriller,
Lonely Hearts with
John Travolta and
Salma Hayek. Byrd currently has two films in post-production, to come out this year, one an adventure film entitled
Outlaw Trail and another a drama entitled
Jam. Byrd also co-starred on an episode of
Pepper Dennis with
Rebecca Romijn, as a college student who takes "revenge" on the fraternity brothers that humiliated him during hazing, which aired
April 18,
2006 on the
WB.
In 2007, Byrd appeared in the film
Lonely Hearts appearing alongside Salma Hayek once again. The film follows the true story of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, the notorious "
Lonely Hearts Killers" of the 1940s. Byrd was to appear in the 2007 remake of The Revenge of the Nerds (1984) starring Adam Brody, but after three weeks of filming, the project was cancelled. He also starred in the
CW comedy
Aliens in America which follows a Wisconsin homemaker who arranges to host a foreign exchange student, believing the visitor will help her shy son become more popular.
In October 2008, Entertainment Weekly reported that Byrd had been cast in Heroes for a recurring role as
Sylar's (Zachary Quinto) apprentice. He is committed to appearing in at least three episodes during Heroes' "Volume 4:Fugitives." Byrd also appeared in a episode of ABC Family's Greek as Dale's (Clark Duke) high school friend.
Awards and nominations
Awards Won:
- 2000: Burbank International Children's Film Festival: Best Child Actor for The First of May
- 2000: Young Artist Award: Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Any Day Now
Awards Nominations:
- 2001: Young Artist Award: Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Any Day Now
- 2005: Young Artist Award: Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special- Leading Young Actor for "Salem's Lot"
Filmography
External links
DEFAULTSORT:Byrd, Dan
