Daniel Breaker | |
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Born | Manhattan, Kansas, U.S. | June 2, 1980
Education | Juilliard School (BFA) |
Occupations |
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Years active | 2002–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Daniel Breaker (born June 2, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Donkey in Shrek the Musical .
Beginning his career in 2002, immediately after graduating from Juilliard, Breaker has performed in Off-Broadway, London, and U.S. regional theatre productions. He performed in five plays at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C. His first major role was the Youth, protagonist of the Off-Broadway premiere of Passing Strange , for which he won an Obie Award in 2008. He was then nominated for a Tony Award for the show's Broadway transfer, in which he again played the Youth; he also played this role in Spike Lee's filmed version of the musical.
One of his most recognizable roles was Donkey in the original Broadway production of Shrek the Musical , which ran from November 2008 through January 2010. He starred alongside long-time Broadway stars Brian d'Arcy James, Sutton Foster, John Tartaglia, and Christopher Sieber. For his portrayal, Breaker earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. [1] [2] His voice can be heard on the original cast recording of the show.
He has also appeared in the plays Well and Cymbeline . [3] In 2009, he co-hosted the Obie Awards. [4]
Breaker previously played Mafala Hatimbi in The Book of Mormon on Broadway. He also appeared as the King of Navarre in The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of the Love's Labour's Lost musical. [5] He played Aaron Burr in Hamilton in Chicago and joined the musical's Broadway cast. [6]
Breaker has also been a guest star on TV. [7] [8] Since 2021, he has been part of the supporting cast of the Peacock show Girls5Eva . Breaker starred as the Jester alongside his former Shrek the Musical co-star Sutton Foster in the 2024 Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress . [9] On January 9, 2025, it was announced that Breaker would take over the role of Hermes in the Broadway production of Hadestown starting February 18. [10]
Breaker has been married to theatre director Kate Whoriskey since 2008. They have two children. [7] [11]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | Limitless | Campaign Manager | |
2012 | Red Hook Summer | Cliff | |
2013 | He's Way More Famous Than You | EMT | |
Shrek the Musical | Donkey | ||
2015 | Sisters | Airport Bartender |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Zach | Episode: "The Pilgrim" |
2009 | Great Performances | Youth | Episode: "Passing Strange" |
2011 | Unforgettable | Mark | Episode: "Lost Things" |
2014 | Submissions Only | Dean Klausen | 5 episodes |
2014–2016 | Mozart in the Jungle | Virgil | 16 episodes |
2017–2018 | Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt | Agent Dunleavy | 2 episodes |
2020 | Helpsters | Artist Andrew | Episode: "Camper Cortez/Artist Andrew & Detective Dudley" |
2020–2023 | Billions | Roger 'Scooter' Dunbar | 34 episodes |
2021–2024 | Girls5eva | Scott | 12 episodes |
2022 | The Good Fight | Randy Elkin | 5 episodes |
Sutton Lenore Foster is an American actress. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern Millie, and in 2011 for her performance as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, a role which she reprised in 2021 for a production in London and for which she received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Her other Broadway credits include Grease, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, Violet, The Music Man, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Once Upon a Mattress. On television, Foster played the lead role in the short-lived ABC Family comedy-drama Bunheads from 2012 to 2013. From 2015 to 2021, she starred in the TV Land comedy-drama Younger.
Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway. The play was written as a humorous adaptation of the 1835 Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea".
Jeanine Tesori, known earlier in her career as Jeanine Levenson, is an American composer and musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history, with five Broadway musicals and six Tony Award nominations. She won the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for Nicholas Hytner's production of Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music for Caroline, or Change, the 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Fun Home, making them the first female writing team to win that award, and the 2023 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Kimberly Akimbo. She was named a Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist twice for Fun Home and Soft Power.
Austin Campbell Pendleton is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor.
André Robin De Shields is an American actor, singer, dancer, director, and choreographer. He has received numerous accolades including an Emmy Award, Grammy Award, and Tony Award.
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Brian d'Arcy James is an American actor and musician. He is known primarily for his Broadway roles, including Shrek in Shrek the Musical, Nick Bottom in Something Rotten!, King George III in Hamilton, and The Baker in Into the Woods. He has received five Tony Award nominations for his work. On-screen, he is known for his recurring role as Andy Baker on the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, Officer Krupke in West Side Story, and reporter Matt Carroll in Spotlight.
Tom Hewitt is an American actor and Broadway stage performer, and a native of Victor, Montana.
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Francis Jue is an American actor and singer. Jue is known for his performances on Broadway, in national tours, off-Broadway and in regional theatre, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and at The Muny in St. Louis. His roles in plays and musicals range from Shakespeare to Rodgers and Hammerstein to Disney to David Henry Hwang. He is also known for his recurring role on the TV series Madam Secretary (2014–2019).
Lillias White is an American actress and singer. She is particularly known for her performances in Broadway musicals. In 1989 she won an Obie Award for her performance in the Off-Broadway musical Romance in Hard Times. In 1997 she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for portraying Sonja in Cy Coleman's The Life. She was nominated for a Tony Award again in 2010 for her work as Funmilayo in Fela Kuti's Fela!.
Shrek the Musical is a musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is based on the 2001 DreamWorks Animation film Shrek, along with elements of its sequels: Shrek 2, Shrek Forever After and William Steig's 1990 book Shrek!. After a trial run in Seattle, the original Broadway production opened in December 2008 and closed after a run of over 12 months in January 2010. It was followed by a tour of the United States which opened in 2010, and a re-vamped West End production from June 2011 to February 2013.
David Cromer is an American theatre director, and stage, film, and TV actor. He has received recognition for his work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in his native Chicago. Cromer has won or been nominated for numerous awards, including winning the Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award for his direction of Our Town. He was nominated for the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for his direction of The Adding Machine. In 2018, Cromer won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for The Band's Visit.
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