Interview – The Morning Call
Posted by Colleen Murray on May 8, 2015News | Press |
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Lehigh Valley Music
The Morning Call
by John J. Moser
May 7, 2015
Jeff Daniels says he first became seriously interested in music when he packed up his car to move from his native Michigan to New York City to start his acting career in 1976 and took along a guitar to kill time as he waited for phone calls.
Nearly 40 years later, Daniels’ career has shown he didn’t have to wait too long for those calls. His debut was in the film “Ragtime,” which got eight Academy Award nominations. He played Debra Winger’s husband in the Oscar-winner “Terms of Endearment” and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in Woody Allen’s “The Purple Rose of Cairo.”
Jeff Daniels plays his Martin Guitar on the final episode of “The Newsroom”
Jeff Daniels plays his Martin Guitar on the final episode of “The Newsroom”
He’s made millions off his role as the goofy Harry Dunne opposite Jim Carrey in the “Dumb and Dumber” movies. He’s been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and in 2013 won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of network anchor Will McAvoy on HBO’s “The Newsroom.”
Yet music still has a hold on Daniels, 60, as he’ll show when he performs Thursday May 14 at the Mauch Chunk Opera House in Jim Thorpe.
Daniels says he’s not only performed more than 300 concerts from “Maine to Alaska to Californ-i-a,” but also has written about 400 songs and released a half-dozen albums. These days, he’s even backed by the Ben Daniels Band, a five-piece ensemble led by his son, who also is a guitarist.
In a recent telephone call from Michigan, where he lives, Daniels spoke about both his acting career and his music.
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