Daniel Henney

Early life

Henney was born on November 28, 1979 in Carson City, Michigan. His mother Christine Henney, an American adoptee from Busan, South Korea, was a nurse. His father Philip Henney, an American of British descent, worked in a factory. He was a star basketball player at Carson City-Crystal High School and led the Eagles to the MHSAA Central region (CSAA) 2nd-place finish during his senior year in 1998.

Henney attended various colleges—including Albion College, Alma College and Elgin Community College—but never completed his college studies due to his burgeoning modeling career. He was credited on many online portals for a time to have had graduated with an economics degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. However that was proven to be false when an academic scandal in 2007 revealed that several South Korean social figures and celebrities, including Henney, Choi Soo-jong and Jang Mi-hee, had falsified academic records.

Career

Henney moved to South Korea after having lived on and off in Hong Kong and Taiwan for four years. While in New York in 2004, he did some work Off-Broadway while auditioning for television shows.

Henney started modeling in the U.S. in 2001 and worked in France, Hong Kong, and many more while attending college. After his debut in South Korea with an advertisement for the Amore Pacific's cosmetic "Odyssey Sunrise", he became a spokesperson for commercials with Jun Ji-hyun for Olympus cameras and Kim Tae-hee for Daewoo Electronics's Klasse air conditioners. Henney is signed with DNA Models in New York under the celebrity division.[[Image:Daniel Henney in an LG advertisement in 2009.jpg|thumb|Henney in an [[LG Corporation|LG]] Border Wireless LED TV advertisement, September 2009|left]] While modelling in South Korea for Olympus in 2005, he was scouted by a talent manager who got Henney a role in the Korean drama My Lovely Sam Soon, aka My Name is Kim Sam Soon. Henney, who did not speak any Korean, was cast as an Asian American physician Henry Kim who struggled with the language. He played a supporting role in a love triangle between female lead Hee-jin (Jung Ryeo-won) and restaurateur Hyun Jin-heon (Hyun Bin). The show was widely popular, with over half of South Korean households estimated to have watched the finale.

Henney then starred in another romantic drama Spring Waltz as Philip, a foreign music manager, in 2006. He resumed his modeling career when he was featured in a Bean Pole campaign with Gwyneth Paltrow.

Henney made his feature film debut in another romantic comedy Seducing Mr. Perfect (2006), which coincided with pop star and actor Rain's debut in I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK (2006). His second film, My Father, won multiple awards in South Korea and Henney became the first foreigner to sweep all the major cinema awards in the Best New Actor category.

He later learned the language and appeared on a few variety shows, such as Family Outing.

His first American role was as Agent Zero in the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).

In the fall season of 2009, he played "Dr. David Lee" in the CBS television drama Three Rivers.

In 2010, Henney returned to South Korea television for KBS2's The Fugitive: Plan B, alongside Rain and actress Lee Na-young.

Since 2012, Henney has appeared in several American TV series.

In 2014, Henney voiced Tadashi Hamada in Disney's Big Hero 6.

Henney starred as Special Agent Matt Simmons in the American television series Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, a spin-off of Criminal Minds, for two seasons from 2016 to 2017. After the Beyond Borders's cancellation, it was announced in June 2017 that Henney's Matt Simmons would continue on Criminal Minds as a series regular for season 13. He remained a part of the cast until the original series concluded in season 15.

In September 2019, Henney was cast in the supporting role of Lan Mandragoran in Amazon Video's adaptation of Robert Jordan's fantasy epic The Wheel of Time.

Personal life

On October 20, 2023, Henney married Ru Kumagai, a Japanese-American actress. The wedding ceremony was held in the United States where only family members attended.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

References

1. "TODAY IN HISTORY: November 28, 2019".
2. Schreur, Brandon. (February 23, 2020). "Hollywood to hometown".
3. (August 22, 2005). "Daniel Henney's Mother Travels Back to Her Roots".
4. Wallace, Bruce. (2007-06-17). "A most unlikely Seoul sensation".
5. (January 10, 1998). "Prep Basketball: Carson City". [[Lansing State Journal]].
6. Lee, Hyo-won. (September 2, 2007). "Actor Daniel Henney Caught in Academic Record Scandal '". [[The Korea Times]].
7. Chan, Yuan-Kwan. (July 29, 2012). "An interview with Daniel Henney: Comedy, career and Korea".
8. link. (March 4, 2016 . 10asia.co.kr. Retrieved on April 27, 2014.)
9. [http://www.dnamodels.com/celebrity/daniel-henney/portfolio#/page/1 DNA Models] {{Webarchive. link. (April 22, 2012. DNA Models. Retrieved on April 27, 2014.)
10. Ito, Robert. (2007-02-11). "Stuck in Asia, Dreaming of Hollywood". The New York Times.
11. Woo, Michelle. (October 19, 2009). "Daniel Henney -- Seoul Man".
12. (March 7, 2008). "Who the Hell is Daniel Henney?".
13. {{in lang
14. link. (August 21, 2010 .''Asiae'' June 21, 2010 Retrieved June 24, 2010.)
15. Andreeva, Nellie. (2017-06-20). "'Criminal Minds': Daniel Henney Of 'Beyond Borders' Joins Mothership Series".
16. Ramos, Dino-Ray. (2020-02-20). "'Criminal Minds' Series Finale: The BAU Gang Hunts Down Its Final Psychopath Before Giving A Tearful Goodbye".
17. White, Peter. (September 4, 2019). "'The Wheel Of Time': 'Criminal Minds' Star Daniel Henney Joins Amazon's Epic Fantasy Drama". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
18. Hyeon. Ye-seul. (October 20, 2023). link. [[JoongAng Ilbo]]
19. (20 October 2023). "My Lovely Sam Soon star Daniel Henney announces marriage to long-time love Ru Kumagai". The Times of India.
20. Siegel, Tatiana. (February 21, 2008). "Dominic Monaghan joins 'Wolverine'". Variety.
21. Kwak Hyun-soo. link. (January 22, 2021)
22. link. Kim Ji-hye. SBS Entertainment News. (August 1, 2022)
23. Kim Na-ra. (April 28, 2022). link. [[MyDaily]]
24. Jo Ji-young. (January 2, 2024). link
25. Keck, William. (October 2, 2012). "Hawaii Five-0 Brings on Alex O'Loughlin's Old CBS Co-Star". [[TV Guide]].
26. [http://www.newsen.com/news_view.php?uid=200512300001511001&search=title&searchstring=다니엘 헤니 다니엘 헤니는 역시 최고 인기남! 여성들의 시샘과 질투 쏟아졌다].''Newsen'' December 30, 2005 Retrieved June 24, 2010.
27. [http://hermosausa.com/danielhenney/biography/ Biography]. Hermosa USA (January 31, 2014). Retrieved on April 27, 2014.
28. [http://www.newsen.com/news_view.php?uid=200806272349441003&search=title&searchstring=다니엘 헤니 (포토엔)신인남우상 다니엘 헤니, 오 마이 갓! ].''Newsen'' June 27, 2010 Retrieved June 24, 2010.
29. [http://www.newsen.com/news_view.php?uid=200904102155431003&search=title&searchstring=다니엘 헤니 (포토엔)휴잭맨-다니엘 헤니, 배우로 처음 청계광장에 핸드프린팅 남겨요].''Newsen'' April 10, 2010 Retrieved June 24, 2010.
30. link. Kim Mi-hwa. MT Star News. (November 25, 2022)