Danny Strong

Danny Strong (born ) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. As an actor, Strong is best known for his roles as Jonathan Levinson in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doyle McMaster in Gilmore Girls and Danny Siegel in Mad Men. He also wrote the screenplays for Recount, the HBO adaptation Game Change, The Butler, and co-wrote the two-part finale of The Hunger Games film trilogy, Mockingjay – Part 1 and Mockingjay – Part 2. Strong also is a co-creator, executive producer, director, and writer for the Fox series Empire and created, wrote, and directed the award-winning Hulu miniseries Dopesick.

Strong has won two Emmy Awards, two Writers Guild of America Awards, a Producers Guild of America Award, two Peabody Awards and an NAACP Image Award.

Early life, family and education Strong was born in Manhattan Beach, California. He grew up in a Jewish family of Lithuanian, Russian, and Polish origin. He began acting at a young age. As a child, Strong rented videos from Video Archives and became friends with Quentin Tarantino, who worked there as a clerk: "I would just literally sit and chat with him for 45 minutes, an hour at a time about movies, and he got me turned on to all these different movies that 10-year-olds don't see." By the time he was 10, Strong became even more interested with the world of film and was sending his photo to agents.

Strong attended Mira Costa High School, and then studied film and theatre at the University of Southern California.

Career

Acting Strong is known for playing Jonathan Levinson on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Paris Geller's boyfriend Doyle McMaster on Gilmore Girls; he has also appeared in films such as Pleasantville, Dangerous Minds, Seabiscuit, the spoof Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth, and was in the film Sydney White as the Grumpy dork, Gurkin. Strong has also had guest parts in sitcoms such as Seinfeld, Clueless, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Over the Top, Grey's Anatomy, Boy Meets World and How I Met Your Mother and has also guest-lectured in acting classes on finding a job as an actor. In the popular AMC series Mad Men he played Danny Siegel, a young man with no talent, trying to break into the advertising industry, later making a career in Hollywood. Strong also appeared on the HBO series Girls in the third and fourth seasons; and appeared on the fifth and sixth seasons of Justified as Albert Fekus, a rapist prison guard. He also starred in Billions as Todd Krakow, Secretary of the Treasury. Strong was set to appear in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as Dean Martin, but his scenes were cut from the film.

Writing At 25, in the hopes of being the lead actor in his own film, Strong wrote a dark comedy about two men who kill an elderly man for his rent-controlled apartment. The film starred Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern, Denis Leary, John Hurt and Tom Wilkinson and premiered on May 25, 2008. The script was voted number one on the 2007 Hollywood Black List, a list of the "most liked" but unproduced scripts as voted on by the Hollywood community and insiders. Strong was nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special for Recount. The film was nominated for Best Television Miniseries or Film at the 66th Golden Globe Awards and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie as well as the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay for a Television movie.

Strong followed up Recount with the 2012 film adaptation of Game Change, based on the book written by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. The film starred Julianne Moore and aired on HBO on March 10, 2012. In 2012, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special for Game Change. The film was also awarded a Peabody Award, which recognizes distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals.

In February 2012, he was hired to write the screenplay for the film adaptation of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, whose production has been stalled since 2013.

Strong wrote the screenplay for the film The Butler. Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker starred in the film and it was directed by Lee Daniels. The script was voted onto the 2010 Hollywood Black List. It was released in August 2013 and grossed over $100 million in the US box office. Strong had a cameo in the film.

In December 2013, Strong signed on to pen the new screenplay for the film adaptation of the musical Guys and Dolls, which originally premiered on Broadway in 1950. Strong co-created the TV series Empire with Lee Daniels in 2014, for which he wrote and directed multiple episodes. Strong co-wrote the two-part Mockingjay, the finale of The Hunger Games series. Part 1 was released on November 21, 2014, and Part 2 was released on November 20, 2015.

Strong created Dopesick, a Hulu exclusive miniseries in October 2021 that explores the Sackler family, and Purdue Pharma's role in the opioid epidemic in the United States. The series was influenced by Beth Macy's book by the same name and starred Michael Keaton, who earned a SAG award for his performance. The critically acclaimed show was nominated for 14 Emmy Awards and won the Peabody Award along with many other awards and honors.

Strong wrote the book for the rock musical Galileo; it premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2024, and will open on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in December 2026. Strong also wrote the book for the 2025 Broadway revival of Chess in early 2025, after having written an earlier book for a 2018 Kennedy Center production of Chess directed by Michael Mayer, who later directed the Broadway revival. Previews of the Broadway revival of Chess begin on October 15, with opening night slated for November 16.

Directing Strong made his directorial debut with the biographical film on the life of author J. D. Salinger, Rebel in the Rye. The film premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by IFC Films. He followed this up by directing the last two episodes of the award-winning limited series Dopesick for he which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Directors Guild Award for Best Director of a Limited Series. He has also directed several episodes of Empire.

Personal life Strong became engaged to actress Caitlin Mehner on December 29, 2016, in Hawaii after meeting her three years earlier.

Filmography Film Year Title Writer Director ProducerNotes 2013 The Butler 2014 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 2015 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 2017 Rebel in the Rye 2019 The Best of Enemies

Acting roles Year Title Role Notes 1995 Dangerous MindsStudent 1998 The Prophecy IIJulianVideo 1998 PleasantvilleJuke Box Boy 2000 Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13thBonerVideo 2003 SeabiscuitYoung Jockey 2006 Veritas, Prince of TruthRaymond 2007 Sydney WhiteGurkin 2009 Weather GirlKurt 2013 The ButlerFreedom Bus Journalist 2015 Knight of CupsDanny Strong 2016 Popstar: Never Stop Never StoppingPerspective Manipulator

Television Year Title Writer Director Executive producer CreatorNotes 2008 Recount TV movie 2012 Game Change TV movie 2015–2020 Empire 2019 Proven Innocent 2020 The Right Stuff 2021 Dopesick

Acting roles

Theater Year Title Notes Ref. 2018 Chess Revised book 2024 Galileo Book

Awards and nominations Year Association Category Nominated work Result 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Recount American Film Institute Top 10 TV Program of the Year 2009 Writers Guild of America Awards Long Form – Original 2012 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding TV Movie Game Change Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie American Film Institute Top 10 TV Program of the Year 2013 Golden Globe Awards Best Limited or Anthology Series or TV Film Peabody Award Producers Guild of America Awards Best Long-Form TV Writers Guild of America Awards TV: Long Form – Adapted PEN Center USA Awards Best Teleplay 2014 NAACP Image Award Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture The Butler Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square Recognizing a contemporary storyteller whose work has had a significant impact on the public dialogue. Game Change, Recount, The Butler 2015 TCA Awards Program of the Year Empire AFI Award Television Program of the Year 2016 NAACP Image Award Outstanding Drama Series NAACP Image Award Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series Critics' Choice Television Award Best Drama Series Golden Globe Awards Best Television Series – Drama 2022 Final Draft AwardsTV Writer of the Year Dopesick TCA AwardsBest Limited Series Golden Globe AwardsBest Limited Series Television Academy Honors Peabody Award Primetime Emmy AwardsOutstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series USC Scripter AwardsBest TV Adaptation Producers Guild of America AwardsBest Limited Series Directors Guild of America AwardBest Director of a Limited Series Final Draft AwardsStoryteller of the Year for Television GLAAD AwardsBest Limited Series Critics Choice AwardsBest Limited Series 2026Drama Desk AwardsBest Revival of a MusicalChessOuter Critics Circle AwardsBest Revival of a MusicalDrama League AwardsBest Revival of a MusicalBroadway.com Audience Choice AwardsFavorite Musical Revival