Dan Davies

Davies hosted his own syndicated comedic radio show The Swami, on which he played Achmed Benaben (The Swami), from 1998-2001. The show was syndicated throughout the Midwest. From 2002 to 2004 he hosted two TV shows "Just for the Health of it" and "Now We're Cooking" that were aired throughout Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. In 2005, Davies and Ron Bullock won the Platinum Remi at the 38th Annual Houston International Film Festival (aka WorldFest). In 2006, the two took a Silver Remi at WorldFest. That same year they also won Best Comedy at the 20th Annual Videomaker Magazine Video Contest and Best Comedy at the Casablanca Futurevision Video Festival. In late 2007, he started his own production company with Steve Russell. DaviesRussell, LLC is a full-service TV and film production house. One of their first productions was the Rex Piano directed Wienerfest (2009). Davies portrays the drunk yet musclebound and egotistical Hunter Rolph while Russell was the D.P. They also co-produced Mitakuye Oyasin (2009). In 2008-2010 DaviesRussell co-produced, along with Blame Society Films, the internet short comedy "Thor's Kitchen" It starred the "Chad Vader" guys: Matt Sloan, Aaron Yonda and Brad Knight. Davies portrayed a Sword and Sandal, slightly homoerotic, 1950s/60s, badly voice-dubbed Hercules. This comedy short has had over 1,000,000 views in the aggregate. In 2010 Ed Gein, The Musical a micro-budget horror/musical/comedy which he wrote, co-produced and in which he played the title character, premiered theatrically and then nationally on Retro TV Network (RTV) and PBS' Director's Cut. Ed Gein, the Musical opened the door for Davies to write the story for the critically acclaimed film, West of Thunder (2015) He, along with Jody Marriott Bar-Lev, wrote the screenplay for the film. The creative advisors on the film included Lakota elders and Academy Award winner Michael Blake. In it Davies plays the starring role of Henry Seed. West of Thunder went on to win the Political Film Society's Best Film (Peace) and Best Film (Human Rights) becoming the first film in their almost 30 year existence to win both categories. It was also awarded, along with Django Unchained, the Best Western at the Almeria Western Film Festival in Almeria, Spain. In honor of the 40th Annual American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, CA it was chosen a Top-10 All-Time film among such classics as Dances with Wolves, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Last of the Mohicans. Dan's next movie, Tempting Fate (2015) was one of the first Hollywood meets Nollywood films. In it he plays the Russian/Kazakh gang leader Scorpion Dmitrov. He co-stars along with Nollywood legend Ramsey Nouah. Tempting Fate was directed by Kevin Nwankwor. It was the first Nollywood film to garner a Dove Seal of Approval rating and is a Top 25 Nollywood box office film of all-time. Davies is a contributor to the Scene and Nature's Pathways magazines and has been interviewed on NPR's To the Best of Our Knowledge, Rex Sikes Movie Beat, PBS's "Director's Cut",Fox News National on "America's News HQ" with Shannon Bream, CBS Evening News and RTV's "Off Beat Cinema". Davies co-starred with Sadie Kaye in Miss Adventure meets Motorhead, that as of May 29, 2013 was the highest-rated video of all-time on Will Ferrell/HBO's Funny or Die. It will also be seen, along with new episodes, on HBO's Funny or Die and Comedy Central (Europe). He co-starred in the British comedy Flim, the Movie, which premiered in London in 2014. It was nominated for Best Film (Raindance Award) at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) December 2014. It was also a selection at the Raindance Film Festival in London and its US premiere was screened simultaneously at the Soho House Cinemas in Chicago, New York, Miami and Los Angeles. Davies also co-starred with Ayo Makun, Funke Akindele, Nse Ikpe-Etim and Eric Roberts in the Nollywood/Hollywood comedy A Trip to Jamaica that was released in September 2016. This film also premiered in London in Dec 2016 and held the highest per screen average in all of the UK during its run. It has been nominated in 6 categories for the Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards. This film was also awarded the African Entertainment Legend Award for Best Cinema Film of 2016. It not only ended up being the No. 1 Nollywood box office film of 2016 but as of December 2016 A Trip to Jamaica became the No. 1 Nollywood box office film of all time. It is also nominated for a 2017 African Academy Award (Best Comedy) This and the box office success of Tempting Fate have made Dan the No 1 American box office actor in Nollywood. In 2017 he stars in the revenge thriller Wronged and he co-stars with D.B. Sweeney in the psychological thriller/horror Mr. Thursday. Both of these films will be released in the late summer/fall of 2017