Sean Daniel
American film producer
title: "Sean Daniel" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1951-births", "film-producers-from-new-york-(state)", "nbcuniversal-people", "20th-century-american-jews", "living-people", "the-high-school-of-music-&-art-alumni", "21st-century-american-jews", "jewish-american-film-people"] description: "American film producer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Daniel" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American film producer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Sean Daniel |
| birth_name | Sean Peter Daniel |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| occupation | Film producer, film executive |
| education | High School of Music & Art |
| alma_mater | California Institute of the Arts |
| spouse | Ruth Hunter |
| child | Quincy Hunter-Daniel |
| :: |
|name = Sean Daniel |image = |caption = |birth_name = Sean Peter Daniel |birth_date = |birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S. |occupation = Film producer, film executive |education = High School of Music & Art |alma_mater = California Institute of the Arts |spouse = Ruth Hunter |child = Quincy Hunter-Daniel
Sean Peter Daniel (born August 15, 1951) is an American film producer and movie executive.
Life and career
Born to a Jewish family, Daniel attended Manhattan's High School of Music & Art, graduating in 1969. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in film from the California Institute of the Arts in 1973.
In 1976, he joined Universal Pictures as a film production executive and in 1985, at the age of 34, he became the youngest production president in the studio's history. He has built a nearly 50-year career in the entertainment industry. As a producer and studio executive, Daniel has helped shape the vernacular of modern cinema, overseeing some of the most widely beloved, critically acclaimed films ever made. During his tenure, Daniel supervised the financing and production of such acclaimed National Lampoon's Animal House, Coal Miner's Daughter, The Blues Brothers, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Brazil, Field of Dreams, Do the Right Thing, Back to the Future, Midnight Run, Born on the Fourth of July, Missing, Weird Science, Uncle Buck, The Great Outdoors, Born in East L.A., Fletch, Rumble Fish, Gorillas in the Mist, Darkman, and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.
Following his tenure as an executive at the studio, Daniel started Alphaville Films with James Jacks and developed and produced 1999's blockbuster action adventure Mummy starring future Academy Awards winners Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. Daniel produced the four subsequent films in the global franchise: The Mummy Returns, which launched the film career of Dwayne Johnson, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and The Scorpion King and Mummy. All told, the franchise has earned almost $2 billion worldwide.
Daniel also produced Malcolm D. Lee's hit romantic comedy The Best Man Holiday, the Richard Linklater classic Dazed and Confused, the renowned western Tombstone, Nora Ephron's supernatural comedy Michael, the Coen Brothers's film Intolerable Cruelty, the Chris Rock, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz comedy Down to Earth, the rap-music comedy CB4, also with Chris Rock, and John Woo's first American film, Hard Target.
Daniel's recent credits include Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which he produced with Guillermo Del Toro, Richard Linklater's feature Everybody Wants Some!!, and the documentary Belushi.
He has served as an executive producer on the Netflix's phenomenon The Witcher, Peacock's The Best Man: The Final Chapters, the acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series The Expanse, based on James S.A. Corey's The New York Times best-selling book franchise, and Graceland, from White Collar creator Jeff Eastin. He executive produced the TNT original film Freedom Song, directed by Phil Alden Robinson and starring Danny Glover, HBO's Everyday People; and the USA Network four-hour mini series Attila, starring Gerard Butler.
Selected filmography
He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.
Film
::data[format=table]
;Production manager
::data[format=table]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Animal House | Executive in charge of production | Uncredited |
| 1980 | Coal Miner's Daughter | ||
| 1982 | Missing | ||
| 1985 | The Breakfast Club | ||
| 1985 | Back to the Future | ||
| 1985 | Brazil | ||
| 1985 | Fletch | ||
| 1989 | Do the Right Thing | ||
| 1989 | Field of Dreams | ||
| :: |
;As an actor
::data[format=table]
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Spies Like Us | Ace Tomato Driver |
| 1990 | Darkman | Policeman #2 |
| :: |
;Thanks
::data[format=table]
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Mallrats | The director would like to thank: For bringing a pedigree to the project |
| 1998 | A Simple Plan | Thanks |
| :: |
Television
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Credit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Don't Look Back | Executive producer | Television film |
| 2000 | Freedom Song | Executive producer | Television film |
| 2001 | Attila | Executive producer | |
| 2004 | Everyday People | Executive producer | Television film |
| 2013−15 | Graceland | ||
| 2015−2022 | The Expanse | Executive producer | |
| 2019 | The Witcher | Executive producer | |
| 2022 | The Witcher: Blood Origin | Executive producer | |
| :: |
References
References
- [http://www.filmreference.com/film/13/Sean-Daniel.html Sean Daniel], filmreference.com, January 21, 2014
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/17/us/the-democrats-the-shtick-so-here-s-this-jewish-guy-who-gets-nominated.html New York Times: "THE DEMOCRATS: THE SHTICK; So Here's This Jewish Guy Who Gets Nominated..." By TODD S. PURDUM] August 17, 2000
- [http://www.pressherald.com/2016/08/21/a-ben-hur-for-our-time/ Portland Press Herald: "A ‘Ben-Hur’ for our time" by Steven Zeitchik] August 21, 2016. ''Downey and Burnett are staunch Catholics; Ridley is also a devout Christian, Huston and Bekmambetov, who was raised in a communist country, are more secular; Daniel and MGM principal Gary Barber are Jewish''
- [https://alumniandfriends.org/our-community/notable-alumni/ "Notable Alumni,"] Alumni & Friends of LaGuardia High School official website. Accessed Oct. 31, 2016.
- [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-01-10-fi-3-story.html Los Angeles Times: "Sean Daniel Quits Universal to Head Geffen's Film Unit" by MICHAEL CIEPLY] January 10, 1989
- [https://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr3058142981/], boxofficemojo.com
- [https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2345759/?ref_=bo_se_r_2], boxofficemojo.com
- [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0199733/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm], IMDb.com
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