Daniel Benzali

Daniel Benzali (born January 20, 1950) is a Brazilian-American stage, television and film actor.

Daniel Benzali
BornJanuary 20, 1950 (1950-01-20) (age 70)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Early life

Benzali was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the son of Lee, a cook, and Carlo Benzali, a salesman who had also been an actor in Brazilian theatre[1] and Yiddish theatre.[2] His family are Brazilian Jews.[1] Daniel Benzali is the middle son of three. The family moved to the United States in 1953, and the boys were raised in Brooklyn, New York City.

Career

Theatre

Benzali began his acting career as a theatre actor, including the Royal Shakespeare Company in Great Britain. His first performance was in Holiday at The Old Vic alongside Mary Steenburgen and Malcolm McDowell.

He also played musical theater, including a portrayal of Juan Perón in the London cast of Evita. He played faded film director Max von Mayerling, alongside Patti LuPone, in the original (1993) cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard. Benzali also appeared on Broadway in Fiddler on the Roof and other smaller productions.

Television and feature films

In 1985 he was cast in the James Bond film A View to a Kill as W. G. Howe,[3] the Californian director of Oil and Mines, based at San Francisco City Hall. The character was shot dead in his office there by Max Zorin (played by Christopher Walken).[4]

Subsequently, he began making guest-starring roles on television series such as Strong Medicine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, and in recurring roles in NYPD Blue and L.A. Law.[2][3] NYPD Blue and L.A. Law creator Steven Bochco was so impressed with Benzali's performances that Bochco later cast him in the lead role of his 1995 series Murder One, playing attorney Ted Hoffman. For his performance, Benzali was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. The series was not especially successful (though highly regarded later), and Benzali left after its first season. Bochco later revealed that he fired Benzali because he refused to leave his home before he completed his morning bowel movement and was perpetually late to the set.[5]

Benzali's stage performance in Holiday at The Old Vic so impressed director Anthony Page that Page cast him opposite Teri Garr in the Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie adaptation of Pack of Lies, a play by English writer Hugh Whitemore.[1] Benzali also starred in the TV series The Agency and appeared in feature films including By Dawn's Early Light (1990), Murder at 1600 (1997) and The Grey Zone (2001).[3] Another role was as Reggie, a drug smuggler working at a car dealership in Suckers (2001)".[3] He appeared in the post-apocalyptic CBS series Jericho as the enigmatic former Department of Homeland Security director Thomas Valente.[3] After that, he starred in the FX television series Nip/Tuck as Dr. Griffin.[3]

In December 2010, Benzali joined ABC's General Hospital.[6] Benzali played a character named Theodore Hoffman, a reference to his role on the mid-1990s television series Murder One.[3]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1983Home Free AllTherapist
1985InsignificanceFirst Theatrical Agent
1985A View to a KillW. G. Howe
1985White NightsDr. Asher
1986Whoops ApocalypseWilliam Kubert (US Defense Secretary)
1988Messenger of DeathChief Barney Doyle
1989Vietnam War Story: The Last DaysAdams(segment "Dirty Work")
1991En dag i oktoberSolomon Kublitz
1992The Distinguished Gentleman'Skeeter' Warburton
1997Murder at 1600Sr. Agent Nicholas Spikings
1997The End of ViolenceBrice Phelps
1998HeistBig Fats
1998All the Little AnimalsBernard 'The Fat' De Winter
1999SuckersReggie
1999Her Married LoverDet. Joe Lansing
2000ScrewedDetective Tom Dewey
2001Vegas, City of DreamsDr. Sigmund Stein
2001The Grey ZoneSimon Schlermer
2002Dead HeatFrank Finnegan
2007If I Had Known I Was a GeniusWalter

References
  1. "Suckers". RogerNygard.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  2. "Daniel Benzali". filmreference.com.
  3. Daniel Benzali on IMDb
  4. "W.G. Howe (Daniel Benzali)". James Bond MM. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
  5. "Murder One Cast and Characters". TVGuide.com. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  6. "Exclusive: Daniel Benzali Joins General Hospital". TVGuide.com. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
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