Daniel Gillies Biography

Daniel Gillies (born 14 March 1976) is a Canadian-born New Zealand actor. He is best known for his recurring role of Elijah Mikaelson on the television series The Vampire Diaries, as well as his role as Dr. Joel Goran on the Canadian series Saving Hope.

Early life

Gillies was born 14 March 1976 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. When Gillies was five, his parents decided to return to their native New Zealand, and moved to Invercargill and then to Hamilton. Though born into a family of strong medical background (his father is a pediatrician, his mother a nurse, and his great great great grandfather is the renowned ENT/plastic surgery pioneer Sir Harold Gillies), he became interested in acting and studied at the Unitec School of Performing Arts.

Frustrated with the lack of opportunities in New Zealand, he moved to Sydney, Australia for six weeks in 2001, before returning to his native Canada for two months, where he worked as a waiter and dishwasher until deciding to move to Los Angeles, USA.

Career

Gillies began his career starring in several Auckland Theatre Company productions, before landing a lead role in the television drama Street Legal for two seasons. After realising his options in New Zealand were limited, he tried Sydney and Canada, before moving to Los Angeles and being cast in Bride & Prejudice and Spider-Man 2.

Since 2002, Gillies has worked in Canadian and American film and television; he's guested on television shows such as Masters of Horror, NCIS and True Blood. Since 2010, he's starred on The CW drama The Vampire Diaries as Elijah Mikaelson, and in 2012 was cast as Dr. Joel Goran in the supernatural series, Saving Hope.

He wrote and directed his first film, Broken Kingdom, in 2012; a process which took five years.

In 2013 he was cast in The Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals, due to air in the fall of the 2013/14 television season.

Personal life

Gillies married American actress Rachael Leigh Cook in August 2004 after less than a year of dating. They have one daughter, born on September 29, 2013.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	'	Medic
2001	No One Can Hear You	Dirk Mettcalfe
2002	Various Positions	Marcel
2004	Spider-Man 2	John Jameson
2004	Trespassing	Mark
2004	Bride and Prejudice	Johnny Wickham
2006	'	Dylan
2007	Captivity	Gary Dexter
2007	Matters of Life and Death	Jimmy	Short film
2008	Uncross the Stars	Troy
2012	Broken Kingdom	Jason '80'	Also Director and Producer

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Young Hercules		Episode: "My Fair Lilith"
2000	Cleopatra 2525	Cute Guy	Episode: "Mind Games"
2000-2002	Street Legal	Tim O'Connor	TV series
2002	Mentors	King Arthur	Episode: "Once and Future King"
2002	Jeremiah	Simon	Episode: "The Long Road: Part 1"
2002	Snow Queen	Delfont Chalfont	TV movie
2005	Into the West	Ethan Biggs	TV miniseries
2007	Masters of Horror	Jack Miller	Episode: "Dream Cruise"
2010	'	Dave Rollins	Episode: "Doppelganger"
2010	True Blood	Jon	Episode: "I Smell a Rat"
2010	NCIS	Royal Marine Major Peter Malloy	Episode: "Royals & Loyals"
2010"present	'	Elijah Mikaelson	Recurring Role
2012"present	Saving Hope	Dr. Joel Goran	Lead role
2013	The Originals	Elijah Mikaelson	TV Series Main Cast Spin-off to The Vampire Diaries