Dan DeLuca


Dan DeLuca is an American actor, writer, and filmmaker, best known for his role as Dr. David Parenti in the HBO television series The Wire.

Education and career

DeLuca studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York. He has a master's degree in business from Southeast Missouri State University.
DeLuca co-directed and produced the feature film Eco-Teens Save the World, with Academy Award Winner Shirley Jones and Emmy Nominee Corbin Bernsen. He is also the director of the feature film Two-Minute Heist. He was the writer, producer, and second unit director of the feature film Crazy Eights. " Dan has worked extensively with Actor and Filmmaker, Ken Arnold. Together they have written, and produced three feature films, The Night Watchmen, A Comedy of Horrors Volume 1 and A Town Called Purgatory.
He is best known for his role in season 4 of HBO's The Wire, in which he portrays the real-life inspired character of Dr. David Parenti. The role partnered him with veteran actor Robert Wisdom as "Bunny Colvin."
DeLuca has also had roles in HBO's Veep and House of Cards.
In 2009 he won Best Actor and Best Director at The NYIIFF Festival. In 2014 he won Best Performance at the 2014 ZED Film Festival. Other awards include the 2015 Best Feature/Audience Award at the Alexandria International Film Festival, Best Feature at the Boston International Kids Family Festival, and Best Feature at the Louisville International Film Festival, for On the Wing.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, DeLuca and Arnold co-wrote and starred in the horror Western film A Town Called Purgatory, which screened at film festivals in 2024.
DeLuca is also a novelist, penning the recent Horror/Drama novel, "HAG, The Legend of Bloody Mary."