Daniel Hirsh


Daniel Hirsh is an American actor, voice over artist, video editor, director, cinematographer, writer, and producer. Hirsh has acted in and directed several World Premiere theatrical productions, being best known for originating the title role in a Tennessee Williams play. His editing work on short- and feature-length films have won awards at several festivals. Hirsh has trained as a videographer, actor, singer, and improvisational comedian, currently continuing work in Milwaukee, New York City, Atlanta and St. Louis. Working mainly with Atlanta filmmaker and entertainer Parthiban Shanmugam, other collaborators include Wade Ballance, Philip Barrett, Kevin L. Powers, and Thomas Smugala. Influenced by French videographer and university lecturer and screenwriter Richard Chapman, he has focused his career on narrative filmmaking, while also piecing together documentaries on energy healing, life after death and astral projection. He currently resides in New York City due to his interest in The New York Presbyterian Hospital which utilizes energy healing, and proximity to The Monroe Institute and University of Virginia, both of which partake in astral projection and consciousness research.

Editorial, Production, Direction and Cinematography Work

Kent Rapeen: A True Story as Writer, Editor, Director, Producer and CinematographerHighly Experimental as Writer, Editor, Director, Producer and CinematographerThe Writer as Writer, Editor, Director, Lighting Technician, Producer and CinematographerAs The World Turns as Production AssistantBetween Lust and Brookings Drive as Editor, Trailer Editor and Assistant CameraWith Only a Belle as EditorChosen as EditorApocalypse and the Beauty Queen as Editor, Title Designer and Titles & OpticalsShadow as Editor and Trailer EditorInsanity du Jour as Off-Line EditorHow's Your Cart as Editing ConsultantThe HusBand as Editor, Trailer Editor and First Assistant CameraMotion Music as Editor, Assistant Camera and Casting DirectorSpectre as Editor and CinematographerPatriot as Editor and CinematographerRegret as Executive ProducerYou're Rejected as Editor, Trailer Editor, DVD Author and DVD Box Art DesignerEven Cactus Goes to Heaven as Editor and Trailer EditorBleeder as Editor and Editing ConsultantVendetta as Editor and CinematographerAlone as Assistant EditorThe Ballad of Robert and Harvey as EditorMiss Kitty & Me as Editor3 Cats and a Man as First Assistant EditorA Letter to a Terrorist as EditorThe Little Jihadist as First Assistant EditorPaper Planes as EditorMen of a Certain Age as Editor
You're Rejected propelled Hirsh, Shanmugam and lead actor George Lee Clark to national and international recognition, winning "Official Selection" from the Filmböro Film Festival, "Honorable Mention" at the Philadelphia International Film Festival & Market, "Official Selection" at the AIAFF Film Festival, and "Official Selection" at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival.

Film and Television Acting

Highly Experimental as NarratorTaste the Revolution as ActivistBetween Lust and Brookings Drive as The ManWith Only a Belle as himselfHooch & Daddy-O as FanOctober Road as Townie & BartenderYou're Rejected as himselfVan Wilder: Freshman Year as Parent of Graduate3 Cats and a Man as himselfPikuach Nefesh: Saving Daniel as himselfMessiah as Friend 1
  • Find Her as Photographer
  • One for the Road as Restaurant PatronBroadcast as Meredith's AssistantMob Times as Mikey Hand Soap
  • American Mafia as Jack
  • The First Supper as Father
  • Pan-American as Paparazzi 1
  • Mr. Cuddles as Mr. Cuddles
  • Astronaut Boy as Lex

Theatrical Acting

Hirsh's acting style has been described as amusing, comic, and quirky. His complexion and physical appearance have been compared to John Belushi, Jon Lovitz, and Steve Zissis, with a comic voice comparable to Nathan Lane's. He prefers the Practical Aesthetics school of thought, pioneered by David Mamet, William H. Macy and Robert Bella; having taken a summer intensive course there in 2004, alongside Anna Chlumsky and Lucy DeVito. He has actively participated in various other acting styles and techniques.
Hirsh starred as himself in an improvised Thesis project directed by Washington University senior Lora Ivanova in 2003. I See was a one-act play starring five actors, one of which would be audience-voted to strap a video camera to their head while playing out suggestions for improvisational scenes. The piece, mostly comic, was met with positive reception.
Hirsh's most notable performance was his portrayal of Sir Vashya Shontine in Tennessee Williams' one-act play, Me, Vashya, written in 1937 during the playwright's short tenure at Washington University. The complete script was later published in the compilation The Magic Tower and Other One-Act Plays by publisher New Directions. Me, Vashya was performed as a World Premiere production with The Glass Menagerie as part of the Washington University in St. Louis Tennessee Williams Symposium in February 2004.
Hirsh's third World Premiere production, Six Seconds in Charlack, by Washington University alumni Brian Golden premiered on April 28 of 2005. Charlack was later performed on New York City's Off-Off-Broadway circuit at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center in August 2009.
Theatrical Performances
Theatrical Directed ProductionsTick, Tick... Boom! A Shave
Tick, Tick... Boom! was Hirsh's first major directorial debut after Washington University secured the rights from the estate of Jonathan Larson to be the third venue in the world to produce the little-known rock musical.
A Shave was the first of a World Premiere site-specific trilogy of plays written by student Lauren Dusek and inspired by the on-campus success of Downsize by Chicago playwright Christopher Welzenbach. Downsize was staged at Washington University's Mallinkrodt Center Men's Bathroom, with a maximum of only 11 or 12 audience members viewing the show at a time. The trilogy, consisting of A Shave, ''A Haircut and A Song,'' was staged in the Washington University Small Group Housing parking lot, an on-campus apartment, and a racquetball court in the Athletic Complex, respectively.

Commercial/Online/Webseries and Podcast Work

  • Choke-Out Offensive Co-Workers as Offensive Co-Worker
  • Roadway: A Stress-Free Moving Experience as Mr. Thompson
  • Converse x Baby Keem as Scientist
  • Wall St. Dental Spa: Exaggerated Benefits of a Smile as Man with New Smile
  • Changeling as Blake Lemoine
  • Tartarus as Brian
  • Bipto Bit My Toe as Wobbly, Cobalt
  • Reparations as Boss
  • Mocos the Miniseries as Mayor Don Wilson
  • Crowded Out as Three

Biographical Film

Following a divorce from Aline Gray in 2009, filmmaker Parthiban Shanmugam proposed the creation of a biographical film starring Hirsh and Atlanta singer/songwriter Debbie Aviva Kessler. The film's style would mimic My Dinner With Andre, in which the bulk of the picture was a completely improvised conversation between the two main characters, as well as footage from Hirsh and Gray's actual wedding, with a subsection devoted to Primal Therapy as the film's penultimate sequence. 3 Cats and a Man screened only once on May 17, 2012, in France. Unhappy with the outcome, Shanmugam had the film re-edited and retitled Pikuach Nefesh: Saving Daniel in 2016.