Daniel Benzali

Daniel Benzali, born January 20, 1946, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is a retired Brazilian-American actor who worked across stage, television, and film. The son of Lee, a cook, and Carlo Benzali, a salesman who had previously acted in both Brazilian theatre and Yiddish theatre, Benzali is the middle of three sons in a Brazilian Jewish family. The family relocated to the United States in 1953 and settled in Brooklyn, New York City.

Benzali launched his acting career in theatre, working with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Great Britain. His first stage performance was in Holiday at The Old Vic, appearing alongside Mary Steenburgen and Malcolm McDowell. That production made a lasting impression on director Anthony Page, who subsequently cast Benzali opposite Teri Garr in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television film adaptation of Pack of Lies, a play by Hugh Whitemore. His theatre work extended to musical productions, including the role of Juan Perón in the West End cast of Evita. In 1993, he joined the original cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, playing faded film director Max von Mayerling alongside Patti LuPone. His Broadway credit dates to 1981, when he appeared in Annie, a production he also performed in during a US national tour. He additionally toured nationally in Fiddler on the Roof. In 2019, Benzali was scheduled to play the lead role in the London staging of Bianca Bagatourian's The Time Of Our Lies but withdrew on opening night due to unforeseen circumstances.

On screen, Benzali appeared in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill, portraying W. G. Howe, the Californian director of Oil and Mines based at San Francisco City Hall, whose character is killed in his office by Max Zorin, played by Christopher Walken. He went on to accumulate guest-starring credits on series including Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, and Strong Medicine, as well as recurring roles on both NYPD Blue and L.A. Law. Those performances caught the attention of producer Steven Bochco, who cast Benzali in the lead role of attorney Ted Hoffman in his 1995 series Murder One. The performance earned Benzali a Golden Globe Award nomination. He departed the series after its first season. Bochco later stated that he dismissed Benzali from the show due to his habitual lateness to the set.

Benzali's additional film appearances include By Dawn's Early Light (1990), Murder at 1600 (1997), The Grey Zone (2001), and Suckers (2001). His television work continued with starring roles in The Agency and Nip/Tuck, in which he played Dr. Griffin on the FX network, as well as a recurring role as former Department of Homeland Security director Thomas Valente in the CBS post-apocalyptic series Jericho. In December 2010, he joined the cast of ABC's General Hospital, playing a character named Theodore Hoffman, a name drawn from his Murder One role.

In his personal life, Benzali married Worcestershire potter Lynda Medwell in 1979 while working in Great Britain; the marriage lasted six years. He later had a three-year relationship with Kim Cattrall, ending in 1997 when Benzali was 51. He has divided his time between London and the United States.