Danny Hoch

Danny Hoch, born November 23, 1970, is an American actor, writer, director, and performance artist who grew up in Queens, New York. He appeared on Broadway in 2011 in George is Dead.

Hoch's theatrical work centers on a series of one-man shows that draw on the multicultural and multilingual character of New York City. His first show, Pot Melting, was followed by Some People, which was broadcast on HBO in the mid-1990s and brought him wider national recognition, enabling him to tour more cities to larger audiences. A third show, Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop, was later adapted into a film released in 2000. Some People and Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop were published together in 1998. Across these works, Hoch performs monologues in multiple languages and dialects, including Cuban Spanish, Dominican Spanish, Jamaican Patois, and Trinidadian English, with hip-hop culture serving as a recurring connective thread. The three shows collectively earned two Obie Awards, a Sundance Writers Fellowship, and the CalArts Alpert Award in Theatre. In 2010, Hoch received a fellowship from United States Artists.

In 2008, Hoch presented Taking Over, a solo show examining gentrification in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, from the perspective of residents displaced by it. In late 2011 and early 2012, he appeared in Ethan Coen's one-act play Talking Cure, presented as part of the Broadway production Relatively Speaking. Hoch also founded the Hip-Hop Theater Festival in 2000.

His screen work spans both independent and mainstream film. He wrote and starred in Whiteboyz, a 1999 film directed by Marc Levin, alongside Mark Webber and Dash Mihok, with additional cast members including Piper Perabo, Eugene Byrd, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Big Pun, Fat Joe, dead prez, Slick Rick, and Doug E. Fresh. In Spike Lee's Bamboozled, Hoch played Timmi Hilnigger, a parody of designer Tommy Hilfiger. He also appeared in the 2007 film We Own the Night. In 1995, Hoch was originally cast in a guest role on the Seinfeld episode The Pool Guy in season seven, but after objecting to what he considered ethnic stereotyping in the portrayal of his Hispanic character and failing to persuade Jerry Seinfeld to revise the role, he was replaced by another actor.

Beyond performance, Hoch has written about hip-hop, race, and class for publications including The Village Voice, The New York Times, Harper's, and The Nation. He has also appeared on HBO's Def Poetry Jam and on Robert Small's MTV Unplugged spoken-word series.