James McDaniel

James McDaniel Jr., born on March 25, 1958, in Washington, D.C., is an American actor who has worked across stage, film, and television. The son of physician James McDaniel Sr., he attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied veterinary medicine. After completing his final exams, he relocated to New York City to pursue acting, a field in which he had no prior experience. He enrolled in dance and voice lessons and secured his first professional engagement through a Pepsi commercial.

McDaniel launched his career on the stage, earning recognition for his work in several notable productions. He originated the role of Adam in Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, serving as the only American in the cast. In the Lincoln Center production of Six Degrees of Separation, he played Paul Poitier in the original run, a performance that earned him the Clarence Derwent Award. His stage work also included Before It Hits Home, for which he received both an Obie Award and a Drama Desk nomination during the 1991–1992 season. His Broadway appearances spanned 1990 to 1992.

On television, McDaniel built an extensive body of work beginning with early guest appearances on Kate & Allie and Gabriel's Fire. He portrayed police officer Franklin Rose on the 1990 series Cop Rock and later guest starred as a cop on Hill Street Blues, a credit that led to recurring involvement in productions connected to creator Steven Bochco, including L.A. Law and Civil Wars. McDaniel is perhaps best known for playing Lt. Arthur Fancy on NYPD Blue across eight seasons from 1993 to 2001. He received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1996 for that role, along with three consecutive NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He also won a 1995 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series as part of the NYPD Blue cast. McDaniel himself described his position on the show as that of "the highest paid extra on television," acknowledging criticism that his character was underutilized. He later portrayed Sgt. Jesse Longford in the ABC crime drama Detroit 1-8-7, appeared as an investigator in The Following, and played Ezra Mills in Sleepy Hollow. A guest appearance as a jazz trumpeter in NCIS: New Orleans and roles in the films See You in September (2010) and Night Comes On (2018) further extended his television and film credits.

McDaniel's film work includes a minor role in Woody Allen's Alice (1990), a banker in Strictly Business (1991), and the role of Brother Earl in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992). He also appeared in several television films, among them Silencing Mary (1996), Unforgivable (1996), and Out of Time (2000), in which he took on a rare lead role. In Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000), he portrayed Nat King Cole, a casting choice made personally by Natalie Cole herself. McDaniel received a Peabody Award in 2005 for the NYPD Blue episode "Edge of America" and won the 2006 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in a Children/Youth/Family Special for the same project. He and his wife Hannelore have two children.