Daniel Mays (born 31 March 1978) is an English actor.
Born in Epping, Essex, the third of four boys, Mays was brought up in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, by his electrician father and bank cashier mother. He attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts before going on to win a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
Mays graduated from RADA in 2000. Mike Leigh cast him in both All or Nothing and Vera Drake and Mays has said that working with Leigh was decisive in making him the kind of actor he wanted to be. "You leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of truthful, believable characters." In 2005 he was cast in the BBC drama Rehab and in 2008 played the role of Michael Myshkin in Channel 4's adaptation of David Peace's Red Riding trilogy.

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