Speaker 1: It's nine O one.
Speaker 2: With Jenny Garth and Tory spelling.
Speaker 3: This is very exciting. We have Greg Daniel. He played
Speaker 3: Dean Whittemore on nine O two and zero. His character
Speaker 3: worked with Chancellor, Arnold and Brandon, and let's bring him
Speaker 3: on in. Hi, Greg, How are you?
Speaker 2: Good morning, ladies? How are you hello?
Speaker 4: You look so handsome. Nice to see you. Where do
Speaker 4: we find you today?
Speaker 5: Where are you upstairs at my office at home in
Speaker 5: LA in Los Angeles? Yes, I'm in New Yorker, but
Speaker 5: I live in Los Angeles and have been for some time.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, which do you like better? New York or La?
Speaker 2: Oh? Why would you go there? Okay?
Speaker 1: I know you can't like.
Speaker 2: I've never been an elitist.
Speaker 6: I never felt like a New York had was superior.
Speaker 6: Because of this, I kind of accept each state for
Speaker 6: what it is. I love a Los Angeles. The first
Speaker 6: thing I did when I got out was suah, I
Speaker 6: got a invertible car because I know I can't I
Speaker 6: wouldn't have one in New York.
Speaker 2: So I got a convertible to learned how to scuba dive.
Speaker 6: So there were all these things I could do out
Speaker 6: here that I wouldn't necessarily have done in New York,
Speaker 6: so I equally loved them both.
Speaker 1: You've taken full advantage of California.
Speaker 2: As I'm continuing to as well.
Speaker 1: That's good. That's good.
Speaker 4: We were talking about you at playing Dean Whitmore, yes,
Speaker 4: and we were just wondering, you know, how you came
Speaker 4: about getting the role and what that was like, Like
Speaker 4: did you have to audition?
Speaker 1: I didn't, you remember?
Speaker 2: I did? I did.
Speaker 6: There was a flurry. In fact, it was a few
Speaker 6: years after I had moved out here, so a few years.
Speaker 6: It hasn't really been thirty years come home.
Speaker 1: Yes, I know sad to say.
Speaker 6: But it's been a little It's been a very fulfilling
Speaker 6: and productive thirty years. But I remember shortly after I
Speaker 6: got out of here, one of the many auditions I
Speaker 6: went on, of course, was nine O two one zero,
Speaker 6: and I was pleased to get it, but also because
Speaker 6: I had a chance to recur. And with the recurring roles,
Speaker 6: I'm sure you like now you get a chance to
Speaker 6: build a characters, not a one off we jump in
Speaker 6: and just say your lines, get out, But with a
Speaker 6: recurring role, you really get to sort of build a character.
Speaker 6: You have an arc or storyline, even if you make
Speaker 6: up for yourself. So I was really pleased it led
Speaker 6: to not just one, but I wound up doing five
Speaker 6: or six episodes, which I was really pleased in that
Speaker 6: character's growth during that time. It was a pretty tumultuous
Speaker 6: time at California University Spring those episodes that I appeared in.
Speaker 2: You know, it was a pretty tumultuous time.
Speaker 3: So when you got the role, did they tell you
Speaker 3: how many episodes it would be?
Speaker 6: No, they just said recurring. They just gave that phrase recurring,
Speaker 6: And of course I just took that to me. Nothing
Speaker 6: absolutely nothing. No, you just miss it and you want
Speaker 6: no You just say okay, fine, great, and you listen
Speaker 6: until you get another call that says, oh they want
Speaker 6: Dean Whitmore to come back, and oh so by the
Speaker 6: second one I knew, okay, so they're sort of developing
Speaker 6: this character. Then I was at home and I could
Speaker 6: focus on it, but you know, I tend to not
Speaker 6: not pay any attention move on to the next audition.
Speaker 2: But I was pleased.
Speaker 6: As I said earlier, I was pleased that I recurred
Speaker 6: in that particular role.
Speaker 4: The show in season five was sort of about the
Speaker 4: peak of the height of its popularity. I guess you
Speaker 4: would say, had you ever watched the show before.
Speaker 1: You came on it?
Speaker 2: I had, I actually had watched.
Speaker 6: So actually, in the episodes I was involved in, I
Speaker 6: was kind of impressed in some of the topics that
Speaker 6: you guys were handling. I mean, one of my favorites
Speaker 6: was I think my first one, hate is just a
Speaker 6: four letter word.
Speaker 2: You may remember it, but.
Speaker 6: It was about an African American minister was invited who
Speaker 6: had anti Semitic views, was invited to the campus to speak,
Speaker 6: and of course it was a huge protest. But it's
Speaker 6: interesting how it mirrors what's happening on the campus today
Speaker 6: with unfortunately the attack the seventh and the war in God.
Speaker 6: But it's really interesting how and I also teach at
Speaker 6: USC School Dramatic Arts, so how the universities now will
Speaker 6: beginning to interpret free speech versus hate speech. I mean,
Speaker 6: it was sort of before its time in anticipating that
Speaker 6: that was an issue, that was a theme that might recur.
Speaker 6: I know another episode was about rape and your possible
Speaker 6: rape tory, if you recall.
Speaker 2: So they were really mature subjects. I thought they were.
Speaker 6: These is not just glossy kind of you know, okay,
Speaker 6: we ate that up. That's the media special for today.
Speaker 2: But there were really.
Speaker 6: Something having topics and handled sensitively. I really particularly that
Speaker 6: first one Hays, just to follow the word. I thought
Speaker 6: the way that hearing the views from each side was
Speaker 6: very balanced, very fair, and very unmature.
Speaker 4: Yeah, surprisingly well done, honestly for such a big topic.
Speaker 2: At that time. Absolutely, so I was really involved. I
Speaker 2: was really pleased about that.
Speaker 3: And did you meet Jason first? Was he the first
Speaker 3: cast member you met?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 6: In fact, I one of the episodes Jason directed. I
Speaker 6: remember he directed one of our episodes, so yes, so
Speaker 6: I kind of had a nice one on one with
Speaker 6: him because I was involved with him more than just
Speaker 6: actor as a actor, but director to actor as well,
Speaker 6: and we took to each other terrific, you know the Canadian.
Speaker 2: To each other, and I enjoyed working with them. I
Speaker 2: was surprised.
Speaker 6: I didn't know that he was actually direct, could direct
Speaker 6: and would direct. But again, working with him in that
Speaker 6: episode that I did was most respect for actors, really
Speaker 6: made it easy, really protected your performance. So I enjoyed,
Speaker 6: and he had a great sense of humor. He just
Speaker 6: had a you know, The Woods was refreshing. Everyone had
Speaker 6: a great.
Speaker 2: A great sense of humor, you know, which made it
Speaker 2: just a pleasure to be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask you. You said you
Speaker 1: teach at U C l A.
Speaker 2: I do I teach you a school of dramatic arts?
Speaker 2: That's correct?
Speaker 4: And do I know I think your students are probably
Speaker 4: too young, but do any of them recognize you?
Speaker 1: From nine to two one oero?
Speaker 2: Now from nine and two one on? What I still?
Speaker 2: Actually so I've done. I was a series regular on True.
Speaker 1: Blood, and I probably more their speed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly. They're like, wow, give mean the remake? No, no, no, no, guys,
Speaker 2: the remake? I know the original.
Speaker 6: And I had a recurring on Insecure for a number
Speaker 6: of all all four four or five season, so you
Speaker 6: know they love that. They get a gas out of there,
Speaker 6: but they go back and look at the credit sometime
Speaker 6: and go you did.
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 6: So I feel trying not to feel too Jurassic like
Speaker 6: a dinosaur, but you did.
Speaker 4: I mean, they must be blown away by your body
Speaker 4: of work. You've word so much. It's probably very inspirational
Speaker 4: for yourself.
Speaker 2: I've been blessed.
Speaker 6: But I always tell them, you know, it's not when
Speaker 6: you get out and doing one series or one feature
Speaker 6: or whatever.
Speaker 2: It's thirty forty years.
Speaker 6: Down the line. Always tell them this. It's the longevity
Speaker 6: of your career that you want to encourage. It's not
Speaker 6: just doing one or two projects. But if you can say,
Speaker 6: twenty thirty years out the line, since you've graduated from
Speaker 6: whatever acting program you may or may not have gone to,
Speaker 6: if you're still working in the industry and doing the
Speaker 6: things you love to do that success.
Speaker 4: What would you say it takes to have that kind
Speaker 4: of longevity in a career variety?
Speaker 6: I mean the ability to do a number of things,
Speaker 6: because I've done multi camera sitcom, I've done single camera episodic,
Speaker 6: I mean veraight comedy, drama. The more verse till you are,
Speaker 6: the more versatile your instrument is, the more you'll get hired.
Speaker 6: It's as simple as that. I mean, if you can
Speaker 6: move in and out of certain genres, I think it's
Speaker 6: the best way to ensure that you're a versatile actor
Speaker 6: and that they'll see that versatility and hire you. I've
Speaker 6: done absolutely everything, everything, and I attribute that to the
Speaker 6: training I had many moons ago. Would also be able
Speaker 6: to apply that on any kind of genre, any whether
Speaker 6: it's procedural, whether it's a sitcom, whether it's a single
Speaker 6: camera episodic. You know, being able to move in and
Speaker 6: out of those genres are really important, I think to
Speaker 6: a career.
Speaker 3: Are you on TikTok yet?
Speaker 2: Yes? Yes, I want to talk. I kind of had
Speaker 2: to be dragged onto ticket. But my daughter was the
Speaker 2: one that it was my publicist, actors. I should have be,
Speaker 2: should be on TikTok. And what's the gas about it
Speaker 2: is that when I do do TikTok, I do a
Speaker 2: little dance routines with my daughter.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 2: Oh I can bust the movie, y'all. I can bust
Speaker 2: the move now, I believe it. I do some. So
Speaker 2: we come up with a little.
Speaker 1: Dan Wait, wait, what's your TikTok handle?
Speaker 2: I think it's Greg Daniel. I think it's to retain
Speaker 2: my name.
Speaker 4: You up.
Speaker 6: She comes over and we work on these little routines,
Speaker 6: just this little I don't know, sixty second routines. But
Speaker 6: it's so much fun to have father and daughter doing that.
Speaker 6: She really is the pleasure while I'm on TikTok.
Speaker 1: She really is that your only daughter?
Speaker 2: Yes it is, Yes it is. And she's not in
Speaker 2: the business.
Speaker 1: How old is she?
Speaker 2: She's twenty five now, thanks for asking. She's twenty five now.
Speaker 2: Oh official Greg Daniel.
Speaker 6: Someone just wrote in and chat official Greg g r
Speaker 6: E double g Daniel. That's there you go.
Speaker 1: That's your TikToker.
Speaker 2: That's my TikTok for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we are going to look you up do and.
Speaker 2: Just be careful now. And everybody can do those moves,
Speaker 2: so be careful now, be careful.
Speaker 1: I don't going to try them.
Speaker 2: It's a lot.
Speaker 6: It's a lot because now she grew up watching a
Speaker 6: lot of the shows, and of course I think I
Speaker 6: did a series of Disney shows kits, and that's when
Speaker 6: I became oh.
Speaker 2: You're an actor? Did anything else? Yeah, I did a
Speaker 2: couple of Disney Kids shows. It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: But that's when she's sort of like, oh, okay, so
Speaker 2: you're a serious actor now, dad.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah, look beyond Disney a few other things.
Speaker 2: But yeah, we have a close, very close relationship.
Speaker 1: Other than TikTok.
Speaker 4: What are you working on these days? We heard you
Speaker 4: have a project coming up, a.
Speaker 6: Number of projects coming Actually I'm proud to say I'm
Speaker 6: in the Joker movie, the next one.
Speaker 1: Then really what do you play?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 6: On the NDA, I think I can say, because the
Speaker 6: trailers out that I'm a music instructor.
Speaker 2: I think I can say that. Please don't get me
Speaker 2: in drop.
Speaker 6: But it was it was a pleasure working with Todd
Speaker 6: Phillips and Gaga.
Speaker 2: Wow, that was a pleasure. That was an absolute delight.
Speaker 6: Tod Phillips and the director is brilliants, really excited. He's
Speaker 6: thinking of what ecosystem and worlds he has within his head.
Speaker 2: I think it's I released in October November.
Speaker 6: But in fact, you'll hear my voice and the trailer
Speaker 6: that just dropped maybe a week or two ago, right
Speaker 6: at the top, you'll.
Speaker 2: Hear my voice and there rating it's and it looks
Speaker 2: so good visually, it looks.
Speaker 6: So exciting if you've had if you've seen the trailer yet,
Speaker 6: it looks when.
Speaker 4: You saw the trailer, were you like, hey, they put
Speaker 4: my voice in the very absolutely?
Speaker 2: No? Absolutely. In fact, it was one of my students.
Speaker 2: Just what you should tell you. It was one of
Speaker 2: my students that said, oh, professor, your voice, that's you.
Speaker 6: You know they dropped the jump and that's your voice, right,
Speaker 6: And I had no idea Honestly, I have no idea
Speaker 6: how they could recognize that that was my voice. So yes,
Speaker 6: I was very please and very surprised.
Speaker 1: I was what else? What else?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 6: I also am a stage director. I'm also a stage director,
Speaker 6: and I have a beautiful play running right now. The
Speaker 6: Appulitzer Prize winning playwright August Wilson. He wrote ten plays
Speaker 6: and we're doing number nine. The title is King Headley
Speaker 6: the Second and it had a Noise Within Theater Company
Speaker 6: in Pasadena.
Speaker 2: Beautiful play. I have a Helo cast Hella.
Speaker 6: Design team and it's been running for the last few
Speaker 6: weeks and we have at least a week left.
Speaker 2: So that was that was one.
Speaker 6: We've committed to doing all ten plays this theater company
Speaker 6: and Noise Within and I. So we're we're moving through
Speaker 6: the cycle of plays they termed the Century cycle, so
Speaker 6: we've been working through them. But that's really and my
Speaker 6: wife is the lead. My wife is n was also
Speaker 6: a very gifted and talented actress, so she's the lead.
Speaker 2: So it's been that's that's been oneerful. That's been really good.
Speaker 1: Have you worked with your wife before on that level?
Speaker 2: A number of times? Yeah, I have. People are say
Speaker 2: have you guys worked together.
Speaker 6: You know, it's kind of a shorthand because we understand
Speaker 6: the world of acting and what the you know, the
Speaker 6: pitfalls as well as the triumphs. So we sort of
Speaker 6: have that kind of sensitivity and understanding about it. So
Speaker 6: it's a it's a pleasure to work with her. It's
Speaker 6: a pleasure to work with her because again we speak
Speaker 6: a common language. We know what those challenges are, and
Speaker 6: we try not to bring it home when we get in.
Speaker 2: We don't talk.
Speaker 6: About so today the character of Ruby did no. We
Speaker 6: try to talk about life stuff. Hey, we do you
Speaker 6: want to go for spring break?
Speaker 2: Hey?
Speaker 6: Where do you want to go for? What do you
Speaker 6: want to have dinner? You heard about that new restaurant
Speaker 6: in Larchmont. So we try not to dwell on it
Speaker 6: when world right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the healthy way too.
Speaker 2: And we've been married twenty eight years.
Speaker 1: Now, So congratulations.
Speaker 2: I think we're doing something right.
Speaker 4: I think so Clearally, you met her after you were
Speaker 4: on nine or two, I know then.
Speaker 2: No believe or not.
Speaker 6: I met her first time I got out here, but
Speaker 6: there was no sparks, no sparks blow.
Speaker 2: I met her casually when I first got out here, and.
Speaker 6: I thought, Okay, she's nice, and then I started to
Speaker 6: see her recurring a few more times, and I thought, wow,
Speaker 6: she's cute.
Speaker 2: She's kind of cute.
Speaker 1: Oh she grew on you.
Speaker 2: She I'd say, probably I grew on.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I was going to ask about she's.
Speaker 2: Honestly, you know, truth be told. I grew on her.
Speaker 6: So then I finally asked her out on a date.
Speaker 6: But it was the first time or two. I was like, no,
Speaker 6: I don't think that. I don't think she's my type.
Speaker 2: I don't think Wow, yeah, I know, I know, Tori.
Speaker 3: It's like you could have almost missed the boat.
Speaker 2: I know. But you know, that's what happens. That's what happens.
Speaker 6: Sometimes you think you know what your type is, you've
Speaker 6: defined it and all that, and then something comes wrong
Speaker 6: and disrupts your thinking. Thank god, your thinking. You're wound,
Speaker 6: And twenty eight years later you go, wow, boy, did
Speaker 6: I meet my princess? So glad we're married.
Speaker 4: Oh gosh, it's so great to touch base with you
Speaker 4: and hear all about what you've been doing. What a
Speaker 4: great life you've had, instill are so much ahead of you,
Speaker 4: what a it's a good success story.
Speaker 2: Well, I've been blessed.
Speaker 6: I said, I've been doing this now up with like
Speaker 6: thirty five forty some years, and I've always had good projects,
Speaker 6: and nine O two being one.
Speaker 2: I went back and looked at a couple episodes.
Speaker 6: By the way, I gotta tell you, it's not only
Speaker 6: was I pressed with the content, but.
Speaker 2: It looked silly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, did you good?
Speaker 2: I look so young then.
Speaker 6: But it was nice to go down memory lane, particularly
Speaker 6: with things again. It was nice to see where I
Speaker 6: was and how I grew. It was it was one
Speaker 6: of those oh my god, no, not at all. I
Speaker 6: really was like, very grateful that. Okay, I see what
Speaker 6: I did. I see where I am now. So Grace extended,
Speaker 6: Grace extended, and Grace accepted.
Speaker 3: Well, we're wrapping up season five right now, and you're
Speaker 3: obviously in season five, but you actually don't come back
Speaker 3: till season seven after this?
Speaker 2: Is that right? Okay? Okay, what happened?
Speaker 4: But I know we were going to ask you.
Speaker 2: I don't know. That's interesting that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll talk to you.
Speaker 3: We'll see it in a year.
Speaker 2: I'm bad.
Speaker 6: But again, the topics that were covered were really weighty,
Speaker 6: they were very mature, and I appreciated that.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. It wasn't fluff.
Speaker 6: But whenever I was involved and I was trying to
Speaker 6: negotihade navigate something with Jason as the head of the
Speaker 6: student Senate, it was an important theme or topic and
Speaker 6: that I can be very I am very.
Speaker 2: Proud of that.
Speaker 1: Yes, I had an impact.
Speaker 6: Absolutely, open conversation, started, conversation, open conversation.
Speaker 4: That's all we can hope for. Well, what a pleasure.
Speaker 2: It's my place. Thank you for having me, Thanks for
Speaker 2: the invitation.
Speaker 3: So much for doing this.
Speaker 2: You both look fantastic. You look, where's the fountain of you?
Speaker 1: Tell me please, it's right here on our podcast.
Speaker 2: Okay, be on it now.
Speaker 3: We're gonna go to your TikTok right now.
Speaker 2: Okay, please watch those moves, so you gotta come on.
Speaker 3: Watch those moves official, Greg Daniel, yep, all over it.
Speaker 2: Make sure you warm up. All I can say is
Speaker 2: make sure you warm up first.
Speaker 1: Okay, got it?
Speaker 2: Okay, Thank you both, perfect than of yourself. God bless bye.
Speaker 3: Thank you,