Danny's Career Danny has worked in theatre and in television but he says theatre is where his heart is. He has played a lot of Shakespeare, at the National, the Globe and the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre. His physique has given him opportunities to play tough-guy roles such as the sergeant in the SAS television drama Ultimate Force with Ross Kemp. In His Dark Materials he plays Iorek Byrnison, the deposed king of the fearsome armoured bears. His experience in Shakespeare’s Roman plays has, he says, ‘equipped me to play Iorek Byrnison who is the ultimate warrior’. Like his fellow cast member Cecilia Noble, Danny learned a lot about the theatre and was encouraged to develop his skills at WAC, the Performing Arts and Media College now based in Hampstead Town Hall. He then moved on to full-time training at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London where he learned acting, mime, and singing (‘the most memorable part of my training’). He graduated in 1992 and has rarely been out of work since. |  | |