Dan was raised in Denver, Colorado and began his acting career at the age of thirteen. His first production was Our Hearts Were Young and Gay where he played a larcenous French dance instructor. In his pre-teens, Dan studied piano and tap dancing at the behest of his mother, who wanted him to become cultured. Continuing through high school and college he played soccer and developed a passion for forensics, focusing on speech and debate, along with an occasional play, like The Merchant of Venice in his sophomore year.

He attended Colorado University-Denver and graduated from CU-Boulder with a degree in Communication & Theater.

Dan came to professional acting when he began studying with Brian Cutler at The Commercial Actors Studio in Kansas City, Missouri. Although he originally was seeking entry in the competitive voiceover marketplace, Brian introduced Dan to acting for the camera using an acting process that was developed by Charles E. Conrad whom Brian studied with in Los Angeles for almost 10 years. This process, taught by Charles to hundreds of actors including Carl Weathers, Dee Wallace Stone, Dennis Quaid, Steve Eastin, Rita Wilson, and Veronica Hamel, to name a few, is considered by many to be the most effective acting process in film today. Brian established the Commercial Actors Studio in 1994 and continues his teaching today in Los Angeles at Brian Cutler Actors Studio- actorsstudio.com.

Dan has become the local voice of the Price Chopper stores, being heard in nearly a thousand radio and television commercials since 2010. He has also been seen in a dozen feature and short films, playing roles as diverse as government agent, high school teacher, various detective roles, and even the paraplegic con-man in A Light Opera. Dan continues to work at both a local and national level in both acting and voiceover, including film, commercials, and corporate and commercial videos.

Ten years of studying under Brian eventually led Dan to teaching the Studio's voiceover class and occasionally filling in for Brian in the On-Camera Acting classes. When Brian relocated to Los Angeles in 2013, Dan picked up the mantle and continues the Commercial Actors Studio tradition.