Daniel Breaker

 ( 1980 Births ) 

Daniel Breaker (born June 2, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Donkey in the original cast of Shrek the Musical. His other Broadway theatre credits include principal roles in Hamilton, Hadestown, Once Upon a Mattress, and The Book of Mormon.

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Career Beginning his career in 2002, immediately after graduating from Juilliard, Breaker has performed in Off-Broadway, London, and United States regional theatre productions. He performed in five plays at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C. His first major role was the Youth, protagonist of the Off-Broadway premiere of Passing Strange, for which he won an Obie Award in 2008. He was then nominated for a Tony Awards for the show's Broadway transfer, in which he again played the Youth; he also played this role in Spike Lee's filmed version of the musical.

One of his most recognizable roles was Donkey in the original Broadway production of Shrek the Musical, which ran from November 2008 through January 2010. He starred alongside long-time Broadway stars Brian d'Arcy James, Sutton Foster, John Tartaglia, and Christopher Sieber. For his portrayal, Breaker earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. His voice can be heard on the original cast recording of the show.

He has also appeared in the plays Well and Cymbeline. In 2009, he co-hosted the .

Breaker previously played Mafala Hatimbi in The Book of Mormon on Broadway. He also appeared as the King of Navarre in The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of the Love's Labour's Lost musical. He played Aaron Burr in Hamilton in Chicago and joined the musical's Broadway cast.

Breaker has also been a guest star on TV. Since 2021, he has been part of the supporting cast of the Peacock show Girls5Eva. Breaker starred as the Jester alongside his former Shrek the Musical co-star Sutton Foster in the 2024 Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress. On January 9, 2025, it was announced that Breaker would take over the role of Hermes in the Broadway production of Hadestown starting February 18.

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Personal life Breaker has been married to theatre director Kate Whoriskey since 2008. They have two children.

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Stage credits

2003	Pericles	Pericles	Red Bull Theater
2004	Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine	Agent Duva/Flow/Dealer/Addict #2/Ensemble	Playwrights Horizons	Off-Broadway
2005	The Tempest	Ariel	Shakespeare Theatre Company
2006	Well	Jim and others	Longacre Theatre	Broadway theatre
2007	Passing Strange	Youth	The Public Theater	Off-Broadway
2007–2008	Cymbeline	Gentleman	Lincoln Center Theatre	Broadway theatre
2008	Passing Strange	Youth	Belasco Theatre	Broadway theatre
2008–2010	Shrek the Musical	Donkey	Broadway Theatre	Broadway theatre
2011	By the Way, Meet Vera Stark	Leroy Barksdale/Herb Forrester	Second Stage Theater	Off-Broadway
2012	The Performers	Lee	Longacre Theatre	Broadway theatre
2013	Love's Labour's Lost	King Ferdinand of Navarre	Delacorte Theater
2014–2017	The Book of Mormon	Mafala Hatimbi	Eugene O'Neill Theatre	Broadway theatre
2017	Hamilton	Aaron Burr	PrivateBank Theatre
2017–2020			Richard Rodgers Theatre	Broadway theatre
2024	Judgment Day	Father Michael	Chicago Shakespeare Theater
	Once Upon a Mattress	The Jester	Hudson Theatre	Broadway theatre
2024–2025			Ahmanson Theatre	Los Angeles
2025	Hadestown	Hermes	Walter Kerr Theatre	Broadway theatre

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Filmography

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Film

2011	Limitless	Campaign Manager
2012	Red Hook Summer	Cliff
2013	He's Way More Famous Than You	EMT
	Shrek the Musical	Donkey
2015	Sisters	Airport Bartender

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Television

2002		Zach	Episode: "The Pilgrim"
2009	Great Performances	Youth	Episode: "Passing Strange"
2011	Unforgettable	Mark	Episode: "Lost Things"
2014	Submissions Only	Dean Klausen	5 episodes
2014–2016	Mozart in the Jungle	Virgil	16 episodes
2017–2018	Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt	Agent Dunleavy	2 episodes
2020	Helpsters	Artist Andrew	Episode: "Camper Cortez/Artist Andrew & Detective Dudley"
2020–2023	Billions	Roger 'Scooter' Dunbar	34 episodes
2021–2024	Girls5eva	Scott	12 episodes
2022	The Good Fight	Randy Elkin	5 episodes

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External links

Categories: 1980 Births, 21st-century American Comedians, 21st-century African-american Male Actors, 21st-century American Male Actors, American Male Comedians, American Male Film Actors, American Male Musical Theatre Actors, American Male Stage Actors, American Male Television Actors, Living People, Male Actors From Kansas, People From Manhattan, Kansas, Theatre World Award Winners, 20th-century African-american Male Singers, 20th-century American Male Singers, 20th-century American Singers, 21st-century African-american People, Comedians From Kansas

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