Daniel Joseph Levy was born 9 August 1983 and is a Canadian actor, writer, director, and producer.
Born in Toronto to parents Eugene Levy and Deborah Divine, he began his career as a television host on MTV Canada. Levy received international prominence and critical acclaim for starring as David Rose in the CBC sitcom Schitt’s Creek (2015–2020), which he also co-created and co-starred in with his father.
Levy attended high school at North Toronto Collegiate Institute and later pursued film production at York University and Ryerson University.
His family celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah. Levy’s father is Jewish and his mother is Protestant; he had a bar mitzvah.
He gained prominence as co-host (with Jessi Cruickshank) of MTV Canada’s The After Show and its various incarnations, such as The Hills: The After Show and The City: Live After Show.
Following The After Show‘s cancellation and Cruickshank’s departure, Levy wrote, produced and starred in his own Christmas Special for MTV, Daniel Levy’s Holi-Do’s & Don’ts; and co-hosted the MTV Movie Awards Red Carpet, the X-Factor pre-show, and national coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics for CTV. Levy left MTV Canada in 2011 after five years with the network.
As an actor, he has appeared in a four-episode story arc of the Canadian TV series Degrassi: The Next Generation, which premiered as a TV movie called Degrassi Goes Hollywood. He also appeared in the 2012 thriller Cyberstalker and in the 2013 comedy-drama film Admission, the latter starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd.
In 2013, Levy formed Not a Real Company Productions (with his father Eugene Levy and principals Andrew Barnsley and Fred Levy). Their first project was a television pilot with CBC, which resulted in Schitt’s Creek. Levy also stars in the series alongside his father, sister Sarah Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Annie Murphy and Chris Elliott.
In July 2017, it was announced that Levy would host The Great Canadian Baking Show with Julia Chan, which had its premiere 1 November on CBC. Levy and Chan returned as hosts for the series’ second season, which premiered in September 2018. In March 2019, Levy announced via Twitter that he and Chan would not be returning as hosts for the series’ third season, citing scheduling conflicts.
In September 2019, it was announced that Levy had signed a three-year deal with ABC Studios to produce and develop scripted content.
In August 2020, Levy enrolled in and began to promote the 12-week self-paced Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), “Indigenous Canada”, hosted by Dr. Tracy Bear (Montreal Lake First Nation) and Dr. Paul Gareau (Métis and French Canadian) of the University of Alberta. Levy also hosted twelve livestream interviews with the course instructors and weekly guest speakers to discuss topics related to each of the twelve course modules. Levy also encouraged followers of and participants in the course to donate to the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Native Studies, the only faculty of its kind in North America, promising to match donations up to $25,000.
In September 2020, Levy starred alongside Bette Midler, Kaitlyn Dever, Sarah Paulson and Issa Rae in the HBO television film Coastal Elites. The project was shot remotely and focused on the lives of five individuals navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
On February 6th, 2021, Levy hosted the episode of Saturday Night Live “Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers” with Grammy nominated musician Phoebe Bridgers as the musical guest.
Also, in 2020, he played the role of John in Happiest Season, an American romantic-comedy drama in which he played a fake heterosexual boyfriend for his best friend Abby, played by Kristen Stewart.
Levy previously avoided labelling his sexual orientation publicly, though in a 2020 interview with Andy Cohen, Levy said that he is gay and has been out since he was 18.
