Director and Producer
Daniel Cormack was born in Lewisham, south east London and was educated at Thomas Tallis Comprehensive School in Kidbrooke. As a Photosensitive Epileptic, he was unable to watch television as a child and his ambition to be a film director was born out of regular and avid cinema-going from a young age.
In 1999, he became the first person in his family to attend university and the only person in his school to attend Oxford when we was accepted to read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University. After receiving a Distinction in his end of year examinations, he was elected to an Academic Scholarship.
Daniel graduated in 2002 and worked at the British Film Institute London Film Festival that year. He then went on to work at the Electric Cinema and Members Club in Notting Hill. In July 2004, he established Actaeon Films to produce feature-length theatrical motion pictures. Daniel's directorial debut - Amelia and Michael (2007)– starring Anthony Head (Buffy / Little Britain) won the Tiscali Short Film Award for Best Debut at the 15th Raindance Film Festival and was shortlisted for a BAFTA Award for Best Short Film and a British Independent Film Award for Best British Short. The film went on to screen at numerous international film festivals including the 31st Montreal World Film Festival, and the 11th LA Shorts Fest. Hotdog concluded: "on this evidence, Daniel Cormack is a young director to watch" and Shooting People said: "Great performances, beautifully shot and a real sense of cinema. Daniel Cormack appears to be breaking all the rules without breaking sweat or showing off."
Daniel's second short film A Fitting Tribute (2007) starring Sally Bretton (The Office / Green Wing) won a UK Film Council Completion Fund Award, a nationwide flagship scheme to support the best unfinished short films and entrepreneurial talent and was also shortlisted for a BAFTA Award for Best Short Film. The film has screened at prestigious international festivals including Edinburgh, Palm Springs and Warsaw and was described by Time Out as "gripping...a shower of creativity and originality" with "a unique quality to touch and captivate...a little gem that twinkles with artistic imagination."
In 2007, Daniel made his broadcast and documentary debut with the 30min authored documentary for Channel 4 Make Me a Tory (2007), following his journey as a disillusioned Labour voter going to meet young Conservatives and Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Time Out called the film "a worthwhile and interesting piece about the future Conservatism."
Having completed another short film, Nightwalking (2008), starring Raquel Cassidy (Teachers / Lead Balloon), Daniel's work was the subject of a 'Director's Showcase' at the BFI Southbank as part of the X'08 Festival. Broadcast, the trade paper for the television and radio industries, named Daniel a Hotshot (one of the most promising talents under 30 years of age) in the directing category and movieScope profiled him in their "One to Watch" column.