Paul Franklin Dano (; born June 19, 1984) is an American actor. He began his career on Broadway. He won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance for his role in L.I.E. (2001) and gained wider recognition for playing a troubled teenager in Little Miss Sunshine (2006). For playing identical twins in Paul Thomas Anderson's period drama There Will Be Blood (2007), he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Dano had critically acclaimed roles in 12 Years a Slave and Prisoners (both 2013). For his portrayal of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson in Love & Mercy (2014), he earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He played The Riddler in The Batman and a caring father in The Fabelmans (both 2022), receiving a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for the latter.
Dano made his directorial debut with the drama film Wildlife (2018), based on the novel by Richard Ford; he co-wrote its screenplay with his partner, Zoe Kazan. Also in 2018, he starred as a convicted murderer in the Showtime miniseries Escape at Dannemora, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor. Dano has also written the comic book The Riddler: Year One (2022).
Early life
Dano was born in New York City, New York, the son of Gladys (née Pipp), a homemaker, and Paul A. Dano, a financial advisor. He has a younger sister named Sarah. Dano spent the first few years of his childhood in New York City and initially attended the Browning School. While he was a child, Dano's family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, finally settling in Wilton, Connecticut. Dano continued his education at Wilton High School, graduating in 2002, and attended Eugene Lang College in New York City. He was involved in community theater, and while he was performing in New Canaan, his parents were encouraged to take him to New York.
Career
2000s
Dano made his Broadway debut at age twelve in John Tillinger's revival of Inherit the Wind, alongside George C. Scott and Charles Durning. He appeared in an episode of the sitcom Smart Guy and had a minor role in the 2000 family drama The Newcomers. He played the part of Patrick Whalen in several episodes of The Sopranos (season 4).
Dano acted in his first major film role when he was sixteen, playing Howie Blitzer, a teenage boy who becomes involved with a middle-aged ephebophile (Brian Cox) in L.I.E. (2001). He then appeared in the television film Too Young to Be a Dad as a high school student whose life is disrupted when his girlfriend becomes pregnant. He appeared in The Emperor's Club in 2002 as Martin Blythe. In 2004, he played a small role as the young Martin Asher in Taking Lives, with Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke. Additionally, Dano starred in The Girl Next Door, alongside Elisha Cuthbert, Emile Hirsch, and Chris Marquette. In 2005, he played supporting roles in The King and The Ballad of Jack and Rose.
He came to greater attention in 2006, when he played Dwayne, a voluntarily mute teenager as part of an ensemble in the comedic drama Little Miss Sunshine, which received critical acclaim and collective awards for its cast. He also had a supporting role in the 2006 film Fast Food Nation, based on the nonfiction book by Eric Schlosser. Dano had a dual role in the 2007 period film There Will Be Blood, which earned him positive reviews and a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Texas Monthly said that his performance was "so electric that the movie sags whenever he's not around." Peter Travers remarked, "All praise to the baby-faced Dano...for bringing sly cunning and unexpected ferocity to Plainview's most formidable opponent." Rolling Stone magazine included Dano in its Hot List for 2007, calling his performance style "Daniel Day-Lewis + Billy Crudup × Johnny Depp."
Dano appeared in several additional Broadway productions, including A Thousand Clowns at the Roundabout Theatre, and in Ethan Hawke’s directorial debut, Things We Want, during its 2007 Off-Broadway run.
In 2008, he starred in Gigantic, a poorly-reviewed film about a man seeking to adopt a Chinese baby, co-starring Zooey Deschanel. He reunited with Brian Cox in 2009's Good Heart, a low-budget English-language Icelandic film. He provided the voice of one of the creatures in the film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are (2009).
2010s
He played a genius inventor in 2010's Knight and Day, an action thriller starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The same year, he appeared in Meek's Cutoff, a well-reviewed historical drama. In 2011, he had a supporting role in the big-budget science fiction film Cowboys and Aliens.