Danica d'Hondt, a woman of diverse talents and experiences, was born in London, England, to an Irish mother and a Belgian father. As an actress, she initially pursued a career on stage, radio, and television, eventually transitioning to theatre direction, a role that was not readily accepted for women during that time.
Her early start in the entertainment industry began at the tender age of nine, when she appeared in a movie at Shepperton Studios in England. As she grew older, she continued to work in various mediums, including radio, television, and stage, in Canada, where her family relocated while she was still in school. After graduating from High School in Montreal, Danica attended the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and later returned to England to work as a stage actress, also performing in radio and television dramas for the BBC.
In the early 1960s, Danica relocated to Toronto, Canada, where she became a CBC-TV game show personality and a talk show host at an unusually young age, interviewing notable celebrities such as Gwen Verdon and Dizzy Gillespie. She also appeared on television shows in New York City and performed in summer stock theatre in New York and Illinois.
In 1960, Danica starred alongside Harvey Korman in the film "Living Venus," shot in Chicago. Her Hollywood career spanned from 1960 to 1990, during which time she starred in "B" movies, played supporting roles in major Hollywood films, and guest-starred on popular television shows, including "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "The Wild Wild West," and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea."
Interestingly, Danica turned down the role of "Ginger" in the popular television show "Gilligan's Island" in 1964. After leaving Hollywood from 1966 to 1971, she worked as a theatre director in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she also wrote for a magazine, produced educational films, and taught acting at her own school, "The Actor's Lab," on Sacramento Street.
Upon her return to Hollywood in 1971, Danica directed several successful stage productions, worked as a writer and associate producer in film and television, and served as a television journalist, becoming the Consumer and Financial Reporter for a syndicated daytime magazine show called "Breakaway."
In the 1990s, Danica relocated to Northern California and has since been occupied with various business ventures, including real estate investing, which she runs with her husband. She has also been busy as a writer, publishing two non-fiction books and working on several others. After Dan Brown's success, she hopes to attempt a novel.
Throughout her career, Danica has been raising a family of six children and currently resides with her husband on a small farm in the Sierra Foothills, where she writes, teaches, and helps her winemaker husband tend their vineyard. The couple also owns a large restaurant and banquet facility in Placerville, California, named "Sequoia."
