Danny McCarthy is a native of St. Louis, Missouri, who began his professional acting career in Chicago after attending the Webster Conservatory. He initially gained recognition for his recurring role as Special Agent Hale in the FOX series Prison Break and for his featured role in AT&T's commercial "Dropped Call - The Butcher," which received several prestigious awards. He also appeared as "The Brattender" in Johnsonville Brats' long-running advertising campaign, earning multiple Effie Awards.
As his career progressed, Danny took on key roles in numerous films, including the 2024 Sundance breakout hit Good One, The Exorcist: Believer, The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs, Stronger, Elvis & Nixon, Killing Kennedy, The Drop, The Express, Fred Claus, Derailed, Proof, Flags of Our Fathers, Stranger Than Fiction, The Amityville Horror, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
In television, Danny has had recurring roles on CBS' Elsbeth, Elementary, and Blue Bloods, HBO's Somebody Somewhere and Boardwalk Empire, ABC's Betrayal, Boss for Starz, and MTV's Unemployed, as well as guest spots on Instinct, The Chicago Code, Chicago Fire, Detroit 1-8-7, and ER.
Danny is a longtime company member at Chicago's acclaimed A Red Orchid Theatre, where he has performed in numerous productions. His Broadway credits include the Tony-nominated The Minutes, Aaron Sorkin's To Kill A Mockingbird, The Iceman Cometh, and Grace. Off-Broadway, he has appeared in Annie Baker's The Antipodes, The Open House, and the world premiere of Kill Floor at Lincoln Center.
In regional theater, Danny has performed in The Minutes, The Flick, Middletown, The Pillowman, Take Me Out, and The Water Engine at Steppenwolf Theatre, A Streetcar Named Desire at Writer's Theater of Glencoe, and Circle Mirror Transformation at The Repertory Theater of St. Louis, earning a Kevin Kline Award nomination for Best Actor.