Early life

One of four boys, Mays was raised in Buckhurst Hill

Buckhurst Hill

Buckhurst Hill is an affluent suburban town in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. Located adjacent to the northern boundary of Greater London, it forms part of the Greater London Urban Area.- Overview :...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, by his electrician father and bank cashier mother. He attended the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts before going on to win a place at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...

.

Career

After graduating from RADA in 2000, Mays soon started appearing in a number of supporting roles ranging from a bit part in the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 soap opera EastEnders

EastEnders

EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

in 2000 to playing a pilot in Jerry Bruckheimer's

Jerry Bruckheimer

Jerome Leon "Jerry" Bruckheimer is an American film and television producer. He has achieved great success in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. His best known television series are CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, Eleventh Hour, Without a Trace, Cold Case, The...

 big-budget Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor (film)

Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...

(2001). He was cast in the Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh

Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...

 film All or Nothing (2002) as Jason, a thug who abused his girlfriend, and also appeared in Leigh's next project, Vera Drake

Vera Drake

Vera Drake is a 2004 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, telling the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions...

(2004), in which he played Sid, the protagonist's son. His performances for Leigh resulted in further offers of work.

One of Mays's most notable early roles was in the improvised BBC drama Rehab. Directed by acclaimed film maker Antonia Bird

Antonia Bird

Antonia Bird is an English television drama and feature film director.-Life and career:Bird was born in London. She began her career at the Royal Court Theatre before moving to television in the mid 1980s, directing episodes of EastEnders , Casualty , and drama serials like Thin Air and The Men's...

, Rehab was a drama about life inside a drug rehabilitation

Drug rehabilitation

Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...

 facility. He starred as Adam, a young heroin addict released from prison and sent directly to rehab. For his performance Mays was awarded the Best Actor award at the Palmare-Reims Television Festival in 2003.

Mays has continued to work regularly, and has appeared in a variety of productions, which have included a part in Johnny Vaughan's

Johnny Vaughan

Jonathan Randall Vaughan is an English broadcaster and journalist. Vaughan has become well known as a television and radio personality and has also built a reputation as a film critic. He co-presented Capital Breakfast alongside Lisa Snowdon on 95.8 Capital FM between 2004 and 2011...

 sitcom, Top Buzzer

Top Buzzer

Top Buzzer was a British sitcom written by Johnny Vaughan, styled as television's first ever "dope opera". It was shown on MTV in 2004 and later repeated on Five. It was released on DVD on 24 October 2005. It revolves around two small-time cannabis dealers, Lee and Sticky , and their customers...

(2004); the lead role of Carter Krantz in BBC Three's

BBC Three

BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

 Funland

Funland

Funland is a comedy / thriller serial, produced by the BBC that was first screened from Sunday 23 October 2005 to Monday 7 November 2005 , on the digital channel BBC Three...

(2005); as well as film appearances in Atonement

Atonement (film)

Atonement is a 2007 British romantic suspense war film directed by Joe Wright. It is a film adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan. It was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006...

(2007), White Girl

White Girl

White Girl is a 2008, BAFTA Award-winning BBC film produced by Abi Morgan, made as part of the BBC's White Season and portrays a white family who move from an area of Leeds that has predominantly White British inhabitants to an area of Bradford composed of inhabitants of South Asian heritage.The...

(2008) and The Bank Job

The Bank Job

The Bank Job is a 2008 British crime film written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, directed by Roger Donaldson, and starring Jason Statham, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery in central London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered...

(2008).

Mays starred in Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's Friday-night comedy-of-errors

Comedy of errors

A comedy of errors is a narrative work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone, in which the action usually features a series of comic instances of mistaken identity, and which typically culminates in a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.-Satire and farce:A slight variation of...

 sitcom Plus One

Plus One (TV series)

Plus One is a British sitcom written and created by Tim Allsop & Stewart Williams and made by Kudos for Channel 4. A pilot was originally transmitted in 2007 as part of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase, while a full series of 5 episodes began transmitting in January 2009;The programme centres itself...

, in which he played Rob Black, the perennial victim of Sod's law

Sod's law

Sod's law is a name for the axiom "Anything that can go wrong, will". "Toast will always land butter side down" is often given as an example of Sod's law in action...

 whose girlfriend has dumped him to marry "Duncan

Duncan James

Duncan Matthew James Inglis is an English singer, actor and television presenter. He is best known as a member of the boyband Blue.-Early life:...

 from Blue". He played the role of Michael Myshkin in Channel 4's adaptation of David Peace

David Peace

David Peace is an English author. Known for his novels GB84, The Damned Utd, and Red Riding Quartet, Peace was named one of the Best of Young British Novelists by Granta in their 2003 list...

's Red Riding

Red Riding

Red Riding is a television adaptation of English author David Peace's Red Riding Quartet. Published between 1999 and 2002, the quartet comprises the novels Nineteen Seventy-Four , Nineteen Seventy-Seven , Nineteen Eighty and Nineteen Eighty-Three...

trilogy. He also appears in the third and final series of Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes (TV series)

Ashes to Ashes is a British science fiction and police procedural drama television series, serving as the sequel to Life on Mars.The series began airing on BBC One in February 2008. A second series began broadcasting in April 2009...

on BBC1 as Discipline and Complaints Officer, DCI Jim Keats.

In addition to his TV and film work, Mays has also starred in six stage plays at London's Royal Court Theatre

Royal Court Theatre

The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

. The productions have included Ladybird, Motortown, The Winterling and Scarborough. Simon Stephens wrote the lead role of Danny in Motortown with Mays in mind. He went on to win critical acclaim for his performance, but the hard-hitting play was too much for some audience members and walkouts were not uncommon.

Projects in 2009 included Hippie Hippie Shake (as '60s alternative figurehead David Widgery, alongside Cillian Murphy

Cillian Murphy

Cillian Murphy is an Irish film and theatre actor. He is often noted by critics for his chameleonic performances in diverse roles and distinctive blue eyes and general sex appeal....

 and Sienna Miller

Sienna Miller

Sienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer, best known for her roles in Layer Cake, Alfie, Factory Girl, The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2007, the London Film Criticsnamed her British Actress of the Year for Interview...

); a role opposite Anna Friel

Anna Friel

Anna Louise Friel is an English actress. She rose to fame in the UK as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap Brookside.-Early life:...

 in the third series of Jimmy McGovern's

Jimmy McGovern

Jimmy McGovern is a BAFTA award-winning English television scriptwriter from Liverpool.-Early career:McGovern started his career working on Channel 4's soap opera Brookside in 1982, tackling many social issues such as unemployment.-Successes:...

 The Street

The Street (TV series)

The Street is a British television drama series created by Jimmy McGovern and produced by Granada Television for the BBC. The series follows the lives of various residents of an unnamed street in Manchester and features an all-star cast including Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent, Jane Horrocks, Bob...

; a "mark" in the BBC drama serial Hustle; as well as an appearance in the independent British movie Shifty

Shifty (film)

Shifty is a British urban thriller, from writer/director Eran Creevy. Set on the outskirts of London, it follows themes of friendship and loyalty over the course of 24 hours in the life of a young drug dealer, the charismatic "Shifty", who is based on the original Shifty from...

, co-starring Riz Ahmed

Riz Ahmed

Rizwan Ahmed , also known as Riz Ahmed, the Rizmeister General, or Riz MC, is a British MC, musician and actor. He is noted for his lead performances in The Road to Guantanamo, Shifty, Britz, and Four Lions.-Ethnic background:Ahmed is a British Pakistani...

, for which he received a nomination for best supporting actor at the British Independent Film Awards

British Independent Film Awards

The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...

.

More recently, Mays has starred as Eddie O'Grady in the 2010 film Made in Dagenham

Made in Dagenham

Made in Dagenham is a 2010 British film directed by Nigel Cole. The film stars Sally Hawkins, Miranda Richardson, Rosamund Pike and Jaime Winstone. It dramatises the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 that aimed for equal pay for women...

.

Mays appears in the new BBC sci-fi series Outcasts

Outcasts (TV series)

Outcasts is an eight-part 2011 British television science-fiction drama serial, starring Liam Cunningham, Hermione Norris, Amy Manson, Daniel Mays, Jamie Bamber, Eric Mabius and Ashley Walters. It originally aired on BBC One, and BBC HD.-Plot:...

, which started on 7 February 2011, as PAS Officer Cass Cromwell, and in the ninth episode of the 6th series of Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

, entitled "Night Terrors

Night Terrors (Doctor Who)

"Night Terrors" is the ninth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and was first broadcast on BBC One and BBC America on 3 September 2011.-Synopsis:...

," broadcast on BBC One on 3 September 2011.

Future work

Also expected in 2010 are roles in No One Gets Off in This Town and a supporting role in the Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

 film The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.

Personal life

Mays has a young son, Mylo Burton-Mays, and lives in Crouch End

Crouch End

Crouch End is an area of north London, in the London Borough of Haringey.- Location :Crouch End is in a valley between Harringay to the east, Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green to the north, Finsbury Park and Archway to the south and Highgate to the west...

, North London

North London

North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...

. A keen football fan, he is a supporter of Leyton Orient Football Club.

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2001	Skin Deep	Flashback youth	Short film
	Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor (film) Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...	Pilot #3
2002	All or Nothing	Jason
2004	Vera Drake Vera Drake Vera Drake is a 2004 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, telling the story of a working-class woman in London in 1950 who performs illegal abortions...	Sid
2005	The Secret Life of Words The Secret Life of Words The Secret Life of Words is a 2005 Spanish film, directed by Isabel Coixet and starring Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins. The film was released on December 15, 2006 and grossed a worldwide total of $6,410,058.-Plot:...	Martin
	The Best Man The Best Man (2005) The Best Man is a comedy film starring Stuart Townsend, Amy Smart, Seth Green and Kate Ashfield. It was directed by Stefan Schwartz from a script by Schwartz and Ed Roe.- Plot :Childhood friends Olly Pickering and Murray go their separate ways Olly goes to university...	Pool Guy
2006	Middletown	Jim Hunter
	A Good Year A Good Year A Good Year is a 2006 British romantic comedy film, set in London and Provence. It was directed by Ridley Scott, with an international cast including Russell Crowe, Marion Cotillard, Didier Bourdon, Abbie Cornish and Albert Finney...	Bert the Doorman
2007	Atonement Atonement (film) Atonement is a 2007 British romantic suspense war film directed by Joe Wright. It is a film adaptation of the 2001 novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. The film stars James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, and Saoirse Ronan. It was produced by Working Title Films and filmed throughout the summer of 2006...	Tommy Nettle
2008	The Bank Job The Bank Job The Bank Job is a 2008 British crime film written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, directed by Roger Donaldson, and starring Jason Statham, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery in central London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered...	Dave Shilling
	Shifty Shifty (film) Shifty is a British urban thriller, from writer/director Eran Creevy. Set on the outskirts of London, it follows themes of friendship and loyalty over the course of 24 hours in the life of a young drug dealer, the charismatic "Shifty", who is based on the original Shifty from...	Chris
	Bitter	Unknown	Short film
2009	Mr. Nobody Mr. Nobody (film) Mr. Nobody is a 2009 Belgian science fiction drama film directed by Jaco Van Dormael, starring Jared Leto, Diane Kruger, Linh Dan Pham, Sarah Polley, Natasha Little, Rhys Ifans and Daniel Mays. This movie tells the life story of Nemo Nobody, the last mortal on Earth. Nemo is 118 years old and lives...	Young journalist
	The Firm The Firm (2009 film) The Firm is a British 2009 drama film based around Football hooliganism written and directed by Nick Love. The film is a remake of the original 1988 version.-Adaptation:...	Yeti
2010	Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang is a 2010 family film. It is a sequel to the 2005 film Nanny McPhee. It was adapted by Emma Thompson from Christianna Brand's Nurse Matilda books...	Blenkinsop
	Hippie Hippie Shake	Widgery	Awaiting release
	Made in Dagenham Made in Dagenham Made in Dagenham is a 2010 British film directed by Nigel Cole. The film stars Sally Hawkins, Miranda Richardson, Rosamund Pike and Jaime Winstone. It dramatises the Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 that aimed for equal pay for women...	Eddie
	No One Gets Off in This Town
2011	The Adventures of Tintin	Allan

Television

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1995	Fist of Fun	Patrick Murphy	Episode 2.5-2.6
2000	EastEnders EastEnders EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...	Kevin	Two episodes
2001	In Deep	Dave Street	Episode 1.5: "Ghost Squad: Part 1"
	The Bill The Bill The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...	Warren Debdale	Episode 17.46: "Temptation"
2002	Manchild	Mechanic	Episode 1.1: "Fiftysomething"
	NCS Manhunt	Danny Bird	Episodes 1.1 and 1.6
	Dead Casual	Unknown	TV film
	Tipping the Velvet Tipping the Velvet (TV serial) Tipping the Velvet is a 2002 BBC television drama serial based on the bestselling debut novel by Sarah Waters of the same name. It originally screened in three episodes on BBC Two and was produced for the BBC by the independent production company Sally Head Productions...	Jimmy Burns	TV serial
2003	Rehab	Adam	TV film
2004	Top Buzzer Top Buzzer Top Buzzer was a British sitcom written by Johnny Vaughan, styled as television's first ever "dope opera". It was shown on MTV in 2004 and later repeated on Five. It was released on DVD on 24 October 2005. It revolves around two small-time cannabis dealers, Lee and Sticky , and their customers...	Carlton	Appeared in ten episodes
	Keen Eddie Keen Eddie Keen Eddie is an American action, comedy-drama television series that aired in 2003 on the Fox Network. The series follows a brash NYPD detective who goes to London when one of his cases goes sour and remains to work with New Scotland Yard...	Ronnie Wiggensey Jr.	Episode 1.8: "Sticky Fingers"
2005	Beneath the Skin	Moz Burnside	TV film
	Class of '76 Class Of '76 Class of '76 is a British drama screened on ITV in October 2005, written by John Ireland and directed by Ashley Pearce. Starring Robert Carlyle as an investigating police officer DI Tom Monroe, who investigates the mysterious deaths over a period of years of classmates from a school in 1976....	DS Steven Grant
	Funland Funland Funland is a comedy / thriller serial, produced by the BBC that was first screened from Sunday 23 October 2005 to Monday 7 November 2005 , on the digital channel BBC Three...	Carter Krantz	Appeared in all 11 episodes
2007	Consent	Steve
	Saddam's Tribe	Uday	TV film
	Half Broken Things	Michael	TV film
2008	White Girl White Girl White Girl is a 2008, BAFTA Award-winning BBC film produced by Abi Morgan, made as part of the BBC's White Season and portrays a white family who move from an area of Leeds that has predominantly White British inhabitants to an area of Bradford composed of inhabitants of South Asian heritage.The...	Steve	TV film
	Consuming Passion Consuming Passion Consuming Passion is a 2008 British drama which features three interwoven stories celebrating the centenary of the publishing house Mills and Boon. Each of the stories concerns a central female character who is somehow connected with the publisher. It was shown for the first time on BBC Four at...	Charles Boon	TV film
2009	Plus One Plus One (TV series) Plus One is a British sitcom written and created by Tim Allsop & Stewart Williams and made by Kudos for Channel 4. A pilot was originally transmitted in 2007 as part of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase, while a full series of 5 episodes began transmitting in January 2009;The programme centres itself...	Rob Black	Appeared in all five episodes
	Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983	Michael Myshkin
	The Street The Street (TV series) The Street is a British television drama series created by Jimmy McGovern and produced by Granada Television for the BBC. The series follows the lives of various residents of an unnamed street in Manchester and features an all-star cast including Timothy Spall, Jim Broadbent, Jane Horrocks, Bob...	Mark	Episode 3.2
2010	Hustle Hustle (TV series) Hustle is a British television drama series made by Kudos Film and Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. Created by Tony Jordan and first broadcast in 2004, the series follows a group of con artists who specialise in "long cons" – extended deceptions which require greater commitment, but...	Mervyn Lloyd	Episode 6.5: "Conned Out of Luck"
	Ashes to Ashes Ashes to Ashes (TV series) Ashes to Ashes is a British science fiction and police procedural drama television series, serving as the sequel to Life on Mars.The series began airing on BBC One in February 2008. A second series began broadcasting in April 2009...	Jim Keats	Appeared in eight episodes
	Outcasts Outcasts (TV series) Outcasts is an eight-part 2011 British television science-fiction drama serial, starring Liam Cunningham, Hermione Norris, Amy Manson, Daniel Mays, Jamie Bamber, Eric Mabius and Ashley Walters. It originally aired on BBC One, and BBC HD.-Plot:...	Cass Cromwell	Feb 2011
2011	Doctor Who Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...	Alex	Series 6 Episode 9: "Night Terrors"
	Treasure Island Treasure Island Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...	Doctor Livesey	2x 120 min Drama, expected Dec 2011

External links

• Daniel Mays: Curtis Brown, profile at Mays's agency
• Daniel Mays Online, an unofficial fansite