Dan's journey in play fighting began at a young age, inspired by his favorite films and TV shows such as Star Wars, James Bond, Batman, Hercules, Xena, and WWE. As he grew older, he pursued various forms of martial arts training, including fencing, martial arts, re-enactment fighting, and archery.
During his teenage years and early twenties, Dan was a member of the Air Training Corps (ATC),where he learned to shoot rifles, fly planes and gliders, and perform military drill and combat maneuvers. He also trained in historical European martial arts (HEMA),boxing, kickboxing, fencing, and archery.
Dan's passion for stage combat led him to choreograph his first fight in his GSCE drama practical performance exam at high school in 1998. He continued to develop his skills in media production and drama at college, choreographing fights for productions and even shooting his own fight scenes with friends on weekends.
Initially, Dan chose to pursue a career in acting, continuing his combat training and combining it with stage combat training at the British Academy of Dramatic Combat (BADC). He achieved the highest grades and went on to take a two-year stage and screen combat teaching apprenticeship, becoming a Master teacher for the BADC.
Dan's early acting work provided opportunities for action/fight roles, often doing his own choreography. He progressed to coordinating fights and action, performing on blockbuster sets, and working as a fight or special action performer for films such as 'Snow White and the Huntsman', 'Thor: The Dark World', and 'Kingsman'.
Eventually, Dan decided to focus entirely on fight and stunt coordination, working in various genres, particularly action and gangster films. He even collaborated with WWE studios on a couple of occasions.
Dan's most notable work is 'Avengement', starring Scott Adkins and directed by Jesse V Johnson, which was nominated for a Taurus World Stunt Award in 2020 in the Best Fight category. The climactic bar fight is over four minutes long and has been praised as "the most realistic looking vicious and brutal fighting", "some of the most unforgiving fight choreography that you will ever see", "some of the most devastating action set pieces ever captured on film", and "sets the bar for any future pub brawls committed to film".
