Danny Strong was born and raised in Manhattan Beach, a little borough south of Los Angeles. He attended the University of Southern California, where he majored in Theater. During his tenure there, he was awarded the James Pendelton Award for Acting and was a finalist for the prestigious Irene Ryan Award given by the Kennedy Center. Upon graduation, he immediately started working as an actor and was awarded a fellowship from the USC School of Theater to teach acting during the summer session (at twenty-two, he's the youngest person to ever receive this honor). Named by Variety as one of their "Top Ten Screenwriters to Watch" of 2007, his debut script, "Recount", was voted number one on the Hollywood Blacklist for 2007. The film aired on HBO in 2008 with an all-star cast and was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "the best political thriller since All the President's Men (1976)". It garnered 11 Emmy nominations (including Best Writing), 5 Golden Globe nominations and won the Emmy for Best TV Movie. Strong also received the Writers Guild of America Award for the script.As an actor, he has an impressive resume, with extensive credits in film, television and theater, that includes classic movies and TV shows, like Pleasantville (1998), Seabiscuit (2003), Seinfeld (1989), Nip/Tuck (2003) and 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996). He is best-known for the five years he played "Jonathan Levinson" on the landmark television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), for which he was named "One of the Top Ten Scene Stealers on Television" by the San Francisco Chronicle. He is also widely recognized for his four seasons as "Doyle McMaster" on the beloved WB show, Gilmore Girls (2000). Show less «