--- name: "Daniel Lapaine" canonical: "https://film.one/person/daniel-lapaine" fi1m_id: "daniel-lapaine" imdb_id: "nm0487406" tmdb_id: 3072 wikidata_id: "Q369113" roles: ["Actor"] born: "15 June 1971" reviewed_on_fi1m: 6 average_fi1m_score: 76 average_as: "actor" average_over: 6 updated: "2026-10-07T19:43:16.990329+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Daniel Lapaine ## Identity Daniel Lapaine - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/daniel-lapaine - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** daniel-lapaine - **IMDb ID:** nm0487406 - **TMDB ID:** 3072 - **Wikidata ID:** Q369113 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lapaine, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q369113, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0487406/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3072 Actor. Born 15 June 1971 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 15 June 1971, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia - **Active:** 1994–present - **Also known as:** Daniel LaPaine - **Average Fi1m score:** 76, as actor, over 6 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 81 (1), 2010s 82 (3), 2020s 64 (2) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 76 to 75 across 6 titles - **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 0 of 3 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 5, Comedy 3, Family 1, Mystery 1, Romance 1, Thriller 1 - **Screen time:** 4 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $148m across 2 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lapaine, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q369113, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0487406/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3072 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Catastrophe*](https://film.one/tv/catastrophe-2015.md) (86), [*The Marlow Murder Club*](https://film.one/tv/the-marlow-murder-club.md) (60) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Daniel Lapaine > Daniel Lapaine has spent three decades as the good-looking man at the edge of other people's stories, charming, sure of himself and not quite to be trusted. He is dependable in that spot, and the parts have seldom asked him for more. Watch him walk into a scene. Daniel Lapaine plays men who arrive already certain of their welcome: the friend who says what nobody else at the table will, the confident stranger whose ease is the first thing you notice and the second thing you start to wonder about. Casting directors have used that face and that manner for thirty years, in Australian, English and American accents, and he has never let them down. He has also rarely been asked to do anything else. It began with *Muriel's Wedding* (1994), P.J. Hogan's comedy about loneliness in a Queensland town, where Lapaine played David Van Arkle and became, for a while, a face and not much more. The film's success brought early Hollywood supporting parts, *Brokedown Palace* (1999) among them, and a reputation as the handsome one that he has said made it hard to be offered anything darker. He moved to London and built the career he actually has: stage work, period drama and a great deal of ensemble television. He has been in *Black Mirror* twice, in 'The Entire History of You' (2011) and as Dr Pete Dawson in 'Black Museum' (2017), and he was a station chief in Kathryn Bigelow's *Zero Dark Thirty* (2012). Most British viewers know him as Dave in *Catastrophe* (2015–2019), across all four series, and the part shows both sides of the coin. Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney write everyone in their own quick, filthy rhythm, and Lapaine speaks it as well as anyone in the cast. But Dave is the friend who exists to say the unsayable and very little else. We laughed at him often and could not, at the end of an episode, have told you one thing he wanted. That is a writing problem before it is an acting one; Mark Bonnar's Chris, in the same show, was given an interior life and Bonnar ran with it, which tells you what *Catastrophe* could do for a supporting man when it chose to. So the record is honest and a little frustrating. Lapaine is the actor you hire when a character must be believed in one scene and not thought about in the next, and there is real skill in that, even if it is not the kind that puts a name above the title. His reputation rests on supporting and recurring work rather than on leads, and the dossier of his career suggests he knows it. He once said he got into acting "to do different things and not just be that guy." He has done a great many different things. What he has not yet been handed is a part that lets an audience find out what sits under all that confidence. If a director ever gives him one, we would like to see what he does with it. ## Biography Daniel Lapaine is an Australian actor who works in film, television and theatre. He graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney in 1992 and made his feature film debut as David Van Arkle in *Muriel's Wedding* (1994). He is based in London and has appeared in films including *54* (1998), *Brokedown Palace* (1999), *Last Chance Harvey* (2008), *Zero Dark Thirty* (2012) and *Jack the Giant Slayer* (2013). Television credits include *Black Mirror* (2011 and 2017), *Catastrophe* (2015–2019), *The Durrells* (2017) and *Upright* (2019–2022). Lapaine also works as a writer and director. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (6) - *The Marlow Murder Club* (2024), Fi1m 60, as Elliot Howard — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-marlow-murder-club.md) - *A Spy Among Friends* (2022), Fi1m 68, as Donald Maclean — [page](https://film.one/tv/a-spy-among-friends.md) - *The Durrells* (2016), Fi1m 80, as Hugh Jarvis — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-durrells.md) - *Catastrophe* (2015), Fi1m 86, as Dave — [page](https://film.one/tv/catastrophe-2015.md) - *Zero Dark Thirty* (2012), Fi1m 80, as Tim - Station Chief — [page](https://film.one/film/zero-dark-thirty.md) - *Muriel's Wedding* (1994), Fi1m 81, as David Van Arckle — [page](https://film.one/film/muriels-wedding.md) ## Complete filmography (52) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *National Theatre at Home: Summerfolk* (2026), as Yakov Petrovich Shalimov - *Wild Cherry* (2025), series, as Daniel Frederick - *The Marlow Murder Club* (2024), series, as Elliot Howard — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-marlow-murder-club.md) - *Queen of Oz* (2023), series, as Freddie - *A Spy Among Friends* (2022), series, as Donald Maclean — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/tv/a-spy-among-friends.md) - *She Will* (2022), as Keith - *McDonald & Dodds* (2020), series, as Brad Coleman - *Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears* (2020), as Lord 'Lofty' Lofthouse - *Van der Valk* (2020), series, as Paul Oosterhuis - *Upright* (2019), series, as Toby Flynn - *My Husband's Double Life* (2018), as Fletcher - *The Merchant of Venice - Live at Shakespeare's Globe* (2016), as Bassanio - *The Durrells* (2016), series, as Hugh Jarvis — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-durrells.md) - *Critical* (2015), series, as Mr. Henry Doughty - *Catastrophe* (2015), series, as Dave — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/catastrophe-2015.md) - *Gozo* (2015), as Riley - *Dead in Tombstone* (2013), as Sheriff Bob Massey - *Jack the Giant Slayer* (2013), as Jack's Dad - *Zero Dark Thirty* (2012), as Tim - Station Chief — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/zero-dark-thirty.md) - *Black Mirror* (2011), series, as Max, Dawson — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/black-mirror.md) - *Death in Paradise* (2011), series, as Paul Bevans - *Vera* (2011), series, as Michael Morgan — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/vera.md) - *All My Sons* (2011), as George Deever - *Vexed* (2010), series, as Bob - *Shanghai* (2010), as Ted (uncredited) - *Moonshot* (2009), as Neil Armstrong - *Last Chance Harvey* (2008), as Scott Wright - *Love Live Long* (2008), as Darren - *Sex, the City and Me* (2007), as Patrick Turner - *Lewis* (2007), series, as Kit Renton - *The Good Housekeeping Guide* (2006), series, Actor - *48 Shades* (2006), Director, Screenplay - *Jane Hall* (2006), series, as Richard Lomas - *Collusion* (2003), as Darren Headway - *Helen of Troy* (2003), series, as Hector of Troy - *Ritual* (2002), as Wesley Claybourne - *The Abduction Club* (2002), as Garrett Byrne - *Waking the Dead* (2001), series, as Samuel Knight - *The Journeyman* (2001), as Journeyman - *The 10th Kingdom* (2000), series, as Prince Wendell - *Double Jeopardy* (1999), as Handsome Internet Expert - *Elephant Juice* (1999), as Will - *Brokedown Palace* (1999), as Nick Parks - *Say You’ll Be Mine* (1999), as Josh - *54* (1998), as Marc the Doorman - *Dangerous Beauty* (1998), as Serafino Franco - *Polish Wedding* (1998), as Ziggy - *1999* (1997), as Thierry - *Bordertown* (1995), series, as Nazi - *Muriel's Wedding* (1994), as David Van Arckle — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/muriels-wedding.md) - *The Feds* (1993), series, as Tony Waterman - *Agatha Christie's Poirot* (1989), series, as Tim Allerton — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/agatha-christies-poirot.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/daniel-lapaine