Biography

Daniel J. Nyiri, executive, film maker and educator, was born in London, the son of Hungarian playwright János Nyíri. His grandfathers were the screenwriter Tibor Nyíri and the actor Christopher Quest. He is the father of composer Jesse Nyiri. Nyiri is a graduate of Bristol University, the ACTT Trainee Program, the NSCTP and the London Film School.

Having worked in various capacities on more than 20 feature films in the UK, Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia, Nyiri became a professional director and joined the Directors Guild. Nyiri's 35mm dramatic short Six Minutes with Ludwig (1988) starred Helena Bonham Carter, Lucy Hornak and Niall Buggy. Six Minutes with Ludwig (1988) was selected for several film festivals and broadcast by Z Channel in the USA. Nyiri wrote and directed the film, and went on to direct television commercials with producers Madeleine Sanderson and Lewis More O'Ferrall for Phoenix Films in London. Nyiri later worked with Haskell Wexler and Vilmos Zsigmond at Cinematic Directions. He is also the director of several documentaries and television specials.

Moving to Los Angeles in 1989 his company, Daniel Nyiri & Associates, produced featurettes and marketing materials for major studio and independent productions, notably Robert Mulligan's The Man in the Moon (1991), Gary Sinise's Of Mice and Men (1992), Louis Malle's Damage (1992), Gus Van Sant's Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993), Andrew Davis's The Fugitive (1993), Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995), Rob Reiner's Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), and Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers (1997). Nyiri has also served on the board of directors of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Los Angeles) as membership chair (1995-1997), and as vice-chair of the Directors Guild of Great Britain (1997-2000).

Nyiri is currently a freelance producer and screenwriting consultant, based in Los Angeles. He has been teaching film production, screenwriting and media arts since 2002, at Los Angeles City College, Valley College, Pierce College and Mission College. He has also founded film and digital media academies at several high schools and ran the award-winning film academy at CHAMPS, the Charter High School for the Arts (Multimedia and Performing) from 2011 to 2013. He was the regional director of California's Economic and Workforce Development Initiative's LA MEDiA educational collaborative, from 2005 to 2009. Since 2009 he has served for Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown as statewide director of the California Media Arts CTE Program, funded in part by the Chancellor's Office, California Community Colleges and the Governor's Career Technical Education Initiative (SB 70/1133).
- IMDb mini biography by: Daniel Nyiri & Associates