Danny Dyer (born 24 July 1977) is an English actor, currently cast in EastEnders, and the previous chairman of Greenwich Borough, a non-League football team.

Biography

Dyer was born in Canning Town, to Antony and Christine Dyer. He now lives in Debden, Epping Forest, Essex, with his longtime girlfriend, Joanne Mas, their daughters Dani and Sunnie, and son Arty. During March 2015, the couple announced their engagement.

A lifelong player and fan of football, Dyer is a staunch West Ham United fan. In late December 2007, he became the chairman of Kent League's Greenwich Borough in South East London, appointed by fellow actor Tamer Hassan, president of the football club, stating: "I just love football and the chance of being involved with a club is like a dream come true." The appointment was actually a publicity stunt to raise the profile for the club.

Dyer was discovered at a local school by an agent who auditioned him for the part of Martin Fletcher in the Granada Television series Prime Suspect 3 (1993), beginning his acting career at 16.

He also appeared on television in episodes of Cadfael (1994), A Touch of Frost (1995), Loved Up (1995), Thief Takers (1996) and Soldier Soldier (1997). In 1995, Dyer also appeared in a television commercial for Coca-Cola.

His many other television roles include appearances in the 2003 Channel 4 drama Second Generation, directed by John Sen; as Malcolm, main character Michelle's stepfather, in Skins; as a football player in the second series of Hotel Babylon on BBC television; and as Matt Costello in what was supposed to be the pilot episode for Breathless, a BBC two-part television series in development from BBC Northern Ireland, renamed first "Blood Rush" and then Kiss of Death, when it premiered on BBC One as a one-part drama on 26 May 2008.

Beginning in 2007, Dyer became the presenter of The Real Football Factories and The Real Football Factories International, a TV documentary series on Bravo, for which he travels, in the former throughout the United Kingdom and in the latter throughout the world, to meet and interview football club fans and hooligans.
Danny Dyer's Deadliest Men, "a gritty and hard-hitting documentary series that sees him venturing into the dark depths of the British underworld and hunting down some of the most notorious and feared men in Britain today", began airing on Bravo in the United Kingdom on 20 October 2008.

In April 2009, he turned down a role in EastEnders, claiming that although he thought the role sounded good, he did not think he could cope with the pressure.

Dyer was quoted in a May 2011 article in NME as wanting to headbutt film critic Mark Kermode. Kermode has been a regular critic of Dyer's output and often "impersonates" him on his BBC Radio 5 Live show with Simon Mayo.

In 2010, Dyer wrote in Zoo Magazine, in his capacity as an celebrity agony uncle, that a young male reader could get over his recent break-up with a woman by "going on a rampage with the boys" or to "cut your ex's face, and then no one will want her ...". The comment was widely panned in the British media and by members of the public, including the chief executive of the Fawcett Society Ceri Goddard. Dyer for his own part claimed that he was misquoted.




Film
Dyer's first film role was in Human Traffic (1999). His subsequent movie work includes Mel Smith's High Heels and Low Lifes (2001) and starring roles in Borstal Boy (2000), Mean Machine (2002) and in four films by the British film director Nick Love: Goodbye Charlie Bright (2001); The Football Factory (2004); The Business (2005); and Outlaw (2007). Among other film roles, he also appeared as the character Steve in Christopher Smith's Severance (2006); as Hayden in Adulthood (2008); and as himself in the feature documentary Tattoos: A Scarred History. In 2008 he finished filming his roles as Pete and Tom in City Rats and 7 Lives, respectively. April 2009 saw the straight to DVD release of City Rats. Danny has just completed filming Jack Said, a Brit noir thriller in which he played Nathan alongside Ashlie Walker, Terry Stone, David O'Hara and Simon Phillips which was released in November 2009 by Optimum Releasing. This film is the prequel to Jack Says, which was released in 2008 and starred Mike Reid. In 2009 he shot several horror films including Doghouse under the direction of Jake West, Basement under the direction of Asham Kamboj. He played one of the lead roles in the British vampire film Dead Cert. In June 2010 was cast for the lead role in the upcoming remake of the British horror film The Asphyx. Danny has just co-starred with Anna Walton in Deviation, a new British dark thriller written and directed by J. K. Amalou. In 2012 Dyer played the lead role in Ray Cooney's Run For Your Wife. Upon release in 2013 it was savaged by critics, who described it as one of the worst British films of all time. The film took in a mere £747.00 during its opening weekend.


Theatre
Dyer has performed on stage, most notably in two plays written and directed by 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter: as the Waiter in the London première of Celebration (2000), at the Almeida Theatre, which transferred to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, in New York, as part of the Harold Pinter Festival held there in July and August 2001; and as Foster in the revival of No Man's Land (1975), at the Royal National Theatre, in London, during 2001 and 2002. In March 2008 he played Joey in a revival of Pinter's The Homecoming (1964), directed by Michael Attenborough, at the Almeida Theatre, in London. He also performed in Peter Gill's play Certain Young Men (1999) in London.

From 9 September 2009 to 3 October 2009, Danny Dyer appeared as Sid Vicious in a new play called Kurt and Sid in London's West End at the Trafalgar Studios.


Selected other work
Dyer is the voice of Kent Paul in the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004).

He also appears in The Twang's 2007 video for Two Lovers.

I Believe in UFOS: Danny Dyer, a documentary that sees Dyer journey to various "UFO hotspots" in the UK and the US in hope of experiencing a UFO sighting, was broadcast on BBC Three on 26 January 2010.


2012–present
In February 2012, Dyer appeared as a paramedic in an episode of Casualty.

In March 2013, Dyer appeared as a guest on Celebrity Juice.

On 1 October 2013, the BBC announced that Dyer had been cast in EastEnders from Christmas 2013 as Mick Carter, Shirley Carter's brother and would be the new landlord of The Queen Victoria pub.

Dyer appeared in the sixth series of Hollyoaks Later in October 2013 as The White Man.

In 2015, he won the Serial Drama Performance award at the National Television Awards.

Best films