Daniel Gillies

Daniel Gillies was born in Canada, but brought up largely in New Zealand by his Kiwi parents. He won a Chapman Tripp award after starring in play The God Boy, then got his television break in 2000, playing a newbie lawyer over two seasons of Street Legal. But it was on American TV that Gilles really made his mark. In 2010 he joined hit show The Vampire Diaries as vampire Elijah Mikaelson, which led to a starring role on long-running spin-off The Originals. He was also acting on TV series Saving Hope. He went on to play the villain in Kiwi thriller Coming Home in the Dark. In 2012 Gillies wrote and directed his second feature, Broken Dreams.

Elijah is just as confused as everybody else. His one enormous attribute is that he has a massive threshold for patience because he’s been around for 1000 years. Daniel Gillies on his vampiric role in The Originals, Coup De Main website, October 2014