Daniel Quinn is from Milwaukee, where his father Roger worked for Pabst Brewing Company as a sales manager and his mother Rosemary owned and operated an employment agency. He was raised in Wisconsin with his two older sisters, Kathleen and Colleen. He began performing at the age of eight, appearing as Kurt in The Sound of Music. That same year he formed his first garage band, on drums. At the age of 10 he appeared as Winthrop in The Music Man and started marching in a drum and bugle corps, eventually joining the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps from La Crosse, Wisconsin. He also appeared in commercials, starring as the "Big Boy" for the hamburger chain's local franchise, Marc's Big Boy. The stage was set. Part of the Quinn family owned dairy farms outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin, where Daniel spent many days as a child. He began riding horses at the age of 6, sparking his lifelong passion for horses - Daniel would make good use of his equestrian skills later in his acting career, as he has starred in four western film productions. At 17, he became a member of the International Thespian Society and traveled to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. While in Europe, he also studied at the Royal Shakespeare Company school at Stratford-upon-Avon. Returning from London, Daniel appeared in several regional productions, including The King and I, Carousel, and a local production of West Side Story. During that production he met and fell in love with a ballet dancer in the Milwaukee Ballet. Daniel began to dance classically. With his musical background and his passion for dance as a firm foundation, he soon joined the Milwaukee Ballet Company, performing a season of The Nutcracker. At the age of 19, he became deeply immersed in the strict discipline of classical dance. Daniel then moved to New York City to pursue his artistic dreams, making a brief stop on scholarship with the Harkness School of Ballet where he was mentored by ballet master David Howard. He was then accepted on scholarship into the New York City Ballet's School of American Ballet at Juilliard and while in the school, was honored to have George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins choreograph original pieces on him. As an apprentice, for two years he danced selected pieces with the New York City Ballet Company. During that time, Daniel was seen by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, and asked to dance as a soloist for one season in the Joffrey ll Ballet Company. The main Joffrey Ballet Company was disbanded during that time. In 1980, Jerome Robbins revived the Broadway production of West Side Story. Daniel returned to his roots in musical theater, making his Broadway debut at the Minskoff Theatre. Daniel starred in the role of Gee-tar, with the Big Deal understudy. Quickly, Daniel moved into the role of Big Deal with the Riff understudy, and then go on as Riff. Two weeks after West Side Story closed, Daniel booked Robert Moore's Broadway production of Woman of the Year with Lauren Bacall and Harry Guardino at the Palace Theatre, opening in the original cast ensemble. During the show's run, he was asked to perform the role of Riff in the European Broadway tour of West Side Story. He toured four months throughout Italy and Monte Carlo, ending up in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet for a sold out nine month run. He then returned to the U. S. and back into Woman of the Year, where he assumed the role of Alexi Petrokov.
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