# Danny Hoch

Daniel Hoch (born November 23, 1970) is an American actor, writer, director, and performance artist. He has acted in larger roles in independent and art house movies and had a few small roles in mainstream Hollywood films, with increasing exposure as in 2007's We Own the Night. He is also known for his one-man shows.

## Theatre

Two of his three one-man shows, Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop and Some People, were published together in 1998. In both pieces, he explores the multicultural (and multilingual) New York where he grew up, providing adept monologues in the languages of the people, Cuban Spanish, Dominican Spanish (Nuyorican), Jamaican Patois, or Trinidadian English.
A prevailing theme in Hoch's work, within its spectrum of unification and deep similarities under superficial differences, is the power of hip hop. Naive or street-wise White youth believing or dreaming that they are Black, African-American kids dreaming of making it as a rapper, a Cuban street vendor's love of Snoop Dogg.
Some People followed his first endeavor, Pot Melting, and was broadcast on HBO in the mid-1990s, which granted Hoch more national exposure, allowing him to tour more cities to greater crowds. Hoch founded the Hip-Hop Theater Festival in 2000. Together, his three plays have won many awards, including two Obie Awards, a Sundance Writers Fellowship, and the CalArts' Alpert Awards in the Arts in Theatre. In 2010, he won a fellow award granted by United States Artists.
In 2008, Hoch's solo show Taking Over addresses the issue of social imbalance as viewed by people who are pushed out by gentrification in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
In late 2011 to early 2012, Hoch appeared in Ethan Coen's one-act play "Talking Cure" presented as part of Relatively Speaking.

## Appearances in other media

Like the subject of most of Hoch's monologues, his writings often examine topics in hip hop, race, and class, and he has been published in The Village Voice, The New York Times, Harper's, and The Nation.
He has been featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, in addition to his Some People being broadcast on that station. The film version of Hoch's Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop was released in 2000.
Hoch was cast in a guest role on a 1995 episode of Seinfeld, (season seven, "The Pool Guy"), but he objected to what he felt was ethnic stereotyping in the way his Hispanic character was written, so tried to convince Jerry Seinfeld to change things. Hoch was eventually recast with another actor.
Hoch appeared in Spike Lee's film Bamboozled as Timmi Hilnigger, a parody of Tommy Hilfiger, who proudly sells overpriced designer clothing to African Americans, claiming, "We keep it so real, we even give you the bullet holes", and advising viewers to "stay broke, never get out of the ghetto, and continue to contribute to my multimillion-dollar corporation."
He is also known for writing Whiteboyz, a limited-released 1999 film directed by Marc Levin, in which Hoch also stars with Mark Webber and Dash Mihok as three White Iowa teenagers who long for a gangsta rap life. The film also stars Piper Perabo and Eugene Byrd, and rappers as luminous as Snoop Doggy Dogg, Big Pun, Fat Joe, dead prez, Slick Rick, and Doug E. Fresh.
Hoch appeared on Robert Small's MTV Unplugged spoken-word series.

## Personal life

Hoch, who is Jewish, grew up in Queens.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1996 | Sureshot | | |
| 1997 | Subway Stories | Edward (segment "Honey-Getter") | Made-for-television movie |
| 1997 | His and Hers | Lenny | |
| 1998 | The Thin Red Line | Pvt. Hugo Carni | Directed by Terrence Malick |
| 1999 | Whiteboyz | Flip | Also writer |
| 2000 | Jails, Hospitals, & Hip-Hop | | Writer, director |
| 2000 | Bamboozled | Timmi Hillnigger | Directed by Spike Lee |
| 2001 | Black Hawk Down | SPC Dominick Pilla | Directed by Ridley Scott |
| 2001 | Prison Song | Harris | |
| 2001 | 3 A.M. | Father | |
| 2002 | Washington Heights | Mickey | Award-winning independent film |
| 2003 | American Splendor | Marty | Also starring Paul Giamatti |
| 2003 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Kracker | Television series; episode "Soulless" |
| 2003 | The Other Shoe | Abraham | |
| 2003–2004 | Def Poetry Jam | Himself | Two episodes |
| 2005 | War of the Worlds | Cop | Directed by Steven Spielberg |
| 2005 | Bam Bam and Celeste | Neo-Nazi | |
| 2006 | Wyclef Jean in America | | Television series; writer |
| 2007 | We Own the Night | Louis "Jumbo" Falsetti | |
| 2007 | Lucky You | Bobby Basketball | |
| 2007 | Blackbird | Pinchback | |
| 2009 | Taking Chance | TSA Agent | |
| 2010 | Blue Bloods | Billy Leo | Television series; episode "Officer Down" |
| 2010 | Henry's Crime | Joe | |
| 2011 | Violet & Daisy | Man #4 | |
| 2011 | Nurse Jackie | Mr. Digby | Television series; episode "...Deaf Blind Tumor Pee-Test" |
| 2012 | Safe | Julius Barkow | |
| 2012 | Ted | Donny's Father | Uncredited |
| 2014 | The Knick | Bunky Collier | Television series; five episodes |
| 2016 | Gotham | Pharmacist | Television series; episode "Mr. Freeze" |
| 2016 | Exposed | Detective Joey Cullen | |
| 2016 | Wolves | Sean | |
| 2016 | Barry | Eddie | |
| 2017–2019 | She's Gotta Have It | Dean "Onyx" Haggen | 3 episodes |
| 2018 | Maniac | Alexander | Miniseries; 9 episodes |
| 2018 | BlacKkKlansman | Agent Y | |
| 2019 | Goldie | Frank | |