Phil Daniels

Philip William Daniels (born 25 October 1958 in Islington, London) is an English actor, musician and singer whose career has spanned more than five decades. He first appeared on screen in the 1972 children's film Anoop and the Elephant and quickly became known for playing gritty, working‑class London characters, a niche he cemented with his iconic turn as Jimmy Cooper in Quadrophenia (1979). Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he mixed film work with television roles such as Scum, Breaking Glass and Meantime, while also developing his musical side in the new‑wave band The Cross, which released an album in 1979. Daniels' distinctive Cockney delivery reached a new audience when he provided spoken vocals on Blur’s 1994 chart‑topping single “Parklife”, a collaboration he would reprise at major festivals and Wembley Stadium in 2023. In addition to his screen achievements, he has performed on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company, taking on Shakespearean parts in The Merchant of Venice, The Jew of Malta and the contemporary adaptation A Clockwork Orange. His versatility extended to voice work, notably as the rat Fetcher in the beloved animated film Chicken Run, and to reality TV, where he competed on Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity MasterChef. A long‑time supporter of Chelsea F.C., Daniels also engaged in charitable causes, running the London Marathon for the Sparks charity in 2008. Over his prolific career he has appeared in over two hundred television episodes, contributed to numerous soundtracks, and continues to act in recent productions such as Inside No. 9 (2023) and House of the Dragon (2022‑2024).