Daniel Bernard Sweeney was born on November 14, 1961 in Shoreham, Long Island, New York. He got his start in the New York theatre with appearances in dozens of productions including a run on Broadway in "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial". He was selected by Francis Ford Coppola to star in the Vietnam era drama Gardens of Stone (1987). This began a string of performances including Shoeless Joe Jackson in Eight Men Out (1988), Dish Boggett in Lonesome Dove (1989), Travis Walton in Fire in the Sky (1993), and as Doug Dorsey the hockey player turned figure skater in the classic romantic comedy The Cutting Edge (1992). His television work includes Strange Luck (1995), C-16: FBI (1997) and Harsh Realm (1999) with appearances in Jericho (2006), Crash (2008), The Event (2010), and the Emmy-winning Miss Rose White (1992). He recently migrated to the other side of the camera to produce, direct and co-write the cult film Two Tickets to Paradise (2006) which won over a dozen awards at major film festivals.