21: Danny Cannon - Writer/Producer/Director

Danny Cannon grew up in Luton, England and began his career as a theatre actor. While working with a small repertory company, he directed several short films featuring his fellow actors. Acclaimed film director Alan Parker saw Cannon's work and championed the young director (he was just 19) in BBC Showreel, an annually televised competition. After Danny took first prize, Parker persuaded him to enroll at the prestigious National Film and TV School.

In addition to The Young Americans, starring Harvey Keitel and Viggo Mortensen, Danny has also directed Judge Dredd, starring Sylvester Stallone, Phoenix, starring Ray Liotta, Anjelica Huston, and Giovanni Ribisi, and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. Cannon has also directed a number of commercials and music videos.

Film producer Jerry Bruckheimer was impressed with Danny's debut feature film, The Young Americans to the degree that when he made his foray into television and wanted to bring cinema to the small screen, he thought of Cannon.

After Danny directed the pilot for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, he stayed on as a producer and writer, going on to do pilots for both CSI: Miami and CSI: New York. In four years CSI had grown into the most successful television franchise ever and has garnered 3 Emmy and 3 Golden Globe nominations and won 3 People's Choice Awards. 

More recently, Danny co-created TNT's crime drama series starring Dylan McDermott, called Dark Blue. He also directed the pilot episode for Dark Blue. In 2010, Danny joined The CW action series Nikita, as director and executive producer and in 2011, he executive produced and directed the pilot for the FOX crime/mystery Alcatraz. In 2014 Danny was appointed to direct the first episode of the series Gotham and continues to work as an executive producer.