Dan was born in San Diego, California, but grew up in the Midwest. He attended High School at Colonel White High School for the Performing Arts, in Dayton, Ohio, where he studied music, visual art, theater, and film. Dan studied with the Oscar-nominated filmmaker Steven Bognar, learning the fundamentals of film production, and acting with Paul James Vasquez, who would go on to collaborate with Dan on several early efforts.Dan was a prodigious Jazz guitarist from a very young age, and began a professional music career in his mid-teens. After graduating high school, Dan won a performance scholarship to University of North Texas. Dan lived in Denton, Texas for nearly seven years, performing and teaching, until he relocated to New York City in 2001, performing as a sideman, as well as his own original work, which combined modern improvised Jazz, and scored monologues that he performed on stage and in studio.By 2005, having completed several novel manuscripts and screenplays, Dan transitioned to film. He founded Insurgent Pictures in 2006, after completing his first feature, Jail City.Dan continues to work as a writer, producer, director, actor, and voiceover artist, in the New York area.