The son of two California educators, Daniel was born in San Jose,
raised in Watsonville, and finished high school in Merced. He performed
in his first professional play, Soldierboy, at the age of seven at El
Teatro Campesino in San Juan Bautista. He started college at Cal Poly,
San Luis Obispo as a graphic design major, and later graduated from San
Jose State University with a B.A. in Creative Arts before moving to Los
Angeles to pursue a career as an actor. Daniel have been fortunate
enough to stay busy doing plays, primarily for children, as well as
some film and television.
He also works as a theater teacher, giving workshops to public school
students of all ages on acting, play writing, story telling,
improvisation, ensemble work, and classical theatre. He has worked at
schools all over the L.A. area with companies such as East L.A. Classic
Theatre, Cornerstone Theater Co., Theatre Phoenix, Will Geer Theatricum
Botanicum, The Unusual Suspects, and Center Theatre Group.
Daniel has also collaborated with a few talented musicians and singers,
and recorded two tracks as a hip-hop MC. Chacon's rap vocals appear on
"The World Around Me" with Andrew Jaimez and Angelica Cardona and "El
Curandero" with Indio Cabezon (Raul Cardona) and Andrew Jaimez.
Daniel recently earned an M.A. in Theatre Arts at Cal State Los
Angeles. His thesis, entitled "Rapquachi: Chicano/Latino Hip-Hop
Theater in California," parallels the development of Chicano Theater
and Hip-Hop culture as political, collective, and resourceful artistic
movements. The project also contains the first draft of a play he wrote
specifically for California middle and high school students,
"California: HerStory," which fuses California history and rap lyrics.
Collecting and listening to music has always been one of Daniel's
favorite passions, from his (& his parents') old records and cassettes,
to CDs and mp3s of today. He has been writing poetry since he was six
years old and hip-hop culture has always had a huge influence on him
since he was breakdancing and illustrating 3-D letters at his
elementary school in Watsonville, California.
In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife and
twin daughters, family, and friends. His hobbies include hiking, bike
riding, going to the beach, playing sports, drawing, shooting
photography, and traveling, especially to Costa Rica, where he has many
relatives.
Daniel's magnificent mother and father instilled in him the
immeasurable value of education and he hopes to pass that on to his
children and future generations. He affirms, "Material things such as
money, cars, clothes, and jewelry come and go, but no one can ever take
away the knowledge and wisdom one has learned from others." Daniel
enjoys sharing positive energy with other human beings and will
continue to spark the flames of creativity and consciousness by
bringing more edutainment to the public in the near future.
