Danor Gerald: Mormon Actor
Danor Gerald is an American actor, director, and media production company owner.
Gerald was born in 1973 in Louisiana and raised in rural Fitler, Mississippi by his great-grandmother. He wanted to act since childhood, and remembers an incident in elementary school when he was hit in the midsection with a tennis ball, he crumpled to the ground and noticed the concern on his classmates’ faces. He took advantage of the situation and began writhing in pain—then started laughing and later realized that while acting, he could influence people.
He later attended school in Dallas and earned diving and acting scholarships. He was a springboard diver in high school and college and became the Arkansas Coaches NAIA Diver of the Year in 1993, which put him in the USA Swimming Hall of Fame. He also became a Collegiate All-American that year by placing in the top 15 in the nation for NAIA Division 1.
On the scholarships, he went to Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, where he majored in theater. He left the university after two years, and then attended Southwest Actors Conservatory in Dallas. He was cast in many productions during the 1990s and found it easy to get cast in any show. He received critical acclaim for his performances in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1997), “The Sound and the Fury” (1996), and “The Gingerbread Lady” (1995). He later moved to Utah and finished his bachelor’s degree in digital cinema at Utah Valley University.
His first appearance on television was in 2000 in two episodes of Sheena, a short series shot at Walt Disney World. When he moved back to Texas to attend Southwest Actors Conservatory, he was on a quest to find God and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invited him to meet the missionaries. While he was taught, he expected the missionaries to say something wrong, at which time he would part ways. But instead, he felt that the Church was what he was looking for. He was baptized in 1994 and met his wife, Jarrah Lyn, in a Dallas singles ward. They married in 2000 and have three children and live in Sarasota Springs, Utah.
Gerald has appeared in High School Musical 2, Forever Strong, House of Fears, Believe, and The Cyclist. He made headlines when he was cast as one of the main characters in Saints and Soldiers: The Void, which was released in 2014.
Gerald owns and operates a media production company called Imminent Catharsis Arts and Media. He often takes jobs in film and television production.
He is directing and starring in "Heart of Africa," a movie about Mormon missionaries and the culture clash they experience on that continent.
