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LOS ANGELES – AUG 10: Gillies arriving to CW Premiere Party on August 10, 2011 in Burbank, CA, DFree/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Daniel J. Gillies
Place of Birth: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Date of Birth: March 14, 1976
Ethnicity: English, Scottish, Irish, Northern Irish, French
Daniel Gillies is a New Zealand-Canadian actor, film producer, director, and screenwriter. He played Elijah Mikaelson on the series The Vampire Diaries and its spin-off The Originals , and also had roles on the show Saving Hope and in the film Spider-Man 2 . He wrote, directed, and starred in the film Broken Kingdom .
Daniel was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to parents from New Zealand. When he was five, his parents decided to return to their native country, and the family lived in Invercargill and then Hamilton. His father is a pediatrician. His mother is a nurse. When embarking on an acting career, Daniel lived in Australia, Canada, and then Los Angeles, California. He has two children with his former wife, American actress Rachael Leigh Cook .
Daniel’s great-great-great-grandparents were renowned otolaryngologist Sir Harold Gillies (Harold Delf Gillies), known as the “father of modern plastic surgery,” and his wife Kathleen Margaret Jackson. Sir Harold was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, the son of politician Robert Gillies, who was a Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Bruce, from 1884 to 1885. Robert was born in Rothesay, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, the son of John Gillies, who was a lawyer and Otago Provincial Council member; and of Isabella Lillie.
Daniel’s maternal grandfather was Leonard George McNeill (the son of Robert Henry McNeill and Nellie Edith Brickland). Leonard was born in Taihape, Rangitikei, New Zealand. Robert was born in Akaroa, Canterbury, New Zealand, the son of John McNeill, who was from Antrim, Ireland; and of Melinda Jane Hoskins, who was from Hungerford, West Berkshire, England. Daniel’s great-grandmother Nellie was born in Little River, Christchurch, Canterbury, the daughter of Henry Charles Brickland, who was born in Chester, England; and of Helena Florence Le Prou, whose parents were French, her father from St Samson-sur-Risle, Eure, Upper Normandy, and her mother from Échillais, Charente-maritime, Poitou-Charentes.
Daniel’s maternal grandmother was Judith Eleanor Boon (the daughter of Douglas Elmsly Boon and Olive Zoe Wastney). Judith was born in Nelson, New Zealand. Douglas was born in Upper Collingwood Street, Nelson, the son of James Boon, whose parents were English, his father from Somerset, and his mother from Yorkshire; and of Elizabeth Simpson Elmsly, who was from Aberdeen, Scotland. Daniel’s great-grandmother Olive was the daughter of George Edmund Wastney and Emily Louise Alborough.
Source: Genealogy of Daniel Gillies – https://www.geni.com