On this page we'll tell you a few things about Daniel that most of his family and friends know, and perhaps a few they don't. If you never knew Daniel, you might want to listen to Reverend Lynn DeVerges recite his Eulogy on the Memorial Page first but, for the initiated, read on:
About Daniel Kaplan
He was a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
Thanks to our friend, Susannah Blinkoff, Daniel got an interview with a prominent Casting Director and got put in several commercials almost right away. He did shoots for Burger King, Porsche and Office Depot, but it was the campaign he filmed for Lending Tree.com that turned out to be quite a bonanza. Even though he was only in the background, when Lending Tree decided to reuse the footage for a new campaign, they had to renegotiate with all the actors they had filmed and the agents took them straight to the cleaners. After a while, though, the long drives to auditions was something he grew tired of and decided to take a break. We always thought he might change his mind down the road and start acting again. This is a clip of a TV pilot Daniel shot for Robert Richter, Will's former boss and a very dear friend of the family. It is essential viewing.
He had just celebrated two years of dating Tori Montenegro. They had a deep and special relationship. Less than a month before he died, they taped a video called "The Boyfriend Test". Here are some pieces and outtakes that show the gentle, sweet and funny nature of the time they spent together. Fair warning, it contains some of his trademark sense of humor and the occasional curse word.
Daniel was the 5th grade California statewide winner in an essay contest. It was a contest, sponsored by the state, to promote agricultural education in the classroom. Like most kids, Daniel enjoyed comic books and chose to write his theme in the form of a script for a comic. The judges were apparently impressed and Daniel, along with the other winners from 3rd to 8th grade went up to Sacramento to be honored and receive awards from the CA Secretary of Agriculture. Part of the program was to have local high school students in Sacramento produce videos of the kids' essays. Here is Daniel's, "The Adventures of Compost Man". Judy Culbertson, the Executive Director of the program still remembers Daniel and said his piece remains "one of the most creative ever". We'll always be grateful to his teacher, Ms. Sherri Downer for making it possible.
He spent a few minutes talking to Jack Black. Not long after his trip to Sacramento, Daniel was riding in the car with his father on a Saturday night when the producer of Nacho Libre, Jack Black, called. Will was the music editor on the movie and Jack wanted to go over a couple of things. Daniel was truly excited that Jack was on the phone but got even more so when Jack asked about Daniel and the contest trip. Will asked Jack if it would be OK if Daniel told him, himself, and he said sure. They talked for a while and Jack invited Daniel to visit him at the cutting room, which he did. It was one of his favorite memories. He also got to meet the cast and tour the set of "Scrubs", one of his favorite shows at the time thanks to Will's old assistant, Anna Wilborn.
Aside from his parents, the same two people were the first to see him, and the last. Bill Bernstein (Daniel's dad's friend since childhood) and his wife, Marianne, are close family friends. They were the first to see Daniel in the hospital after he was born on March 31st, 1995. On the night of Dec 1st, 2012, they were over at Daniel's house and got to give him a hug before he left for the evening. Their support in the crash's aftermath has been a godsend for his parents.
Kind of a weird thing happened about 6 weeks after he passed away. His father was setting a clock radio in Daniel's room that had become unplugged. It was late morning and, after he realized he didn't know what time it actually was, he went into another room to look at his phone for the correct time. While he was out of the room, he heard the clock beep, like it had been set. Returning to the room, he discovered the clock had changed time to read 11:11. Looking at his phone, Will saw that it, too, read 11:11. Several blocks away, walking the family dog, Daniel's mom, Connie, had a random urge to see what time it was and, pulling out her phone, saw that it was 11:11. They discussed this with Reverend Lynne who told them many fascinating things about the significance of that particular time of day. When we began researching what she had said. lo and behold, it turns out there is an 11:11 phenomenon. And many believe it is a spiritual digital code to let us know they are with us. A time when the gates to heaven open and spirit guides come to us. (Whether one believes everything that's written about that, we can say with total truth that all during 2012, Rev Lynne had told us she was being sent a message that Daniel's pain would end in early December.) You can find out more about Rev. Lynne and the Center of Light Miracles at http://www.centeroflightmiracles.org.
Daniel spent some time as a Hockey Player. Since he was a fan of rollerblading, it seemed natural that, if he was forced to play a team sport (which he was), it would be Hockey. It combined going fast on skates with hitting things with a stick, plus a lot of cool gear to strap on. Unfortunately, a mishap on rollerblades took him out of action for the season and he lost the zeal but, for awhile there, he was hell on ice.
He was born in the shape of a "V" (frank breech) and was colicky, to boot. He settled in his mom, Connie's stomach butt down and stubbornly remained that way, despite several attempts to get him head down. When he was delivered by C section, he remained in the V position for the better part of the day before his legs relaxed. He also took to having fits of Colic in the first four weeks of his life. Will, his dad, would get the late shift and walk him around for hours until they both collapsed on the couch. One night, Daniel rolled off Will and fell on the floor, letting out a sleepy yelp. Will panicked and called the hospital but soon found out babies are indeed made of rubber. He spent years afraid to tell Connie about it.
Daniel practiced karate from the age of 4 until 12. He finished his studies having achieved a brown belt. When he was little like so many other kids he loved the tv show Power Rangers. He always wanted to be a ninja! As fate would have it we got the chance to meet the actor, Jason David Frank, who played the white power ranger on the show. He had just opened a Karate Dojo in Santa Clarita and invited us to come to a class for Daniel and see how he liked it. How could we not?! One of his friends joined us and from that day on we drove up there 3 days a week for years. He worked hard and continued his practice as he got older at two other Dojos where he entered competitions and won awards in his use of karate weapons…swords, escrima sticks, kama and nunchucks. Learning this ancient art of self-defense served him well throughout his life. He became quite the ninja! Sadly Jason David Frank passed away in 2022. We like to think of them together again, flipping and kicking through the universe.