Daniel Monks is an Australian actor and screenwriter.
Contents
Early life
Monks was born in Perth, Western Australia, to actress and casting director Annie Murtagh-Monks, who was a graduate of Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), and performed her one-woman show, From Here to Maternity while seven months pregnant with Monk. As a child, Monks adapted and performed in school productions of several musicals, including Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland.
At the age of 11, Monks was found to have a benign tumour on his cervical spinal cord. After undergoing the biopsy, medical negligence resulted in complications, including temporarily quadriplegia. It took six months for Monks to regain full function in his left side and partial function in his right leg, but his right arm remained paralysed. His tumour however, was successfully removed by Australian neurosurgeon Charlie Teo.
Monks subsequently gave up acting, assuming it would no longer be a feasible career path. He instead pursued the idea of filmmaking during his high school years, after which he went on to study at Sydney's Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and Perth’s PAC Screen Workshops.
Career
Monk began his career making short films, many of which have screened at film festivals around the world, including Palm Springs International ShortFest. His shorts have also received several awards and honours. He was awarded the Young Filmmaker of the Year at the 2014 WA Screen Awards.
At the age of 23, Monks resumed his interest in acting once more. He wrote, starred in and produced 2017 drama feature film Pulse, based on his own life. That same year, he was a finalist for the 2017 Heath Ledger Scholarship. His performance in Pulse saw him nominated for the 2018 AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He was also nominated for the 2018 Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Play for his performance in the 2017 Malthouse Theatre presentation of The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man.
After venturing to London in 2018 when Pulse was invited to screen at BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, Monks signed an agent and relocated there a few months later, to further his career. He made his West End debut the following year, playing the lead in Teenage Dick, a modern reimagining of Shakespeare’s Richard III, at the Donmar Warehouse. In 2020, he won Best Performer in a Play at The Stage Debut Awards for his performance. Monks went on to perform in a contemporary take on Chekhov's The Seagull, playing Konstantin, opposite Game of Thrones's Emilia Clarke.
In August 2024, it was announced that Monks had been cast as Ser Manfred Dondarrion in the upcoming series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The series premiered in 2026.
In 2025, Monks played Brian Irvine in the mystery thriller miniseries All Her Fault, and made his Royal Shakespeare Company debut as Orsino in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The following year, he appeared as Jamie Lawson in BBC One drama miniseries Waiting for the Out.
Monks is also a dancer, having begun with the Catalyst Dance Masterclass Series in 2013. He was a recipient of the 2014 Amplify your Art grant, which led to him being professional trained by Philip Channells / Dance Integrated.
Personal life
Due to a medical misadventure he experienced as a child, Monks has hemiplegia of the right side to this day. His right arm is totally paralysed and his right leg has only partial function.
Monks is openly gay.