Little Big Man: Danny Strong

Things you never knew about Gilmore Girls's Doyle/Buffy's Jonathan.

At 5'2", Danny Strong could definitely be considered small. He's known for playing smaller roles, like Doyle McMaster from Gilmore Girls and Jonathan Levinson from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And if he's got any kind of fan base at all, it's so small even Google can't locate it. But Danny Strong is a lot bigger than you'd think.

School wise, Strong attended the University of Southern California, where he majored in theater. He was given several awards, including, after he graduated, the USC School of Theater fellowship. According to IMDb, he was one of its youngest recipients.

However, the majority of you reading this would probably agree that where an actor graduated from isn't super interesting. Unless he majored in rocket science at Princeton, it's not usually mind blowing material. So Strong's bigness will have to be proved another way.

As far as acting resumes go, his is packed with bit parts in major TV shows. Alongside his roles in Gilmore Girls and Buffy, he's played repeating characters in Mad Men and the Clueless series. He's appeared on How I Met Your Mother. Grey's Anatomy, Seinfeld, and 3rd Rock. He's voiced characters for animated children's shows like Hey Arnold! and Johnny Bravo. It seems like he's done a tiny bit of everything. How does one person get so many iconic names on his list? He must have an amazing agent...

Still not convinced? Okay, okay, okay. Time for the big guns.

Danny Strong looking cool for the big reveal.

You see, acting isn't Danny Strong's only talent. He's one of the three screenwriters for Mockingjay Parts I and II.

Uh-huh. For real. Take a minute to digest that.

Yes, Danny Strong is an exceptional screenwriter. His first script to become a movie was the made for TV political drama Recount that aired on HBO in 2008. The movie, featuring an all star cast and receiving 11 Emmy and 5 Golden Globe nominations, was about the 2000 presidential election and the vote recount in Florida. Strong's script won a Writers Guild of America Award and topped the 2007 Hollywood Blacklist.

Before you just skim over that last award, the 2007 Hollywood Blacklist was compiled of the "suggestions of over 150 film executives and high level assistants," to quote the list itself. Each voter turned in a list of their 10 favorite scripts written that year, and Strong's Recount made the top 10 list of more of those powerful Hollywood people than any other script that year. It beat well known titles like Wolf of Wall Street, The Hangover, and the recent release Selma.

Next time you see a preview for the series Empire, you can know that Strong is behind that, too. He's the writer and original creator of what is possibly, in his own words, "the first all African American soap opera in network television in 40 years."

Despite his small stature, both physically and in the public eye, Danny Strong is big. His words are being heard, even though they're being spoken by other people. This guy is a screenwriter to watch.