A native New Yorker, Daniel received his undergraduate degree from CalArts and returned to NYC where he briefly worked at the VILLAGE VOICE before segueing to a career in films. He began as the associate producer of the documentary "Mustang - The House that Joe Built" (1975) and served as an assistant director on "Dynamite Woman" (1976) before joining Universal as an assistant in 1976. Within two years, he was promoted to a vice presidency and in 1984, assumed the post of president of production for Universal Pictures. He left Universal in 1989 and spent nine months as head of Geffen Films, but departed to hang out his own shingle as a producer. The first Sean Daniel Company production was "Pure Luck" (1991), a less-than-successful effort starring Martin Short. The following year, he and Jim Jacks formed Alphaville, a production company with ties to Universal. Their first effort "CB4" (1993), a satirical look at rap music, went mostly overlooked after it was released the weekend of a blizzard on the East Coast. "Hard Target" (1993), a Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie, however, proved to be a box-office winner. But, indicative of Daniel's eclectic tastes, he and Jacks also produced Richard Linklater's superb low-budget "Dazed & Confused" and the big-budget Western "Tombstone" (both 1993). In 1995, Daniel and Jacks returned to modest budgets with Kevin Smith's misfire "Mallrats". The duo had their biggest success to date with "Michael", the story of a different kind of an angel starring John Travolta. Not only did it rack up huge grosses, but it also won critical raves. Returning to the action genre, the pair produced "The Jackal" (1997), with Bruce Willis as a paid killer who must be stopped.