Daniel Koa Beaty

An award-winning actor, singer, and writer, Daniel Koa Beaty is known for his critically acclaimed plays Through the Night, Emergency, Mr. Joy, Breath & Imagination, and The Tallest Tree in the Forest Paul Robeson, which have been performed at venues ranging from the Public Theater and Lincoln Center to the White House and maximum-security prisons. He has garnered numerous awards, including an Obie Award for writing and performance, five NAACP Theater Awards, and five AUDELCO Awards for Excellence in Black Theater. For television, Beaty has written for network and premium cable, including The Good Fight, Your Honor, Law & Order, and Supergirl. A graduate of Yale University (BA) and the American Conservatory Theater (MFA), Beaty has developed original scripted television shows with Imagine/Fox, Fox/Showtime, UCP/USA, CBS, and WB Studios. In 2010, he began I Dream, a movement of artists, activists, and entrepreneurs committed to the public good. I Dream’s core strategy is to use the tools of the arts to help heal trauma and build coalitions to address urgent social justice issues.

Beaty recently completed a documentary about the impact of mass incarceration on children and families called Behind the Glass. As a child of an incarcerated parent himself, Daniel’s poem Knock Knock has become an Internet sensation, receiving over 30 million views, and has been made into a children’s book, also titled Knock Knock, published by Little, Brown Books. Penguin Random House published his memoir Transforming Pain to Power.

Beaty’s second children’s book, Future Ancestor, will be released in 2025, and his second memoir, Love Warrior, is set to release this summer. For more information, please visit his social media at @danielkoabeaty on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, or check out his website at www.DanielKoaBeaty.com