A classically trained actor who found his way into musicals by accident, he now finds himself feted by Stephen Sondheim.
Evans realised at the age of eight that he wanted to be an actor. As a youth he threw himself into his school's drama productions, winning the Richard Burton Memorial Prize for a dramatic monologue at the National Eisteddfod, aged only 17.
Richard Burton's widow, Sally, said of him: "From the moment he came on stage, our eyes were drawn to Daniel. He was very calm, which is a quality Richard was renowned for.
"He just pulled the audience to him. He was quite outstanding." To cap it all, a year later Daniel won the Chair at the Urdd National Eisteddfod.
On leaving school he was accepted at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where a Royal Shakespeare Company talent scout spotted him.
The RSC originally offered him a 'play as cast' contract, (ie spear-carrying and crowd scenes), but he turned it down and was then invited to play small speaking parts.
RSC Director Matthew Warchus said of him: "It's great when someone walks in and you know that you are in the room with someone who is not just good or bad. When someone does something to you personally that's very, very rare."
Having laid a professional foundation at the RSC, Daniel went on to work with the Royal National Theatre. It was while playing Peter Pan in a National production that he was offered the opportunity to audition for Candide and accepted, not realising that it was a musical role.
"I was hopeless and couldn't reach any of the right notes, but they said I just needed some singing lessons. After three months I discovered that I was a tenor."
He won the 2000 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for a subsequent role in the Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. His television credits include Daniel Deronda, Tomorrow La Scala!, Being Dom July, Midsomer Murders and Romeo and Juliet.
Evans is happy to be versatile and to defy categorisation: "Why do I need to say what I am? Why are there those categories? And why do people need to pin you down? I feel blessed to do everything and I hope I get to do more of it."
In 2008 Evans was given his chance to star on Broadway, playing the 19th century painter George Sourat in Sunday in the Park with George.
Its composer Stephen Sondheim paid tribute to Evans's performance: "Very few actors that I've ever seen can really efface themselves no matter how good they are as actors.
"That is part of the delight in watching Daniel - he's got a very individualised personality."
Classically trained star of stage and screen
