Danny Abeckaser

Danny A. Abeckaser (Hebrew: דני א. אביכזר) is an Israeli-born American actor, director and filmmaker.^[1][2][3][4]

Danny Abeckaser
Occupations	Actor Director Filmmaker
Years active	2001–present
Spouse	May Almakaies ​ (m. 2022)​

Early life

Abeckaser was born in Israel, the sixth of seven children of Moroccan Jewish parents who immigrated to the U.S. in 1980.^[5] He grew up in Brooklyn.^[6]

Career

Nightclub career

Abeckaser worked in the nightclub industry in New York as a promoter. Well connected in the industry, he brought models to clubs, planned parties & events, and took care of the celebrity clientele. He helped to open up clubs like Avenue and Marquee.^[7] The 2015 movie Club Life, in which he co-starred, created, and co-wrote was based on these experiences.^[8][9]

Film career

As an actor

Abeckaser had a small part in the Vince Vaughn comedy Made in 2001, which led to receiving other small parts in movies such as Alpha Dog, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, and the TV show Entourage.^[10][11] He then played the part of Dino Lapron opposite Michael Shannon and Winona Ryder in the Ariel Vromen film The Iceman (2012) and had a very small role in the Martin Scorsese film The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).^[6] Abeckaser shared a scene with Robert De Niro as Louie the Deadbeat in the Scorsese film The Irishman (2019).^[12][13][14]

Abeckaser had his first starring role in A Stand Up Guy (2016).^[15] Abeckaser also appeared in Mob Town, Lansky, I Love Us, Inside Man, and The Engineer.^[16] He is represented by APA and LBI Entertainment.^[17][18]

As a director

He made his directorial debut with First We Take Brooklyn (2018), which he co-starred with Harvey Keitel.^[15] He has directed other movies such as I Love Us, Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story, Mob Town, Inside Man, and The Engineer.^[19]

In 2024, Bardejov was released, a film that Abeckaser both directed and starred in.^[20]

As a producer

In 2013, Abeckaser created the production company 2B Films banner to produce his movies.^[21][22] Abeckaser's first movie as a producer was Holy Rollers (2010), which he also starred alongside Jesse Eisenberg.^[5] Since then, he produced other movies such as The Last Shaman, Davi's Way, as well as the movies he’s directed.^[23]

Personal life

Abeckaser married Instagram model May Almakaies in May 2022 in Israel. Leonardo DiCaprio was one of the wedding guests.^[24] Abeckaser is involved with the charities Rhonda's Kiss, where he is a committee chair, United Hatzalah Emergency Relief Fund,^[25] and Together1Heart.^[26]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Made	Club Promoter	Uncredited
2004	Point&Shoot	Danny A
2006	Alpha Dog	Latino Youth #1
2006	Homie Spumoni	Rosa's Maitre d
2006	El Cantante	Studio Engineer
2007	Gardener of Eden	Ami
2007	The Education of Charlie Banks	Arresting Officer
2008	You Don't Mess with the Zohan	Ze'ev
2010	Holy Rollers	Jackie Solomon	Producer
2011	Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star	AFA Presenter
2012	Freelancers	Louie
2012	The Iceman	Dino Lapron
2013	The Wolf of Wall Street	Investor's Center Broker #2
2015	Experimenter	Braverman	Producer
2015	Club Life	Mark	Also producer and writer
2016	A Stand Up Guy	Sammy	Producer
2016	The Curse of Sleeping Beauty		Executive producer only
2016	Marauders	Antonio Leon
2018	First We Take Brooklyn	Mikki	Writer, producer and director
2019	The Irishman	Deadbeat
2019	Mob Town	Joe Barbara	Director and producer
2020	Blackjack: The Jackie Ryan Story		Producer and director only
2021	Lansky	Greg Kunz
2021	I Love Us	Sammy Silver	Director
2023	Inside Man	Roy DeMeo	Director and producer
2023	The Engineer	Yakov	Director and producer
2024	Bardejov	Dr. Atlas	Director
TBA	The Perfect Gamble	TBA	Director and producer