The role had most notably been portrayed by Michael Graziadei since Daniel's major storylines have included a love story and marriage with Lily Winters Christel Khalil , Davetta Sherwood , of which their parents disapproved, as well as being married to Amber Moore Adrienne Frantz.
The character was first portrayed by twins Desiree and Hannah Wheel from to , after which Michael McElroy took over the recurring role from to Chase MacKenzie Bebak portrayed Daniel from to , followed by Roland Gibbons, who had a brief stint until the character was written out. Subsequently, the character was rapidly aged , with Cam Gigandet assuming the role on March 10, The role was recast with Owen Beckman, but the actor was also fired soon after landing the role; as opposed to Gigandet, Beckman's scenes were deleted when Michael Graziadei was cast in the role, [ 2 ] who debuted on May 10, He made his last appearance on January 3, In July , Entertainment Weekly reported that Graziadei would briefly return on August 25, , coinciding with The Young and the Restless' s 11,th episode.
In September , it was announced Graziadei would return; he returned on November 21 of the same year. Daniel was born off-screen on August 17, ; his birth year has since been revised to Daniel first arrived in Genoa City in after returning from boarding school to live with his mother, Phyllis Summers. Because she did not raise him as a child, Daniel resented Phyllis as well as her boyfriend, chemist Damon Porter.
Daniel then befriended Kevin Fisher , who was desperate to regain some respect after performing some not so nice deeds. Daniel agreed to help him out in exchange for hooking him up with Mackenzie Browning. The two had a lowlife named Alex come on to Lily Winters too strong, so that Kevin could rescue her and that she would like him. Alex went too far and slipped her a date rape drug and attempted to rape her.
However, Kevin did arrive in time to "save" her. When Alex kept threatening Daniel and Kevin, Phyllis found out, and she and Damon scared Alex enough to get him out of town. Daniel then decided to give Phyllis a chance. Daniel had a romance with Lily Winters in , after he was involved in an accident with Cassie Newman , resulting in her death. Suffering memory loss from the accident, Daniel could not remember that fourteen-year-old Cassie was driving in an ill-fated attempt to drive a drunken Daniel home herself.
