Background and career
Erin Daniels (née Cohen) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Dana Fairbanks on The L Word (2004–2007). Her feature film work includes A Single Man (2009) and One Hour Photo (2002).
Daniels was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, to a Jewish family. Her father is an architect, and her mother is a clinical social worker who co-founded the Central Reform Congregation in St. Louis. Her grandmother received an award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. She attended Clayton High School and Vassar College, graduating from the latter in 1995 after majoring in art.
After Vassar, she moved to New York City, where she studied with William Esper, a protégé of Sanford Meisner, and worked off-Broadway. She then moved to Los Angeles for a part on the short-lived TV series Action. In 2002, the St. Louis Film Festival awarded Daniels the Emerging Star Award. She appeared in One Hour Photo, Wheelmen, and House of 1000 Corpses before becoming a major cast member of Showtime's The L Word. Her depiction of Dana Fairbanks on that show prompted an anonymous donation of a million dollars to the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation, an organization that promotes and funds breast cancer intraductal research. The death of Daniels' character from breast cancer was controversial, with creator Ilene Chaiken expressing that it is the one plot point in the series she regrets as "the audience never forgave me for it". Daniels reprised the role of Dana in reboot The L Word: Generation Q in a fantasy sequence Soon after leaving The L Word, Daniels appeared on a pilot for a TV show called Julie Reno, Bounty Hunter. Daniels has also appeared in the TV shows Action, Jericho, Dexter, Saving Grace, Big Shots, Justice, CSI, and Swingtown. She played the role of The Mother in Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean. In a 2022 interview, Daniels stated that she is an acting coach, and that she is "pretty much a stay-at-home mom".
Daniels has children, and describes herself as a single parent.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
