George Daniel Long – Sammy Davis Jr
“George Daniel Long is an uncannily convincing Sammy Davis Jr.” – Daily Mail
George has been interpretting Sammy Davis Jr for over 10 years now and was one of the first artists to devote his skills to the portrayal of the iconic entertainer.
George trained at London Studio Centre, during and after which he took his first professional theatre credits of: Tribe/Margaret Mead in Hair (European Tour), The Cotton Club (Aldwych Theatre), T-Bone and Pete in Carmen Jones (The Old Vic) and understudy Engineer and Thuy in Miss Saigon (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).
George left the UK to work as lead vocalist in Sebastian’s Caribbean Carnival (Tokyo Disneyland) and was honoured to be the first British performer to work there. He returned from Japan to perform in Fame (Victoria Palace Theatre/National Tour), Music of the Night (Hampton Court Palace and Sweden), Stars of the Musicals (Malaysia) and Magic of the Musicals (National Tour). George went on to play the role of Four-Eyed Moe in Five Guys Named Moe (National Tour) and created the role of Sammy Davis Jr in the original West End cast of The Rat Pack – Live from Las Vegas (The Strand Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket) as well as two national tours, earning the show an Olivier Award nomination for Best Entertainment. He was then privileged to be part of the Olivier Award nominated production of Gershwin’s – Porgy & Bess, understudying the roles of Robbins and Sporting Life (including the workshop as Crabman) and Peter Schaffer’s – The Royal Hunt of the Sun as Inca/Dance Captain (National Theatre) both directed by Trevor Nunn. He subsequently appeared as Mr Higgins in Jude Kelly’s revival of Carmen Jones (Royal Festival Hall), Bill Jukes in Peter Pan (Birmingham Rep), based on the original play by J M Barrie, with songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drew (Mary Poppins), understudying the roles of Dinero and TJ in the original West End cast of Sister Act – The Musical (London Palladium) and Ritchie Valens in The Winter Dance Party (Touring)
Other appearances include: The Mummy Returns (Universal Pictures), Wogan, Top of the Pops, National Lottery, Saturday Swings (BBC1), CD:UK, This Morning (ITV). As a dancer and choreographer George has worked on videos, TV appearances and PA’s with various artists including: Westlife (Sony), Boy George (Virgin/More Protein), Mica Paris (Island), Innocence (Chrysalis), Dario G (WEA), Lisa May (Fontana/Juice Groove) and Beatroute (ZTT/Vision) as well staging fashion shows and being Assistant Choreographer for Oxford Dance Theatre.
Recordings include: Rat Pack – Live from Las Vegas and Sister Act – The Musical (Original West End Cast Recordings), Stars of the Musicals (TER), Disco 2008, Yesterday and Tomorrow, Jonathan Kaldor and Sebastian Michael’s – Alvaro’s Balcony, and his solo album Me and My Shadow.
George decided to retrain over the past few years, qualifying with a Masters in Horticulture (distinction) and Certificate in Horticulture ( commendation) with the Royal Horticultural Society, and a diploma in garden design from The English Gardening School (distinction). He now runs his own garden design and horticultural consulting company.