Daniel Richard McBride (born December 29, 1976^[2]) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter and producer. He starred in the HBO television series Eastbound & Down and Vice Principals, which he co-created with frequent collaborator Jody Hill, and The Righteous Gemstones, which he created himself. He has appeared in films such as The Foot Fist Way (2006), Hot Rod (2007), Pineapple Express (2008), Tropic Thunder (2008), Up in the Air (2009), Land of the Lost (2009), Your Highness (2011), This Is the End (2013), and Alien: Covenant (2017). He has done voice acting for Despicable Me (2010), Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), Hell and Back (2015), The Angry Birds Movie (2016), Sausage Party (2016), The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), and The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021).

McBride was born in Statesboro, Georgia.^[3] His mother, Kathy Rudy, and his stepfather both work at Marine Corps Base Quantico, as civilian support.^[4] McBride has Irish, Scottish, English and Jewish ancestry,^[5][6] with Catholic ancestors from Ulster who emigrated to Virginia in the 1870s.^[7] He was raised Baptist and has said, "church was very much part of my life when I was a kid. My parents were really involved and went all the time."^[5][8] His mother performed sermons in church using puppets, and McBride stated that his "interest in telling stories comes from her."^[4] He was raised in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, where he graduated from Courtland High School and attended University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and became one of the "Three Flavas" along with director Jody Hill and Kris Baucom.^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

McBride was a second unit director for David Gordon Green's feature film debut George Washington. McBride made his acting debut in 2003, starring in Green's second film All the Real Girls.^[14]

In 2006, McBride played Fred Simmons in the low-budget comedy film The Foot Fist Way, which he co-wrote with collaborators Jody Hill and Ben Best. His character later appeared in Late Night with Conan O'Brien on February 26, 2008. McBride wrote and starred in the HBO original comedy series Eastbound & Down (also a collaboration with Hill and Best), as Kenny Powers, a washed-up former major league baseball pitcher with anger management issues. The series was produced by Gary Sanchez Productions, and the pilot episode premiered on February 15, 2009, featuring Will Ferrell and Craig Robinson.

On April 8, 2009, HBO announced it had renewed the series for a second season.^[15] On July 2, 2012, HBO renewed the series for a fourth season.^[16][17] The series ended on November 17, 2013. In March 2009, because of his role as Powers, he received an offer to play semi-professional baseball for the Pensacola Pelicans, a team in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball.^[18][19]

In 2010, he signed an endorsement deal with K-Swiss shoes and played the eponymous roadie in the Tenacious D music video for "Roadie" in 2012. McBride co-starred in the HBO comedy series Vice Principals from 2016 to 2017.

McBride voiced Duane Earl, a fictional talk radio host in the video game Grand Theft Auto V. Earl, the owner of the Blaine County Radio station, is the host of Beyond Insemination, a segment where he converses with callers.

In 2017, McBride appeared in the prequel film Alien: Covenant, alongside Katherine Waterston, Michael Fassbender and Billy Crudup. McBride told Vanity Fair in an interview that he was both surprised and glad for the opportunity to be involved with the Alien movie since he had been a longtime fan of the franchise.^[20]

In January 2018, two trailers were released online for what was supposedly a Crocodile Dundee sequel, titled Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home. The film was said to star McBride as Brian Dundee, the son of the original Crocodile Dundee. The trailers feature cameo appearances by Australian actors Chris Hemsworth, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Margot Robbie and Ruby Rose.^[21] From the beginning, various aspects of the campaign made some publications believe that film was an elaborate hoax.^[22] It was later reported that these ads were actually part of a lead-up to a Super Bowl commercial for Tourism Australia.^[22]

McBride served as an executive producer for the films, Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022), which served as one of the final films for the franchise of the same name. The sequel trilogy is directed and written by Green, and produced by Jason Blum.^[23][24][25]

Since 2018, McBride has been the face of bookmaker Coral's television commercials in the United Kingdom, playing a character called "Sports Rodstein", described as "the world's biggest sports fan (although not the savviest)".^[26][27]

In late 2018, HBO ordered The Righteous Gemstones, the series from McBride and his Rough House Pictures label, straight to series.^[28] The series also stars John Goodman, Adam Devine and Edi Patterson. It follows a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed and charitable work.^[29]

In 2021, McBride voiced Rick Mitchell in the Sony Pictures Animation film The Mitchells vs. the Machines.^[30]

McBride married art director Gia Ruiz in 2010. They have a son and a daughter.^[31][32] He and his family reside in Charleston, South Carolina.