Danny Hanson (TV character)

Infobox character
name = Danny Hanson
series = Boston Public
colour =


caption =
first = 2x01 "Chapter Twenty-Three"
last = 4x15 "Chapter Eighty-One"
cause =
nickname =
alias =
species =
gender = Male
age =
born =
occupation = Teacher (Humanities)
religion =
title =
family = Joanie Hanson (sister), Allison Hanson (niece)
spouse = Claire Ellison
children =
relatives =
episode =
portrayer = Michael Rapaport
creator = David E. Kelley

Daniel 'Danny' Hanson is a fictional character on the FOX high-school drama "Boston Public", played by American actor Michael Rapaport from Season 2 until Season 4.

Character history

Danny was some kind of humanities teacher who was introduced at the beginning of Season 2. He came from a working-class Irish-Catholic home, and had a populist political philosophy and a certain ambivalence about religion due to being sexually molested by his priest, Father Bill Egan, when he was a child. Danny also had a conservative side when it came to race, and didn't like the "sacred cow" status some racial issues were given. He was the one who began the "N-word" debate in Winslow High. Marla Hendricks rightly suggested that Danny's main flaw wasn't being controversial, but raising questions that he didn't have any helpful solutions too. Danny and Marla fought a lot (including one fistfight early in Season 3), but also admitted they had a lot in common.

Like Marla, Danny's hot-headed attitude got him into trouble in both his professional and personal life. To name a few examples, when he walked in on his fiancé having sex with another man, Danny threw a phone at the man. Later, he sent letters home to the parents of overweight students advising them to watch their children's junk food intake over the summer; one of the students hit him for that.

On the up side, Danny helped students with various issues, including a kid who had been molested by the same priest who hurt Danny, and a 12 year-old genius. He also had a special relationship with overachieving Debbie Nixon in Season 2, which came under scrutiny but turned out to be a healthy teacher-student mentorship.

In the series' third season, Danny began dating Claire Ellison. They eventually married and gained custody of Allison, his 5 year-old niece, while Joanie, his sister, was in rehab for drug addiction. By Season 4, the marriage was faltering and Joanie came back for Allison (which is rather legally dubious as they had legally adopted her). The series left Danny and Claire willing to work on their marriage while Allison went to live with her mom.