Mid-Pac graduate hits the big time in Fox drama '24'

By Tanya Bricking
Advertiser Staff Writer

It's a long way from the cable-access show "Testosterone" Daniel Bess had with his brother, David, during his drama days at Manoa's Mid-Pacific School of the Arts.

This is something his Honolulu parents actually are bragging about.

Bess, 24, has hit the big time with a recurring role as Rick in the new Fox drama "24."

"Hopefully, this is his big break," said his dad, Benjamin "Buddy" Bess, who has been helping his son pay the bills for the past few years when the plays Bess was doing didn't make the rent.

Bess' role in the show's CIA-centered storyline is as a young drifter who has a blind date with star Kiefer Sutherland's character's daughter in the first episode and ends up kidnapping her.

Bess, who left off-Broadway theater work in New York to pursue acting in Los Angeles, initially was hired as a guest on "24" just for the pilot episode. But he has stayed on and already has shot 10 episodes.

"I'm a bad guy, but I'm more of a good kid who's in over his head," he said. "The season will reveal that he's a good guy."

Until now, Bess' highest-profile TV role was as a policeman in a 1999 episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," but that part was cut to only one line.

Most of his high school friends from the Mid-Pac class of 1995 didn't catch his New York stage performances, such as the part of a Welsh miner in director Michael Mayer's "True History and Real Adventures." Bess knows TV is where he will be watched.

"24" is being touted as a series with an edge. It has been getting good reviews all the way from Rolling Stone to the New York Times. KHON has been replaying the first episodes. This Tuesday's episode will be replayed at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Bess is thrilled to be part of it and says "it's like shooting an action movie every week."