'Whitney' film role is only a taste of Fall River artist Daniel Washington's many talents

FALL RIVER — Daniel Washington has been performing since he was a kid, but perhaps never in front of this many people. He was on a stage, singing and dancing with one of the most famous pop singers the world has known: portraying Gary Houston, backup singer and brother of Whitney Houston in the biographical film “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

Washington, who lives in Fall River, had been in a handful of Hollywood productions before, but this was his most prominent role. And it wasn’t just about performing for the camera — he had to perform for an audience, acting in scenes where Whitney filled arenas with her magical voice.

“You had a few hundred extras to play as the crowd, which would then be doubled, tripled, quadrupled through CGI,” Washington said. “The way the track is playing, and the extras are screaming, and we’re all doing our thing, it literally felt like a real concert. It didn’t feel like we’re acting here. That was huge."

The movie was huge too, distributed by Sony and directed by Kasi Lemmons, the story of how Whitney Houston rose from singing in church choirs to arenas. And this was one of the most expensive and memorable production days on the film, Washington said, playing to almost all of his strengths as an entertainer. But the versatile young actor has a lot more to give.

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From dance to Shakespeare to 'Ghostbusters'

Well before Washington got his break in movies, he was a dancer. He grew up in Boston.

"I’ve been dancing ever since I was about 14 in Jamaican dance halls," Washington said. “I really caught the vibe for that. I liked the movement. I liked the aspect of being able to have a voice, so to speak, through this expression.”

He’s 32 now, but on his Instagram, @swiftwashington, he still expresses himself that way, posting short reels of himself moving his body with enviable grace, precision and style.

When Washington came to Fall River midway through his high school years, he ended up at B.M.C. Durfee High School, where he branched out from dance into acting.

“It was because my girlfriend at the time was in theater. I just kind of got roped into it," Washington said. “Plus our theater director, Mr. [Gary] Bigelow, was advising my dance group. He actually used my interest in dance to kind of get me into that world of theater.”

From Durfee, he crossed Elsbree Street to Bristol Community College, where "believe it or not, the exact same thing happened again. I was roped into it through my dance for a play — and happened to like a girl that was in there, too.” He was asked to read for a part, and before he knew it, he was performing Shakespeare — two roles in their production of “As You Like It.”

But after college he focused on his first love, dance, auditioning for the FOX reality TV show “So You Think You Can Dance” for five years running. Work was hard to come by, but he ended up acing an audition in Boston for hip hop dancer, choreographer and producer Stephen “tWitch” Boss in Boston. tWitch had himself come up through “So You Think You Can Dance,” and performed in three of the “Step Up” films and “Magic Mike XXL.” Nobody, Washington said, even knew what the audition was for.

"It turns out it was for that new ‘Ghostbusters’ movie with the all-female cast," Washington said, referring to the 2016 reboot filmed in and around Boston. “So that ended up being my first movie.”

Washington’s role is uncredited, but it was enough to make the acting bug bite again.

“Through being on a set, and in that environment, it sounds so cheesy, but that spark just happened. I suddenly knew where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to do,” Washington said. “That was when I chose to pursue it.”

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'This is what this art can amount to'

Washington has had parts in many recognizable productions — the AMC television series “NOS4A2,” Netflix film “I Care a Lot,” the Amazon film “The Tender Bar” directed by George Clooney — but landing the role of Gary Houston in “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” was at a higher level. And it combined several of his talents together. With COVID taking auditions remote, in early 2021 he recorded video of himself singing as part of his audition through Boston Casting.

“The final decision on the part had to do with the ability, not necessarily to sing, but to be able to move like you’re singing, to be very believable in that," Washington said. “That brings it full circle to the dance ability.”

The film tells the story of Houston’s life through her music; it traces her domination of the pop music world from the mid-1980s through the 1990s, winning countless awards for songs like “The Greatest Love of All,” “I Will Always Love You,” “So Emotional,” “How Will I Know” before losing a yearslong battle with drug addiction in 2012. Whitney is portrayed by Naomi Ackie, who has had roles in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and the Netflix series “Master of None.” Washington plays her brother Gary, who sang backup with her for decades.

Though Washington says his part is not a major role, it’s a supportive one to tell Whitney’s story.

“It’s about her musical legacy and celebrating that. So many of the things that we shot for this served to support that,” Washington said. “It’s a conduit, a chance to re-feel all the love people have for Whitney. If you’re watching it correctly, you’re using it to enjoy that love again, maybe learn something new.”

He's not the only local person to have worked on this film. Gabbrielle Anacleto, 12, a dancer from New Bedford and student at the Artistic Dance Studio in Fall River, filmed a scene with Ackie at the House of Blues in Boston, which doubled for a concert in Chicago in the late 1980s.

Washington said behind the scenes “it was all magical. The family aspect of the film was so easy, because we all really bonded that way with the camera off. I got a lot of advice, a lot of love from these folks, and built some pretty strong bonds.”

He was able to catch up with his film family at the premiere in New York, his first Hollywood red carpet experience, which he described as “intense” — but was striking enough to land a shoutout from Ebony magazine as one of the hottest looks on the carpet.

“I look to my left and I see Queen Latifah. Flavor Flav was there. All these people came out to show love to the film," Washington said. “This is what this art can amount to. It was very inspiring. I want to do it more. A great reminder of what it can look like to celebrate a win.”

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What's next for Daniel Washington

Following his experience with the film, Washington is working on finding a new rep — but more importantly, preparing for the release this year of another feature film, an indie called “Money Game” that he stars in and produced. He also extensively rewrote the script.

“I play a young widowed father of two small girls, and I’m trying to deal with my own senses of loss and suffering while trying to build a life of them that my wife and I had planned, that was off the power of two people and now it’s the power of one,” Washington said, describing it as having a touch of “Wolf of Wall Street” mixed with “Good Will Hunting.”

He was first approached for the film only as the lead actor, but soon found himself taking on another job, when he felt the script needed improving: writer. Encouraged by director Julian Lowenthal, the two rewrote nearly every scene of the film, with Washington focusing on the emotional beats of the story.

“He really let me input my own writing ability into what should go on there,” Washington said. “So much of what you’ll see there is my original writing.”

Meanwhile, Washington also writes and sings his own music — two hip-hop singles can be found on Spotify under the name Swift Washington. From dance, to acting, to writing, to music, he has an artistic passion that can’t be contained, and to him it comes down to one reason why:

"I want these things that are being created in my head to exist in the world.”

Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River actor, dancer Daniel Washington in Whitney Houston film