Christopher Messina born August 11 1974 is an American actor director writer and producer He is best known for starring as Danny Castellano in the series The Mindy Project 20122017 which earned him two nominations for the Critics Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series He has appeared in films such as Vicky Cristina Barcelona 2008 Julie Julia 2009 Devil 2010 Argo 2012 Ruby Sparks 2012 Celeste and Jesse Forever 2012 Cake 2014 Birds of Prey 2020 I Care a Lot 2020 Call Jane 2022 Air 2023 and The Boogeyman 2023 Messina wrote executive produced and starred in the comedy film Fairhaven 2012 He also directed and starred in the drama film Alex of Venice 2014 On television Messina appeared as Ted Fairwell in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under 2005 Chris Sanchez in the Audience Network legal thriller series Damages 20112012 Reese Lansing in the HBO political drama series The Newsroom 20122014 Richard Willis in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects 2018 Nick Haas in the USA Network crime drama series The Sinner 2020 Angelo Lano in the Starz political miniseries Gaslit 2022 and as Nathan Bartlett in the Peacock comedy thriller Based on a True Story 2023 Description above from the Wikipedia article Chris Messina licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia