Discovering Daniel Negreanu’s Exciting Film and TV Cameos

Let’s say you are in the middle of an online poker session. A movie is playing in the background while you play, and you look at the screen for just a second when suddenly you see Daniel Negreanu for a moment or two. And then you take another look back, just to make sure your eyes don’t lie to you, and you really see the undeniable resemblance between the actor and the poker player.

Even though X user Jeff Whitmire knew exactly who he was, when the poker pro appeared in the movie he was watching, it was quite a surprise.

When someone looks through Negreanu’s IMDb page, they will find multiple credits for his movie career, both as an actor and, in some cases, as a producer. But how can one of the most famous names in the poker world end up in these movies? Well, we are not the only ones for whom the question arises. A few months ago, the seven-time WSOP bracelet winner answered the big question in a Reddit Ask Me Anything thread.

Negreanu’s Acting Side of the “Poker Kid”

Haha it’s called Detention https://t.co/e0umoGdPjw

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) June 18, 2016

A question came about his cameo role in the 2011 movie, Detention. The poker pro explained to the fan that many of his film industry opportunities stemmed from his collaboration with director Joseph Kahn.

“Detention (2011) was a cool enjoyable movie that you had a cameo in. I then saw in the closing credits that you were also credited as a producer on this movie. What made you get involved?, did you know any of them personally before the project?

I do a cameo in all of Joseph Kahn’s movies actually! The most recent one in a new film called “Ick”

He is a famous music video director and I met him when shooting a poker campaign with him and we became friendly and so I’ve invested in his movies. I was also in “Bodied” which is a movie about battle rapping.

He also put me in Katy Perry’s music video “Waking Up in Vegas” if you watch it… you will see she is playing poker against me ha.”

And Daniel Negreanu did the right thing by betting on Kahn. Well, not literally, but he had the chance to appear in many of Kahn projects, in exchange for the funding.

The Canadian player participated in films such as Lucky You (2007), The Grand (2007), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Mr. D (2013), Private Eyes (2016), and Bodied (2017), as well as Detention.

While the Ick (2024) titled horror film is not listed on Negreanu’s IMDb list, that was the movie in which Whitmire spotted him.