Early life

Daley was born in Wheeling, Illinois, to R.F. Daley, an actor, and Nancy Daley, a piano teacher. His father is of Irish Catholic background and his mother is Jewish. He grew up in Nyack, New York, where he played Danny in Nyack Middle School's production of Grease.

Career

Daley began acting when he was cast as "Young Tommy" in the U.S. and international tours of the Broadway hit The Who's Tommy. He played Sam Weir, protagonist of the "Geeks", in the television series Freaks and Geeks, and since then he has worked continuously in television, including series such as The Geena Davis Show, Boston Public, Regular Joe, Kitchen Confidential, Judging Amy, and Spin City. He was #94 on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Stars.

In 2001, he co-directed a short film titled What Babies Do. He also wrote and starred in the comedy short Friday Night. In 2005, he appeared in the film Waiting... and in the Fox sitcom Kitchen Confidential. In 2007, Daley joined the cast of the Fox drama series Bones, portraying psychologist Lance Sweets. He co-wrote the season six episode "The Truth in the Myth" with his writing partner Jonathan Goldstein. Bones executive producer Stephen Nathan said Sweets was killed because Daley wanted time off to direct a movie, and he was concerned that Daley's absence would be too long, especially if the directing job led to other jobs.

Daley was also featured in the music video for "Mercy Kiss" by Abandoned Pools.

In 2011, Daley and his writing partner Jonathan M. Goldstein wrote the black comedy Horrible Bosses. In 2013, Daley co-wrote The Incredible Burt Wonderstone with Goldstein; Daley also has a cameo in the film as a paramedic. In 2013, the two were hired to write Cal of the Wild for DreamWorks Studios. John plays Ben House in Rapture-Palooza. Daley went on to write the story for the sequel to Horrible Bosses.

Daley and Goldstein co-wrote and co-directed the 2015 film Vacation, the latest installment of the National Lampoon's Vacation film series, starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate.

In July 2015, Daley and Goldstein confirmed that they will write the screenplay for the 2017 film Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Allerd Fishbein's in Love	Allerd Fishbein	Short
2001	The Kennedys	Anthony	Television movie
2001	What Babies Do		Short Co-director, writer
2003	View from the Top	Rodney
2005	Waiting...	Mitch
2007	5-25-77	Pat
2007	The Call	Tom	Television movie
2008	Burying the Ex	Zak	Short version
2011	Horrible Bosses	Carter	Also co-writer
2011	Audio Tour		Short Co-director, writer
2013	The Incredible Burt Wonderstone	Paramedic	Also writer
2013	Rapture-Palooza	Ben
2013	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2		Co-writer
2014	Horrible Bosses 2		Co-writer
2015	Dude Bro Party Massacre III	Ernest	Cameo
2015	Vacation	Ride Operator	Also co-director, co-writer
2017	Spider-Man: Homecoming		Co-writer

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999-2000	Freaks and Geeks	Sam Weir	18 episodes
2000-2001	Boston Public	Anthony Ward	5 episodes
2000-2001	The Geena Davis Show	Carter Ryan	22 episodes
2001	The Ellen Show	Erik	Episode: "Walden Pond"
2002	Spin City	Spencer	Episode: "Eyes Wide Open"
2003	Regular Joe	Grant Binder	5 episodes
2004	Judging Amy	Jace Crosby	Episode: "Roadhouse Blues"
2005-2006	Kitchen Confidential	Jim	13 episodes
2006	Stacked	Kevin	Episode: "The Third Date"
2007-2014	Bones	Dr. Lance Sweets	138 episodes
2012	The Finder	Dr. Lance Sweets	Episode: "Bullets"
2015	Bottom's Butte	Scott and Cabana Boy	Voice
2016	Fresh Off the Boat	Jordan	Episode: "Rent Day"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]