Long Before Creating Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan Terrorized Veronica Mars

"Yellowstone" became such a massive hit that you can't really blame creator Taylor Sheridan for putting himself in the show — especially since he got his start as an actor almost 25 years before his neo-Western series debuted. During that time, he appeared in single episodes of multiple shows, but his first recurring role came when he portrayed Danny Boyd in "Veronica Mars" (credited as Tayler Sheridan). A member of the Fitzpatrick crime family, Danny appeared in five-episodes between 2005 and 2007, and saw Sheridan portraying, well, an absolute dimwit.

The writer/director took the long road to becoming the TV impresario he is today. The man responsible for the mega-hit that was "Yellowstone" (which wrapped up with its season 5 finale in 2024) has since parlayed the success of that series into a TV empire, churning out shows at such a rate you have to wonder how he has time to not only write them all (especially since he refused to hire a writers' room for "Yellowstone"), but appear in several of them as an actor. Well, on the latter point, he certainly has the necessary experience. Sheridan actually started his Hollywood career as a performer, moving from his native Texas to LA in the '90s to pursue a career in film and TV. He soon found himself with a guest role on hit Chuck Norris Western series "Walker, Texas Ranger" and actually worked consistently in the years following that 1995 appearance.

Most of his roles were on the small screen, with Sheridan showing up in several well-known productions, including "Star Trek: Enterprise" and eventually "Sons of Anarchy," on which he had a recurring role as Deputy Chief of the Charming Police Department, David Hale. Between those two jobs, however, Sheridan managed to secure his first recurring gig on "Veronica Mars."

During his early acting years, Taylor Sheridan appeared in a classic Western series (that's streaming for free). That single-episode appearance hinted at what was to come for the Western maestro, but before he could fulfill his potential in that regard, he had to get to the point where, as he put it during a Hollywood Reporter roundtable, he "couldn't stand acting." That day would come with his departure from "Sons of Anarchy" in 2010. Before that however, Sheridan terrorized Kristen Bell's Veronica Mars as the loutish Danny Boyd.

Danny was the cousin of Liam Fitzpatrick (Rodney Rowland), the head of the Fitzpatrick crime family, or Fighting Fitzpatricks. First introduced in season 2, episode 8, "Ahoy Mateys," Boyd meets Veronica as she launches an investigation into a dodgy plastic surgeon, and takes her to visits The River Stix bar, which was used by the Fitzpatricks as a hideout and unofficial headquarters. It's not the most flattering introduction for Sheridan's character, who announces his arrival by showing Veronica a patch of his dried blood on the pool table and generally seeming like a bit of a dunce.

Danny isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, and immediately demonstrates as much when he seems completely unperturbed by Veronica's presence in the bar packed with Irish mobsters. Liam, however, is immediately suspicious and confronts his unwelcome guest, eventually pinning her to a pool table and interrogating her while threatening to tattoo the poor woman's face. Where is Danny in all this? Well, he's swiftly taken down by Veronica's taser, perfectly establishing him as the clod he was.

Taylor Sheridan's Danny Boyd would show up in four other episodes after "Ahoy Mateys" — two in season 2 and two more in season 3. During that time, Danny became an important figure in Veronica Mars' investigation of plastic surgeon Thomas Griffith (Rick Peters), who was set to testify against Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring) in the case of a murdered biker gang member. Danny's final appearance came in season 3, episode 17, "Debasement Tapes" (which also featured Paul Rudd as washed-up rock star Desmond Fellows) where he shows up very briefly. Soon after that 2007 episode, Sheridan was cast on "Sons of Anarchy" in which he appeared in 21 episodes between 2008 and 2010.

At that point, it looked as though his acting career was about to take off. However, the future "Yellowstone" creator would leave his FX series at the top of the third season after the network lawyers refused to pay him what he thought was a fair wage. That was all for the best, as Sheridan immediately pivoted to writing "Sicario" which remains the best Taylor Sheridan movie and launched his career as one of Hollywood's most prolific and successful writers.

While the man has since claimed to have hated acting, Sheridan certainly hasn't been against casting himself in his own shows. The "Yellowstone" creator played Travis Wheatley in that series and has shown up in spin-off "1883" as well as "Lioness," in which he plays Cody Spears.