Daniel Selby has sampled multiple careers throughout his life, including acting, modeling and singing, but over the years, he has found where his true passion lies — writing and home healthcare.

Selby currently lives in Marshalltown, but that isn’t where his story begins. He was born and raised in California, but since he moved here in 1988, he has come to call the Hawkeye State his home and considers himself an Iowan. He started his career early, doing his first commercial in 1971 for Fig Newtons at just six years of age after his mother, Carole Evans, noticed how much he enjoyed acting.

Over the years, Selby did many commercials in California before he eventually tried his hand at modeling for companies like Sears and JCPenney, but he found it didn’t suit him.

“I wasn’t really interested in doing that. That wasn’t as exciting. Standing on a set and having your picture taken, it’s just not as exciting as learning dialogue,” Selby said.

While he ruled out modeling, Selby found he could act anywhere, so he continued acting in Iowa, doing commercials, training videos and several independent films which he said he “really enjoyed.” Selby appears in “IOWA” (2012), “Revenge: A Love Story” (2014) and “Kultus” (2015), among others.

Selby said he’s never wanted to act for fame or recognition, but rather for enjoyment, similar to his mother, a country and western singer.

“I never wanted to be a big name or anything. I just liked to act. It was fun being somebody else for a while,” Selby said.

Selby also boasts an extensive bibliography including a self-published biography and, more recently, four books detailing the complete discography of various music artists — “The Complete Dolly Parton Illustrated Discography,” “The Complete Osmond Family Illustrated Discography,” “The Complete Barry Manilow Illustrated Discography” and “The Complete Helen Reddy Illustrated Discography” — published by BearManor Media.

He first wrote the book on the Osmond Family because of his friendship with Marie Osmond and wanted to do something for them all. After that, he pushed forward with the other three, and he currently has an agreement with BearManor Media to write 12 more discography books. The newest one, which is set to be published in December, will be on Anne Murray.

Selby also released nine albums of music, which are a mix between original songs and covers, between 1976 and 1985 and a Christmas album just a few years ago.

Though Selby has explored multiple career paths over the years, his favorite has been health care because giving back to his community is important to him. He has been working in the home health care field for about 30 years, and he’s currently employed at the Iowa Veterans Home as a residential aide.

“The people there are just wonderful. The veterans that I have come to know, even the ones that are a little bit cranky, I get along with everyone,” Selby said. “I love that work.”

Selby does a little bit of everything at IVH, assisting residents and staff however he can, but once he completes certain required courses, he hopes to expand his duties even further. Of everything he has explored, Selby said that writing and caring for people is what he loves most.

Selby has had a wide range of life experiences, and his biggest takeaway so far is that most people deserve the benefit of the doubt.

“In doing all these different projects, you encounter a lot of different people. You know, people are basically good. We hear about the bad people a lot more and that tends to stick in our mind, because it’s terrible, some of the things that happen in this world these days,” Selby said. “I’ve learned people are generally good.”

While Selby is taking a step back from acting, he plans on continuing to work at IVH and writing as much as he can.

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Contact Susanna Meyer at 641-753-6611 or

smeyer@timesrepublican.com.