Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Purgatory’s Danny Mahoney

Audiences are raving about Danny Mahoney’s breakout performance in the psychological thriller Purgatory.

The must-see series follows a group of strangers who are invited to a remote winter resort for New Year’s Eve. One person, however, has plans that don’t involve celebrating.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with scene-stealer Danny Mahoney about his career, Purgatory, and more.

PC: How did you discover your passion for storytelling?
Danny: I’ve wanted to be an actor since I was a kid. I did my first school play when I was seven years old, but it actually wasn’t until shortly after leaving drama school that I realized it was the storytelling aspect that fuelled my passion for acting. Storytelling is a way of establishing a connection—a connection with others and a connection with ourselves. We live in a world that encourages us to disconnect all the time and I think it’s more important now than ever before to tell stories, especially ones that create a human connection.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Danny: From the age of fourteen to eighteen, I attended a summer theater school in my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. The director of that program was Lou Zamprogna. He both trained and treated all of his students as professionals. He instilled in me a work ethic that not many teenagers get to experience. He was also the one to finally persuade my parents to get me my first agent at the age of fourteen. If it weren’t for his training, support, and encouragement, I don’t know if I’d have taken acting as seriously.

PC: Tell us about Purgatory, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Danny: Purgatory is about a group of strangers who are invited to an exclusive resort for a ten-day retreat. They are lured to an underground cave and locked inside and become victims in an elaborate revenge plot.

My character, Chris, is a very successful and wealthy young man from a privileged background who is devoted to the love of his life, Marie. He is harboring a very dark secret, which is directly connected to the reason he and all the other characters have been targeted and locked in this underground cave. Chris is a very complex character. On the surface, he has it all, but deep down he is battling a lot of demons. It’s this kind of internal conflict that drew me to the character and the project.

PC: This is the longest that you’ve lived with a character. Did anything surprise you about the experience?
Danny: I was surprised how easy it was to slip back into the character so quickly after a year-long hiatus due to the pandemic. I had done all the work to create this character and to know him inside and out when we first started filming at the beginning of 2020. When we picked up again a year later, as soon as I put my costume on and stepped back into that underground cave we had been filming in I was like, “Yep. Got it. Let’s go,” and I was ready to pick up right where we had left off without any hesitation.

PC: You’ve said in previous interviews that this has been a role unlike any you’ve ever played. What’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned playing Chris that you’ll bring to future projects?
Danny: If I’m filming on location in winter, make sure the costume shoes are at least one size too big so that I can wear my thermal socks! [laughs] But acting-wise, I’ve learned what I need to do to keep my focus and deliver really intense scenes. Purgatory is a psychological thriller, and a lot of my scenes required higher levels of emotion than I’ve done for the camera before.

PC: This is an incredibly intense project. How did you decompress after a day of filming?
Danny: Armenian wine (delicious, by the way). But first: gym or some kind of exercise routine.

PC: With the series airing now, is there a scene that you’re excited for your fans to see? What do you hope they take away?
Danny: There are two really huge developments that occur at the end of the first episode in Season 2. My character’s journey takes on a new trajectory as a result. I don’t think the audience is going to be expecting what happens at the end of that first episode. There’s also a really beautiful scene at the end of Season 2 that was very emotional to film, and I think that audiences are going to be really touched by it.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Danny: Judge Judy.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Danny: The Notebook.

PC: Favorite book?
Danny: A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Danny: The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Danny: Céline Dion.

PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
Danny: Ryan Gosling.

To keep up with Danny, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.