Daniel Henney was born in Carson City, Michigan, on November 28, 1979. Christine Henney is his mother, an American adopted from Busan, South Korea, who worked as a nurse when he was born. His father, Philip Henney, was a British-born American who worked in the manufacturing industry. He was a well-known and talented basketball player at Carson City-Crystal High School.
Henney attended many universities, including Albion College, Alma College, and Elgin Community College, but he never finished his studies due to his burgeoning modeling career. On different internet sites, he was attributed with having graduated with an economics degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago for a time. An academic controversy in 2007 revealed that several South Korean social figures and celebrities, including Choi Soo-jong and Jang Mi-hee, had falsified their academic credentials. This was later proven to be false.
