Daniel Sorenson is a fictional detective on the popular TV series, '' NYPD Blue'', appearing from season six (1998) through season eight (2001). The character was played by actor

Rick Schroder Richard Bartlett Schroder (born April 13, 1970) is an American actor and filmmaker. As a child actor billed as Ricky Schroder he debuted in the film '' The Champ'' (1979), for which he became the youngest Golden Globe award recipient, and went o ...

Biography

Sorenson, a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Desert Storm The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

veteran approximately 27 years old, was introduced in episode six of the sixth season as the 15th squad's replacement for the deceased

Bobby Simone Robert "Bobby" Simone is a fictional character in the television series '' NYPD Blue''. Played by Jimmy Smits he was introduced in the fifth episode of the second season remaining until the fifth episode of the sixth. Simone was introduced to t ...

. He was partnered with Detective

Andy Sipowicz Andrew Sipowicz Sr. is a fictional character on the popular ABC television series '' NYPD Blue''. Andy began as the secondary focus of a more ensemble-like show, but by the middle of Season 6 he is the clear protagonist of the show and receive ...

. In childhood, Sorenson immigrated to the United States from Norway along with his younger sisters following the death of his father. They were raised by their aunt in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, and he felt a lifelong sense of responsibility for their care. At first other officers tended to regard Sorenson as somewhat inexperienced, and often referenced his youthful appearance, but Sorenson's hard-core professionalism and aggressive tactics soon earned respect. In private, however, Sorenson, a

reservist, was shown to be tormented by personal issues stemming from childhood events that centered on family responsibilities. Despite this, he was regarded by his contemporaries among his fellow officers as a source of good advice and stability, and as something of a mentoring type. Sorenson was shown in season seven to be attracted to Detective Diane Russell, widow of detective Bobby Simone, whom Sorenson replaced. The pair became romantically involved for a time. In 2001, actor

voiced dislike of the presentation of the character of Sorenson, claiming writers had changed him to the point that he, Schroder, had lost both sympathy for him and interest in him, and stated a desire to leave the series at the end of season eight. As a result, Sorenson, who was depicted late in season eight as having mentored a homeless drug addict whose addiction ultimately killed him, was shown to enter a state of personal turmoil, becoming inattentive and apathetically disrespectful while on the job, and spending his off-duty hours drinking and carousing. Exactly to what extent this was in fact part of an act was left unresolved, but it was written into the storyline that Sorenson had taken on an assignment that involved pretending to fall from grace with the NYPD and infiltrating organized crime factions within Manhattan. After being reported as missing, Sorenson's remains were discovered in a shallow grave at the beginning of season nine, with the character's death being attributed to the mob syndicate he had been attempting to infiltrate just before the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sorenson, Danny Fictional New York City Police Department detectives NYPD Blue characters Fictional Norwegian people Fictional immigrants to the United States Television characters introduced in 1998