Born and raised just outside of Asbury Park, New Jersey, Dan Harary is a man of many talents. While best known for his 40-plus years of work in Hollywood as an Entertainment Industry Publicist and as the owner of the boutique Asbury PR Agency in Beverly Hills (www.asburypr.com), Dan is also the author of three books: CARROTS, AFTER THEY CAME and FLIRTING WITH FAME. In addition, he was a professional drummer as a youngster, and performed stand-up comedy at LA’s top comedy houses during his early 40’s. 

Between 1972-74, Dan, ages 15/16/17 at that time, was the Stage Manager and the Lighting Director for the Sunshine Inn rock concert venue in Asbury Park – Bruce Springsteen often played there early in his career. Dan went on to attend Boston University’s School of Public Communications, concurrent with Howard Stern’s attendance. After working briefly in Manhattan during 1980 at Columbia Pictures, Dan relocated to Los Angeles in the fall of that year, struggling for several months before securing a foothold within the entertainment industry.

Dan’s earliest jobs in Southern California included stints as: the Director of Campus Information for the American Film Institute; the very first in-house Publicist for The Playboy Channel; Senior Publicist for Columbia Pictures Television; and Senior Publicist and Vice President for two of Hollywood’s most powerful entertainment PR firms: Solters/Roskin/Friedman and The Lippin Group.

Branching out on his own just after his 40th birthday, Dan launched the highly regarded, boutique Asbury PR Agency on October 1, 1996. His agency specializes in the representation of clients and individuals working across all areas of the entertainment and leisure industries. 

Among Dan’s areas of PR expertise: Film, TV and Commercials; Visual and Special FX; Broadcast Design & Motion Graphics; Entertainment Marketing; VR, 3D, 4K, and Large Format Film and TV Content; Independent Films; Makeup FX; Large Scale Events; Experiential Marketing; Production Music Libraries; Animation; Themed Entertainment Venues, and other in-front-of and behind-the-camera content producers.  Also, Restaurants; Art Galleries; New Media companies and technologies; B-to-B and consumer advertising campaigns; authors; Live Theater presentations; Notable TV and Film Performers; new product launches; singers/actors/actresses/comedians.

Dan’s PR career highlights have included: Handling all of the national and international press coverage for the 100th Anniversary of the iconic Hollywood restaurant Musso & Frank Grill since 2019. From 2016 – 2018, he was Director of Public Relations for SIGGRAPH, the world’s largest international Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference. Dan also represented the Bohm Law Group, a top California Law Firm which specializes in securing employees’ rights in the workplace. Represented Bohm’s lawsuit against Olympic Gold Medal Champion Shaun White—news of this lawsuit ran across the U.S. and the UK and generated hundreds of thousands of hits on Social Media.

In recent years, Dan handled the public relations and promotion for: the grand opening of the $3.2 billion Studio City Hotel & Resort in Macau, China (U.S. press); the grand opening of “Franz Harary’s House of Magic,” the world’s largest permanent magic show (also in Macau, China;) the First Annual Production Music Awards; the 2015 VIEW International Digital Arts Festival in Turin, Italy; the debut performance of Japan’s #1 Singing Group in the U.S.; a Special Press Event honoring the rock band KISS; and the 24th Annual Animé Expo, which drew 100,000 attendees to the LA Convention Center, garnering significant national and local press coverage. 

Historically, Dan has represented two Academy Award-winning clients: Makeup Artists Robert Short (“Beetlejuice,”) and Barney Burman (“Star Trek,”) along with numerous Emmy Award winning artisans and content creators, including Special Makeup FX legend Todd Masters. He has represented several of the top motion picture and television marketing agencies in Hollywood, including Trailer Park, Buddah Jones, Ant Farm, Aspect Ratio, Craig Murray Productions, Mob Scene, Stun Creative, mOcean, Pittard Sullivan, Troika, AvatarLabs, Pongo, and more. 

Additionally, Dan has repped hundreds of other companies and individuals working across other areas of the creative arts and multi-media: VCE, Inc., Marc Summers Productions, Legacy Design, Jay Silverman Productions, Rodeo FX, The International 3D Society, ArsenalFX, Proof Previs, 32TEN Studios, Athena Studios, Riptide Music Group, Hawthorne Direct, The Artery VFX, Warner Chappell Production Music, The Production Music Association, etc.  

In 2013, Dan announced a proposed sequel to the American film classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” on behalf of one of his production company clients. Media coverage of this project made it the # 1 entertainment story in the world.

From 1989 to 1996, Dan was a Senior VP/Senior Publicist with The Lippin Group, where he represented dozens of entertainment companies, including MCA/Universal Television Studio, MTM Television Studio, KCAL TV News, Grundy TV Worldwide; individual TV series from MCA and Disney TV, including “Harry and the Hendersons,” “The New Lassie,” and “Empty Nest;” special projects such as the Environmental Media Association, the “EMA Awards” (which he conceived,) and the Goldman Environmental Prize; and numerous other new media, home entertainment, and special FX clients.

Between 1987 to 1989, Dan was a Senior Publicist at Solters/Roskin/Friedman Public Relations, where he worked alongside the late, legendary publicist Lee Solters. Dan served as the West Coast publicist for Jay Leno, who had just been named as Johnny Carson’s permanent “Tonight Show” guest host. He also represented comedy icon Sid Caesar, Matty Simmons & National Lampoon Magazine, Landmark Entertainment Group, and many indie films, TV shows, themed-entertainment attractions, musical productions, home video releases, and new entertainment technologies.

Dan handled PR duties for the Syndicated TV division of Columbia Pictures Television from 1985 to 1987. There, he also was in charge of PR for the syndicated TV series “The New Gidget,” “What’s Happening Now!” and “The Real Ghostbusters” animated program.

Dan was the first in-house Publicist for The Playboy Channel (1983-85) where he handled all PR and Program Information for the TV programs, movies and specials which aired on that newly launched pay cable TV channel during this time. Dan also handled promotion for numerous Home Video releases and was involved in PR activities for Channel events which were held at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion West. 

Dan worked as Campus Information Director with The American Film Institute (1981-83) and handled all internal and external communications regarding news on the AFI college campus, including fundraising campaigns, student film projects, and guest speakers.

While working in New York City during summer 1980, Dan, as a Junior Publicist, helped to promote numerous Columbia feature films, including the popular Brooke Shields film “The Blue Lagoon,” “The Hollywood Knights,” “Close Encounters: The Special Edition,” “The Competition,” “Used Cars,” “Wholly Moses,” and others. 

Dan’s first job out of college was serving as an Art Director for The New Jersey Boater, a unique, monthly print magazine which covered news from across from the boating industry throughout the entire Eastern U.S. Seaboard. 

Dan has been a Guest Speaker and Panelist across LA on the topic of entertainment public relations, appearing at events presented by UCLA, the Publicist’s Guild, Loyola Marymount University, Promax/BDA, and the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society. Articles about him have appeared in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, TV Week, the LA Times, the Los Angeles Business Journal, the Asbury Park Press, SHOOT Magazine and the Beverly Hills Courier. 

Dan holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications, 1978, having graduated Cum Laude from Boston University. The father of two adult children, Dan lives in Beverly Hills, CA.