Born on the afternoon of January 5th, 1951 in Shelbyville, Illinois to Betty and Bill Pearson. His father left his two children with Betty and returned to his former wife and their children when Daryl was eighteen months old. Bill's children, Daryl and his older sister Virginia, were given up for an arranged sibling adoption when Daryl was four and Virginia was five. The court learned about and stopped the illegally arranged adoption by a pair of college professors interested in gifted children and the two children were individually adopted by farming families. A drowning experience produced retrograde amnesia so Daryl grew up not knowing anything of his birth family or preadoption expereince. Renamed Daniel Latch, Daryl grew up working on the family dairy farm and later in the family's restaurant and entertainment complex. These experiences allowed abundant opportunities for natural interest in theatrics and Daryl sang, danced, and acted in community, school, and church productions. At seventeen he played the lead in his high schools award winning one act play, Parents Are People. After graduation from high school, Daryl left play-acting behind for hard reality. He joined the Marine Corps and began a twelve year international career in military arms which allowed him to travel, live, and work in a dozen Asian and European countries. At thirty, Daryl attended a play for the first timme since high school and immediately fell in love with the craft again. He immediately auditioned for the next production, Cabaret, and won local acclaim as the playboy Nazi, Herr Ludwig. Opting to continue acting on the corporate stage, Daryl would not return to acting for twenty years. However, as a graduate student in the mid eighties, he created The Wall Within, a dramatic documentary and dance performance on the war in Vietnam and post-traumatic stress disorder. The healing effects produced caused this production to be adopted by several PTSD counseling programs. In 1997, Daryl found his birth family, his long lost sister, and began recovering from his amnesia. Following the events of 9/11, Daryl moved to Los Angeles to pursue his lifelong love and to tell the story of that day in 1997 when he caught up with his past.
