Background
Drent was born in Pretoria and raised until the age of 8 in Potchefstroom, South Africa.
Drent was born in Pretoria and raised until the age of 8 in Potchefstroom, South Africa.
After finishing school Drent studied business at university and worked in the property development industry.
He is best known to television audiences as Daniel Potts in the long-running soap opera Shortland Street. In January 1996 Drent and his family moved to New Zealand and he remembers watching Shortland Street for the first time and being bewildered by the accents. After doing part-time work in television commercials, Drent "caught the acting bug."
Beginnings and Shortland Street
Becoming a model, Drent was signed to 11 Modeling Agency and quickly became a regular on the catwalk.
He started to attend a Meisner Acting course and in 2008 auditioned for an upcoming role on the long-running soap opera Shortland Street.
The role was a recasting of past character Daniel Potts who was the badboy illegitimate son of major character, Sarah Potts. Drent was called back after a first audition and after performing alongside the actress of Sarah, Amanda Billing, Drent was awarded the role.
He made his debut on the show in March 2009 and quickly picked up a heart throb status. Foreign his role on Shortland Street, Drent was nominated and awarded with numerous awards including in 2010 the New Zealand television Guide Best on the Box award for "Rising Star".
He also run runner up for "Hottest Male Actor" in the Throng Shortland Street Fan Awards 2010, losing out to onscreen step father Benjamin Mitchell.
In 2011 Drent was nominated for a Girlfriend Faves Forever award for "Celeb Male 2011" for his role in Shortland Street and "Favourite television star" in the What Now awards. In 2012 Drent quit his role on Shortland Street to pursue career opportunities in Australia, he commented: "Foreign me, broadening myself as an actor, it was imperative that I move on, even if it meant losing a bit of security and taking a big risk." Following his move to Australia, Drent landed a role on the fourth season of television show, Offspring, making his debut in May 2013. Drent was praised by his costar Matthew Le Nevez, "He"s got such a nice, calming energy.