Of Italian (Calabrese) descent, Cortese was born on September 14, 1967, in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Quaker Valley High School in Leetsdale, where he played football and basketball. Prior to becoming an actor, Cortese played college football at the University of North Carolina as a backup quarterback. In his freshman year in 1986, the Tar Heels went to the Aloha Bowl in Hawaii. Cortese graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts degree in broadcasting in 1990.

In 1993, per producer Joel Silver, Cortese made two separate cameos (Taco Bell Lounge singer and a Cryo Prison guard) in the hit Sylvester Stallone film Demolition Man. Also, in 1993, Cortese landed the lead role in NBC’s remake of “Route 66”. In 1994, he co-starred in the CBS police drama Traps with Academy Award winner George C. Scott. He gained further recognition in 1995 as Jess Hanson in Melrose Place. He played Jake Hanson’s half brother for 8 episodes in the third season but he was killed off in that season’s cliffhanger finale. In 1996 Cortese played the lead role of Jason in the TV movie The Lottery for NBC. The film turned out to be the highest rated of the year for the network. Also in 1996, he starred in the feature film “Weekend In The Country” opposite Jack Lemmon, as well as the HBO film “Public Enemies”.

From 1997 to 2000 Cortese starred opposite Kirstie Alley in Veronica’s Closet, part of NBC’s “Must See TV” Thursday night lineup. Then in 2000, he starred opposite Brooke Shields in the feature film, “After Sex”. Cortese followed that up in 2001 with the TBS film, “The Triangle” opposite Luke Perry. In 2003 Cortese came back to comedy and was the lead of the sitcom Rock Me Baby.

From 2002 to 2003 Cortese also starred in The WB television series What I Like About You in a recurring role as Val’s boss, Vic Maledeo. He reprised the role as a series regular from 2005 to 2006 during the fourth and final season. He also directed the episode “The Other Woman” that same season. In 2004 he appeared in two episodes of 8 Simple Rules, playing Bridget’s (Kaley Cuoco) tennis coach. Also in 2004 he starred in the Sci-Fi film Locusts: The 8th Plague for SyFy.

In 2008, producer Mark Burnett then hired Cortese to host My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad for NBC. Dan got back to his athletic roots for ABC and appeared in the eight episode special Superstars.

In 2008, Cortese landed a starring role in the feature film Soccer Mom as Lorenzo Vincenzo, a world-famous Italian soccer player alongside Emily Osment.

He was the co-host of the ABC game show, Crash Course in 2009 Also in 2009 he starred opposite Bob Saget as a series regular in the sitcom, “Surviving Suburbia”. In 2010 Cortese hosted VH-1’s weight loss competition, Money Hungry.

In 2012 Cortese guest-starred in the Hot in Cleveland episode (#3.8) titled “God and Football” playing a professional football player, Jimmy Armstrong.

In 2013 and 2014, Cortese served a two-year run as the host of truTV’s Guinness World Records Unleashed. In 2015 Cortese starred in the feature film “Changing Seasons” and in 2019 Dan shows off his rapping skills on the hit TBS show, “Drop The Mic”.

On October 11, 2014, while reprising his role as Stefon on Saturday Night Live, Bill Hader repeatedly mentions Dan Cortese’s name during the show’s Weekend Update segment when he speaks of New York City’s hot spots.