Hayes was born in Trinidad and moved to Canada as a youth.

From an early age, Daniel Hayes played soccer, basketball, football, amateur boxing, baseball, and swimming.

[2] Hayes later studied acting at The Second City and Groundlings, and trained at The Ivana Chubbuck Studio.

[3] Hayes began his career as a print model in magazines and billboard ads for Gap, Guess, Nike, Sony, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Armani Exchange and Andrew Christian.

[4] In 2016, Hayes worked with filmmaker KB Kutz on The Honey Badger, a 15-minute boxing documentary that closely follows the life of Hayes as he prepares for his professional bout in Mexico.