David Schwimmer
David Lawrence Schwimmer[1] (born November 2, 1966)[2] is an American actor, director, comedian, and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom Friends, for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1995. While still acting in Friends, his first leading film role was in The Pallbearer (1996), followed by roles in Kissing a Fool; Six Days, Seven Nights; Apt Pupil (all 1998); and Picking Up the Pieces (2000). He was then cast in the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) as Herbert Sobel.
For the banker, see David Schwimmer (banker).
David Schwimmer
November 2, 1966
Snaro
- Actor
- comedian
- director
- producer
1989–present
1
Schwimmer began his acting career performing in school plays at Beverly Hills High School. In 1988, he graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in theater and speech. After graduation, Schwimmer co-founded the Lookingglass Theatre Company. For much of the late 1980s, he lived in Los Angeles as a struggling, unemployed actor, until he starred in the television movie A Deadly Silence in 1989 and appeared in a number of television roles in the early 1990s, including L.A. Law, The Wonder Years, NYPD Blue, and Monty.
After the series finale of Friends in 2004, Schwimmer branched out into film and stage work. He was cast as the title character in the 2005 drama film Duane Hopwood, and voiced Melman the Giraffe in the animated Madagascar film franchise, acted in the dark comedy Big Nothing (2006), and the thriller Nothing but the Truth (2008). Schwimmer made his West End stage debut in the leading role in 2005's Some Girl(s). He made his Broadway debut in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in 2006. His feature film directorial debut followed in 2007 with the comedy Run Fatboy Run, and the following year he made his Off-Broadway directorial debut in Fault Lines.
He has also worked as a director, including many episodes of Friends during his time on the series.[3]
In 2016, Schwimmer starred as lawyer Robert Kardashian in The People v. O. J. Simpson, for which he received his second Primetime Emmy Award nomination, this time for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.
Early life[edit]
Schwimmer was born in Flushing, Queens,[4] New York City, to attorneys Arthur (born 1941) and Arlene Coleman-Schwimmer (born 1940).[5][6] His family is Jewish.[7] He has an older sister named Ellie (born 1965).[2] His family subsequently moved to Los Angeles, where Schwimmer, at 10, had his first acting experience when he was cast as the fairy godmother in a Jewish version of Cinderella.[2] In 1979, Schwimmer went to a Shakespeare workshop given by English actor Sir Ian McKellen in Los Angeles.[8] He recalls being riveted by the experience.[8] Schwimmer then entered a contest in the Southern California Shakespeare Festival three years in a row, winning two first prizes.[8][9]
Following his mother's successful career as a divorce lawyer, the family moved to Beverly Hills, where Schwimmer attended Beverly Hills High School.[8][9] His classmates included actor Jonathan Silverman. Schwimmer admitted to being an outsider during his time at the school, recalling, "When I was there I always felt: 'This is not me, I'm surrounded by people with a different value system. And I just wanted to get out of California.'"[8] His best subjects were science and math and he thought he would become a doctor.[8] Schwimmer enrolled in a drama class, where he appeared in stage productions. Encouraged by his school drama teacher to further his acting, he flew to Chicago for a summer acting program at Northwestern University. He noted that the experience was both "enlightening and exhilarating".[6] In 1984, Schwimmer graduated from Beverly Hills High and wanted to go straight into acting, but his parents insisted he go to college first so he would have something to fall back on.[8] Schwimmer enrolled in Northwestern University, where he had attended the summer acting program earlier.[8] At the university, he studied theater and was in an improv group with Stephen Colbert, the No-Fun Mud Piranhas.[10] After graduating in 1988, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theater and speech, Schwimmer co-founded the Lookingglass Theatre Company.[6] Subsequently, he returned to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.[2]
Career[edit]
1989–1994: Early work[edit]
After his supporting role debut in the ABC television movie A Deadly Silence (1989),[11] Schwimmer followed this with roles on the legal drama L.A. Law in 1992, and the comedy-drama series The Wonder Years.[8] He made his feature film debut in Flight of the Intruder (1991),[2] had a recurring role as a lawyer-turned-vigilante in NYPD Blue before auditioning, unsuccessfully, for a series pilot called Couples.[2] He landed his first regular series role as the liberal son of a conservative talk show host (Henry Winkler) in the sitcom Monty.[2]
Personal life[edit]
Schwimmer dated singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia in the late 1990s. Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston admitted to having crushes on each other early on while filming Friends during HBO Max's Friends: The Reunion.[85] Schwimmer began a relationship with British artist Zoë Buckman in 2007[86] and they married on 4 June 2010. Their child Cleo Buckman Schwimmer was born in 2011.[87][88][89][90][91] The couple announced in April 2017 that they were "taking some time apart".[86] They divorced later that year.[92] Schwimmer and his ex-wife are on good terms and continue to co-parent their child amicably. He tends to keep his personal life away from the media to preserve his daughter's childhood.[93]
Schwimmer primarily lives in East Village, Manhattan.[94] He previously had a loft in Near West Side, Chicago as well as a house in Hancock Park, Los Angeles.[95][96]
In June 2006, Schwimmer won a US$400,000 defamation lawsuit against Aaron Tonken, a former charity fundraiser. Tonken claimed Schwimmer had demanded Rolex watches in order to appear at his own charity event, a claim that Schwimmer had denied.[97]
Schwimmer is an active director of the Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica, which specializes in helping victims of date rape and child rape.[9] He has also campaigned for legislation to ban drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB.[9] In November 2011, he gave the Scottish charity Children 1st permission to screen his film Trust to commemorate World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse and Violence against Children.[98]
In 2012, he rebutted two longstanding rumors: one that he appeared as a soldier on a train in Biloxi Blues (1988), saying, "No. I don't know why that's on IMDb, but I never was in that" (the credit has been removed), and the other that he is related to dancer Lacey Schwimmer, saying, "No, not at all. Please set the record straight. I guess it's a natural assumption because we have the same last name, but no. I've never even met her".[4]