David Schwimmer
David Schwimmer
David Lawrence Schwimmer is an American actor, director, producer and comedian. He was born in Flushing, Queens, New York, and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was 2. He 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...
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth2 November 1966
CityAstoria, NY
To be perfectly honest, I feel I have a duty to use my celebrity status in a positive way.
My advice would be to write what is most personal and specific to your experience or your life. And your voice will emerge and because of its specificity, it will be universal.
I like to grow as an actor, and you can do that by playing parts that are unfamiliar to you and uncomfortable.
Directing is something I always wanted to do. I started when I was 13 directing scenes in high school and then plays in college with my theatre company.
When I was six years old, my parents took me to this farmers' market with a petting zoo. They put me on a pony and, for some reason, it took off at a run and they had to chase it down. They tell me it was kind of traumatic.
It's a job - someone's gotta kiss Jennifer Aniston. The reality is, Jennifer and I can do our job well because we truly are friends. But when the day's over, she goes home to her boyfriend and I go home to a magazine.
London is completely unpredictable when it comes to weather. You'll start a scene, and it's a beautiful morning. You get there at 6 in the morning, set up, you start the scene, start shooting. Three hours later, it is pitch black and rainy.
Knowing yourself and expressing it is hip. I think knowing yourself is the real journey, for me anyway.
When you're playing the same character for a decade it's natural that there are moments when you want to try something new.
I like to challenge myself. I like to learn - so I like to try new things and try to keep growing.
I had a mustache when I was 13.
If there's something I want, I go for it. I just think about how I'm going to go for it.
Directing takes a lot longer than acting. This was about seven years in development, and then two and a half years with pre-production, production, post and now the release. Not that I have people banging on my door to star in movies, but it takes me out of the acting game for a longer chunk of time.
There are days when I think: what if I just checked out? What if I grew a beard and went off to live somewhere remote? I have often wondered about the freedom that would bring.