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
It's really important to me not to be known as Ross when I'm 60.
Sometimes I've felt that the industry has typecast me as a certain kind of character. But then I think all it really takes is one role, the right role, to shake that up and change that perception.
I think a huge amount of it is because of the Internet. Every single thing in the world is accessible with a few clicks. Almost every child, by the age of 13, has seen pornography. That's clearly different. It used to be really hard or really humiliating, as a 13-year-old, to access pornography. If you wanted to take a look at a Playboy, it was really challenging. Today, it's a joke.
Being generous or doing things for others actually makes me feel good so I don't do it because I hope karma will come round and get me and I'll benefit from it.
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.
I think the other honest attraction was that I just grew up loving watching TV and loving watching film, and there's so many directors and actors that I dreamed of working with, I just really wanted to take a crack at it and see if I could ever work with some of those.
It was really interesting to be editing the film [Trust] in New York and directing the play in Chicago, and one definitely informed the other. The play probably benefitted more because I realized what scenes could be cut, and I cut those scenes from the play.
There are certain pressures and things that change your life to a degree that, in the cost benefit analysis that constantly goes on, sometimes makes you think, 'Maybe I should just leave.
I would say acting on stage is my first love.
My parents from a very young age raised my sister and I under a pressure to achieve. Theyre both attorneys. So good marks, getting through university, there was a huge emphasis and pressure to do well and keep going.
At this age - I'm 44 - I think life's too short. I want it to mean something to me, if I'm going to spend that much time doing it.
I spend half my time just living my life, and the other half analyzing it.
Ive always been pretty energetic.
And the thing is, every time you start a new show or do a new series, you're committing to another six years.