Star Facts
- David’s first acting role was as the fairy godmother in a Jewish version of Cinderella at age 10
- His mum is a successful divorce lawyer who’s represented Elizabeth Taylor and Roseanne
- David turned down Will Smith's role in Men in Black
- He went to the same high school as Angelina Jolie, Nicolas Cage and Lenny Kravitz
David Lawrence Schwimmer Quotes
It's really important to me not to be known as Ross when I'm 60
Biography:
Bumbling Friends star David was born in New York but moved to LA when he was 2. He caught the acting bug when he attended a Shakespeare workshop given by Ian McKellen when he was 13. He attended Beverly Hills High School and studied drama at university before going on to land TV roles in The Wonder Years, LA Law and Blossom.
David was catapulted to megastardom after being cast awkward paleontologist Ross in the smash hit series Friends in 1994. Friends became the highest rated show in America and eventually earned David and his co-stars an astounding $1 million per episode. Each.
After turning down Will Smith’s role in Men in Black (that would have been terrible) he went on to star in his first leading film role in 1996 dark comedy The Pallbearer with Gwyneth Paltrow. A series of forgettable rom-coms and a role in what is undoubtedly the worst Wood Allen film of all time, the straight-to-video Picking up the Pieces, followed.
Worse was to come when he starred in the Steven Spielberg-produced WWII mini-series Band of Brothers. The series won critical acclaim, but David’s performance as a hard as nails army captain was utterly panned.
He’s since gone on to appear in Curb Your Enthusiasm, directed his first movie, the hit comedy Run Fat Boy Run, and earned his biggest big screen success to date in a series of films where he doesn’t actually appear on screen, voicing Melman the hypochondriac giraffe in Madagascar.