David Cross Biography: In His Own Words – Exclusive Video, News, Photos, Age

David Cross is an American actor, director and comedian who is best known for his stand-up performances, as well as his role as Tobias Fünke in the cult Netflix sitcom Arrested Development.

DAVID CROSS BIOGRAPHY: AGE, EARLY LIFE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

David Cross was born on April 4, 1964 (David Cross age: 59) in Roswell, Georgia, to a Jewish family. His father, Barry, emigrated from Leeds, England. Half a year after his birth, Cross and his family relocated to Florida. After a couple of additional moves to Connecticut and New York, Cross settled back in Roswell, where he and his family remained for about a decade. Cross is the eldest of three children, having two younger sisters, Juli and Wendy Cross.

Growing up, Cross’s family didn’t have much money. Cross even recalled being evicted from their home, after which he spent time living in motels and at friends’ houses. Barry abandoned the family when Cross was just 10 years old, and the two haven’t spoken with one another since Cross was 19, despite having both lived in New York City at the same time, before Cross sold his home there in 2011.

DAVID CROSS BIOGRAPHY: CAREER

At 17 years old, Cross started performing stand-up comedy and moved to New York City the day after he graduated from Northside High School in Atlanta. He began his professional television career while working as a writer on The Ben Stiller Show. Cross was hired near the end of its run, occasionally making minor appearances in the sketches. He did have a speaking role in “The Legend of T.J. O’Pootertoot,” a sketch that was written almost entirely by Cross himself. It was during this period of time when he was first introduced to fellow actor and comedian Bob Odenkirk, a man with whom Cross would later end up co-creating the HBO comedy sketch Mr. Show in 1995. In 1993, Cross was awarded an Emmy for his work on The Ben Stiller Show.

In an exclusive interview with uInterview, Cross spoke about how and when he knew he wanted to pursue acting and stand-up comedy full time.

“I mean, I knew I wanted to be an actor before I ever got jobs,” Cross recalled. “But more than that I wanted to be a stand-up. Not that they’re mutually exclusive things, obviously, but that was really what I thought I’d end up doing more, I guess. I did a bunch of sketch stuff in Boston, but then I got hired to be a writer on the Ben Stiller Show and I got to do a couple things on camera there, and I felt like, ‘yeah, I could do this, this would be fun’, but I kind of always, even when I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be an actor, a filmmaker, be involved in this kind of aspect of things in front of and behind the camera. But also stand up was really my thing.”

DAVID CROSS BIOGRAPHY: AWARDS

In 1993, Cross received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series as a result of his impressive work on The Ben Stiller Show. For his HBO comedy sketch Mr. Show, Cross landed three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. In addition, Cross was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor for a television series for his  role in the American sitcom television series Arrested Development, and, along with his cast members, received nominations for three Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. For his stand-up specials alone, Cross gained nominations for multiple Grammy Awards.

DAVID CROSS BIOGRAPHY: PERSONAL LIFE

After about four years of dating, Cross became engaged to fellow American actress and writer Amber Tamblyn. They married in 2012 and, five years later, announced that they had a daughter together.

Although Cross was born as a Jew, he considers himself to be an atheist. 

In September of 2013, Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler mentioned that Cross happened to be the first investor in the crowdfunding platform, and Strickler even included Cross among those in his “friends and family” circle who helped finance Kickstarter back in 2006.