David Henry Sterry
Encyclopedia
David Henry Sterry is an American
author
, actor
/comic
, and former sex worker
.
to Robin Williams
to Dana Carvey
. As an actor, he appeared on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
, Sister Sister
, and the HBO/CTW show Encyclopedia
, where he played characters ranging from George Washington
and Napoleon Bonaparte to Leif Erikson and a leech enthusiast.
He wrote the movie script Army Dog for Disney. His one-man show, based on his memoir Chicken, debuted internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Sterry is also an activist, a teacher, and a book doctor. He has taught at Stanford University
, the University of New Orleans
, the University of Amsterdam, and ran a writing workshop for at-risk teenagers and survivors of the sex industry for the United States Department of Justice in Washington DC in 2005. Sterry co-edited the Soft Skull Press
anthology Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rant Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money and Sex, which was featured on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Book Review on August 23, 2009.
In the 1980s Sterry was "Emcee" at Chippendales Male Strip Club in New York, which was the subject of Sterry's second memoir, Master of Ceremonies.
He performs his show Sex Worker Literati all over the country. The show consists of people from the sex industry reading and performing their work, and is based on an article which featured him, written by Alex Kuczynski in the New York Times. Sterry is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.
as a "studiously wild souvenier", details his experiences as a teenage hustler in 1970s Hollywood.
, The Times
, The Sunday Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post
, New York Magazine, Penthouse
. Details Magazine, nthWORD
, BBC Radio
, and NPR's Morning Edition, Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation. Chicken was published by Judith Regan for HarperCollins in 2002, and by Canongate in the UK in April, 2003, and it has been translated into many languages.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
/comic
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, and former sex worker
Sex worker
A sex worker is a person who works in the sex industry. The term is usually used in reference to those in the sex industry that actually provide such sexual services, as opposed to management and staff of such industries...
.
Biography
Sterry started in show business as a standup comedian in the early 1980s, opening for acts ranging from Milton BerleMilton Berle
Milton Berlinger , better known as Milton Berle, was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater , in 1948 he was the first major star of U.S. television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr...
to Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
to Dana Carvey
Dana Carvey
Dana Thomas Carvey is an American actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for playing the role of Garth in the Wayne's World movies.-Early life:...
. As an actor, he appeared on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996. The show stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia who is sent to move in with his aunt and uncle in their...
, Sister Sister
Sister, Sister (TV series)
Sister, Sister is an American television sitcom about identical twin girls Tia Landry and Tamera Campbell , who were separated and adopted at birth, when one day they come face-to-face after 14 years apart....
, and the HBO/CTW show Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia (TV series)
Encyclopedia was a television series created by the HBO Network and the for-profit branch of the Children's Television Workshop , Distinguished Productions. The series premiered on the HBO network in 1988....
, where he played characters ranging from George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
and Napoleon Bonaparte to Leif Erikson and a leech enthusiast.
He wrote the movie script Army Dog for Disney. His one-man show, based on his memoir Chicken, debuted internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Sterry is also an activist, a teacher, and a book doctor. He has taught at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, the University of New Orleans
University of New Orleans
The University of New Orleans, often referred to locally as UNO, is a medium-sized public urban university located on the New Orleans Lakefront within New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is a member of the LSU System and the Urban 13 association. Currently UNO is without a proper chancellor...
, the University of Amsterdam, and ran a writing workshop for at-risk teenagers and survivors of the sex industry for the United States Department of Justice in Washington DC in 2005. Sterry co-edited the Soft Skull Press
Soft Skull Press
Soft Skull Press is an independent publisher founded by Sander Hicks in 1992, and run by Richard Eoin Nash from 2001 to 2009. In 2007, Nash sold Soft Skull to Counterpoint LLC, where it continues to function as a division of the press...
anthology Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rant Boys: Professionals Writing on Life, Love, Money and Sex, which was featured on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Book Review on August 23, 2009.
In the 1980s Sterry was "Emcee" at Chippendales Male Strip Club in New York, which was the subject of Sterry's second memoir, Master of Ceremonies.
He performs his show Sex Worker Literati all over the country. The show consists of people from the sex industry reading and performing their work, and is based on an article which featured him, written by Alex Kuczynski in the New York Times. Sterry is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.
Chicken
Sterry's 2002 memoir, Chicken: Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent, described by The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as a "studiously wild souvenier", details his experiences as a teenage hustler in 1970s Hollywood.
Features
Sterry has been featured in The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Sunday Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, New York Magazine, Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
. Details Magazine, nthWORD
NthWORD
nthWORD is a quarterly online magazine for creative people, by creative people. The magazine publishes works of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry and art by both established and emerging writers and artists, as well as mock ads...
, BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
, and NPR's Morning Edition, Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation. Chicken was published by Judith Regan for HarperCollins in 2002, and by Canongate in the UK in April, 2003, and it has been translated into many languages.
External links
- Chicken Self-Portrait of a Young Man for Rent Amazon
- America in Rehab NPR
- Festival: Path from whore to media whore Sunday Times
- Master of Ceremonies: A True Story of Love, Murder, Roller Skates and Chippendales Amazon
- 60 SECONDS: David Henry Sterry METRO
- Melting Down at Ikea: David Henry Sterry nthWORD
- I Was a Poster Boy for Sex Addicts: David Henry Sterry nthWORD