David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor and director of television and film. He was born in New York City, and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was two. He began his acting career performing in school plays at Beverly Hills High School

Beverly Hills High School

Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...

. In 1988, he graduated from Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 with a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in theater and speech. After graduation, Schwimmer co-founded the Lookingglass Theatre Company

Lookingglass Theatre Company

Lookingglass Theatre Company is a non-profit, ensemble-based theater company located in Chicago, Illinois. Their pieces tend to focus on the spectacular and the physical.As of June 2011, Lookingglass has won 42 Joseph Jefferson Awards.-Background:...

. For much of the late-1980s, he lived in Los Angeles as a struggling, unemployed actor.

He appeared in the television movie A Deadly Silence in 1989.