"It's really important to me not to be known as Ross when I'm 60." --Entertainment Weekly, April 1996
When “Friends” first burst onto the scene in the fall of 1994, it was David Schwimmer’s Ross that had female fans swooning. Ok, so Ross is kind of a dork, but it was his endearing crush on Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel that had fans tuning in each week. Schwimmer even earned an Emmy nomination during “Friends” first season, and has since starred in several movies. However, when all is said and done, and whether he likes it or not, its his sensitive portrayal of Ross that attracts him to audiences.
Schwimmer was born in Queens to parents Arthur and Arlene, both lawyers. He was raised in Los Angeles, and attended Beverly Hills High School. After dabbling in theater and acting classes in high school he decided to attend Northwestern University as a theater major. He graduated in 1988 with a degree in theatre and Speech.
Upon graduating, he and a bunch of friends from Northwestern started their own company called the Lookingglass Theater Company, in Chicago. For a few years after college, he spent most of his time at Lookingglass, performing in and directing plays, as well as working to get the company off the ground. Since then, he has starred in and directed numerous plays for the company, and has also done other theater work during his summer hiatuses.
Also during this time, he dabbled in television, and commuted to LA every once in a while for guest stints on shows such as “The Wonder Years” and “NYPD Blue.” He was then cast in the sitcom “Monty” opposite Henry Winkler, which was cancelled shortly after it premiered. He was just about to give up on sitcoms, when “Friends” producers Marta Kauffman and David Crane noticed him. He had already auditioned for another sitcom they were developing, and when they created “Friends,” they created the role of Ross with David in mind.
Needless to say, Schwimmer was cast as Ross without an audition, and he finally found sitcom success when “Friends” took off. Although Schwimmer seemed at first to be the breakout star, by “Friends” second season, all of his co-stars were becoming just as famous. When asked what has kept him on “Friends” for six years, he explains that if the cast members didn’t have so much fun together, the show wouldn’t have lasted this long. He recently told People magazine, “… We like each other tremendously and get along very well. We’re having as much fun as we did the first year, if not more.” He also explained that in the six years they’ve been working together, “We’ve really grown to be brothers and sisters more than anything else.” Aside from his co-stars, it’s the writing and character development that keeps him on the show. He also told Entertainment Weekly that he enjoys playing Ross year after year because the character keeps changing and growing.
Once the movie scripts began pouring in, Schwimmer tried to choose his parts carefully. His first film was “The Pallbearer” a dark comedy in which he starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow. Other movie roles followed, but he got his big break in directing in “Since You’ve Been Gone,” which starred many of his friends from Lookingglass. Since then, he’s also directed an episode of “Friends.”
Although reluctant to talk about his personal life, he has said that friendship is one of the most important things in his life. He is currently dating actress Mili Avital, whom he met on the set of the film “Kissing a Fool.”
