Biography
Born and raised in Saratoga Springs, New York, he is the youngest child of George and Laura Pierce and has two older sisters (Barbara and Nancy) and an older brother (Thomas). As a child he became very interested in the piano and frequently played lead organ at the local Bethesda Episcopal Church in Saratoga Springs. He began acting in high school, even receiving the Yaddo Medal for best Dramatic Arts student. However, his love of music was still strong so he decided to study classical piano at Yale University. Unfortunately, he soon grew bored with music history lessons and found that he wasn't dedicated enough to practice the required amount of hours to become a successful concert pianist. Instead, he returned to his love of drama and graduated in 1981 with a double major in English and Theatre Arts at Yale University. Pierce then moved to New York City where he worked several menial jobs (including selling ties at Bloomingdales and working as a security guard) while acting in the theater during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
David currently resides in Los Angeles with his two Wheaton Terriers, Emma and Mabel, and remains very close to his three siblings.
Emmy Awards Wins
Throughout Frasier's eleven year run (1993-2004), David was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor each year. He has won the Emmy award for best supporting actor in a comedy series four times:
1995: David Hyde Pierce, Frasier
1998: David Hyde Pierce, Frasier
1999: David Hyde Pierce, Frasier
2004: David Hyde Pierce, Frasier
Professional life
Pierce's first big television break came in the early 90's with Norman Lear's The Powers That Be (TV series). Pierce played Theodore, a suicidal congressman on the political comedy. Despite positive reviews from critics, the show was cancelled after a brief run. Pierce has commented in interviews that the cancellation came as a shock to him and that he was very disappointed the show did not continue.
His career would soon, however, take off with a role on another sitcom. Because of his resemblance to Kelsey Grammer, the role of Niles Crane on the Cheers spin-off Frasier was created for him. For this role, Pierce was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy for a record eleven consecutive years, winning in 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2004. For the last few years of the run of the show, Pierce was paid up to USD$1 million per episode.
Pierce also acts in movies from time to time. He appeared alongside Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle, with Jodie Foster in Little Man Tate and alongside Ewan McGregor in Down With Love. He also provided the voice for Doctor Doppler in Disney's 42nd animated feature, Treasure Planet.
Pierce has a distinctive voice and, like his Frasier co-star Kelsey Grammer, is called on often to provide voice work. Some of his more notable roles in this calling include the Walking Stick insect "Slim" in A Bug's Life and the amphibian Abe Sapien in Hellboy. In a deliberate in-joke, he has also voiced Sideshow Bob's brother, Cecil, in one episode of The Simpsons, in which he and Grammer essentially recreated the Frasier/Niles relationship. The episode was humourously titled Brother from Another Series.
In 2005 he joined Tim Curry and others in the stage production of Spamalot. David Hyde Pierce is a supporter of the rights of the gay and lesbian community, but his own sexual orientation is not publicly known, as he prefers to keep it private. He has stated: "I live my life as an open book. I just don't intend to read it to anyone."
Quotes
"Her lips said "No", but her eyes said "Read my lips."
"While you were over there mixing metaphors like a Cuisinart, I was writing."
