David Schwimmer’s performance as Ross, a sensitive, hopeless romantic, has earned him an Emmy Award nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series as well as popular and critical acclaim for his versatility on stage, in film and television in a wide variety of roles.

Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles, Schwimmer was encouraged by a high school instructor to attend a summer program in acting at Northwestern University. Inspired by that experience, he returned to Northwestern where he received a bachelor’s degree in speech/theater. In 1988, along with seven other Northwestern graduates, he co-founded Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre Company -- an ensemble of actors, writers, directors and designers (now 20-members strong) dedicated to creating vibrant new works for the American stage.

Schwimmer’s stage acting credits with Lookingglass include Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot,” as well as “The Master and Margarita,” “Arabian Nights,” “In the Eye of the Beholder,” “West,” “Of One Blood” and “The Odyssey.” In addition, he starred in the premiers of Roger Kumble’s “D Girl” in Los Angeles and Warren Leight’s “Glimmer Brothers” in Williamstown.

Schwimmer’s stage directing credits include his adaptation of “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, which received six Joseph Jefferson Awards, “The Serpent” and “Alice in Wonderland,” which toured to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. He also directed the feature film “Since You’ve Been Gone” for Miramax, and continues to direct episodes of “Friends.”

Schwimmer is currently adapting the book “Race,” by Studs Terkel, which he will direct as the opening production for his drama company’s new theater, now under construction, in Chicago in May 2003.

Among Schwimmer’s feature credits are “Hotel” (a dark comedy from Mike Figgis) “It’s the Rage,” “Picking up the Pieces,” “Six Days, Seven Nights,” “Apt Pupil,” “Kissing a Fool,” “The Pallbearer,” “Crossing the Bridge” and the critically acclaimed HBO TV projects longform projects “Band of Brothers” and “Breast Men.” His television credits include “Uprising,” Jon Avnet’s 2001 miniseries about the Warsaw Ghetto resistance during World War II, as well as recurring roles on such series as “NYPD Blue,” “The Wonder Years” and “L.A. Law.”

Schwimmer is on the board of directors of the Rape Foundation for the Rape Treatment Center of Santa Monica, plays various sports and enjoys a friendly game of poker. He has residences in Los Angeles and Chicago. His birthday is November 2. Source - NBC.COM