| David Hyde Pierce | |
| Born: | 3 April 1959 |
| Birthplace: | Saratoga Springs, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Yearsactive: | 1987-present |
| Spouse: | Brian Hargrove |
| Website: | http://davidhydepierce.org |
| Emmyawards: | Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series 1995 Frasier 1998 Frasier 1999 Frasier 2004 Frasier |
| Sagawards: | Best Male Actor - Comedy Series 1996 Frasier Best Ensemble - Comedy Series 1999 Frasier |
| Tonyawards: | Best Leading Actor in a Musical 2007 Curtains |
David Hyde Pierce (born April 3, 1959) is an Emmy Award- and Tony Award-winning American actor, best known for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier.
Pierce was born in Saratoga Springs, New York, the youngest child of Laura Marie (née Hughes) and George Hyde Pierce, who was an insurance agent and aspiring actor.[1] He 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 organ at the local Bethesda Episcopal Church in Saratoga Springs. He began acting in high school and was recognized as best Dramatic Arts student. He also received the Yaddo Medal for character and scholarship in 1977, and worked in theater while a counselor at Camp Kabeyun, in New Hampshire.[2] 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 graduated in 1981 with a double major in English and Theatre Arts. Pierce then moved to New York City, where he worked several jobs including selling ties at Bloomingdale's and working as a security guard while acting in the theater during the late 1980s and early 1990s and studying at Michael Howard Studios.
Pierce's first big television break came when in the early 1990s with Norman Lear's political comedy The Powers That Be. Pierce played Theodore, a Congressman.[3] 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. In part because of his physical resemblance to Kelsey Grammer, the role of Niles Crane on the Cheers spin-off Frasier was created for him.[3] 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.[3] For the last few years of the run of the show, it's speculated that Pierce was paid up to US$1 million per episode.
Pierce also acts in movies from time to time. He appeared alongside Jodie Foster in Little Man Tate, with Anthony Hopkins in Oliver Stone's Nixon, and alongside Ewan McGregor in Down With Love.[3] He also provided the voice for Doctor Doppler in Disney's 42nd animated feature Treasure Planet, Slim, a stick insect in Pixar's A Bug's Life and Abe Sapien in Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy.
In his role in Sleepless in Seattle, Pierce played Meg Ryan's character's brother, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University. Upon his sister's admission that she had been fantasizing about the man in Seattle, Hyde-Pierce's character replied, “It rains nine months of the year in Seattle.” This was roughly one year before the start of Frasier.[3]
In 2005, Pierce joined Tim Curry and others in the stage production Spamalot.[3] In August/September 2006, he starred in Curtains, a new Kander and Ebb musical at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, which transferred to Broadway in March 2007.[3] On June 10, 2007 Pierce won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical at the 61st Tony Awards for his role in Curtains.[3] On November 19, 2007, Pierce was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from Niagara University in Lewiston, New York.
In his Tony acceptance speech for "Curtains," he said the first words he spoke on a Broadway stage were 'I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Pierce has a distinctive voice and, like his Frasier co-star Kelsey Grammer, is often called upon to provide voice work. Some of his more notable roles in this calling include the walking stick insect Slim in A Bug's Life, Doctor Delbert Doppler in Disney's film Treasure Planet, and the amphibian Abe Sapien in Hellboy.[3] Pierce refused credit for his Hellboy role, because he felt that it was the performance of Doug Jones, and not his own voice, which ultimately brought the character of Abe Sapien to life.[4] He provided the voice for Drix, a cold pill in the animated comedy Osmosis Jones. In a deliberate in-joke, he has also voiced Cecil, the brother of Kelsey Grammer-voiced Sideshow Bob, in The Simpsons episode "Brother from Another Series," in which the two characters parallel the Frasier-Niles relationship. At one point, Cecil mistook Bart for Maris, the unseen wife of Niles on Frasier. He once again returned as Cecil in the Season 19 episode "Funeral for a Fiend," this time also joined by Frasier co-star John Mahoney, who provided the voice of Bob and Cecil's father in the episode, mirroring his role as Martin Crane.
In 2006, Pierce co-starred in the animated pilot for The Amazing Screw-On Head as the Screw-On Head's arch-nemesis Emperor Zombie; however, the series was not picked up. His commercial voiceover work includes ads for the Tassimo coffee system.
Possibly because of a jokey reference by Seth MacFarlane in a TV interview, it has become a somewhat common belief that Pierce also stars as Stewie Griffin in the popular animated television show Family Guy. However, this is not true. He was mentioned in two episodes of the show, but he did not lend his voice or even appear. In one episode a newscast voiceover said he had a wardrobe malfunction on the Primetime Emmys which exposed his testicles on national television. In the second, the "Family Guy 100th Episode Special", one of the surveyed viewers asked if Pierce was the voice of Stewie Griffin, and was told that he was (for comedic effect; Stewie is voiced by creator Seth MacFarlane). However MacFarlane has compared DHP to Stewie on a number of occasions, and even asserted he would like Pierce to play the character in a live action version of the show. By a curious coincidence, Stewie's best friend and, on occasion, the object of his romantic attachment, is Brian Griffin. Brian is also the name of Pierce's husband.
After years of speculation about his sexuality, his relationship with long-time partner, television writer, director and producer Brian Hargrove was made public in 2007. Pierce later confirmed, through his publicist, that he and Hargrove were indeed a couple.[5] [6] When accepting his Tony Award for Curtains, Pierce thanked "my partner, Brian, because it's 24 years of listening to your damn notes — that's why I'm up here tonight."[7] He and Hargrove were married in California in October 2008, just before Proposition 8 was adopted as law.[8] They live in New York and Los Angeles with two Wheaten Terriers, Maude and Mabel.
Pierce is very active in fighting for research into Alzheimer's Disease, as his father and grandfather suffered from the disease. He is also a regular supporter of AIDS charities.