David Schwimmer

Born: November 12 1966
Where: Astoria, New York, USA

The actor is best known for his Emmy Award-winning portrayal of hopeless romantic Ross in the hit American TV sitcom Friends.

However, he has also made memorable forays onto the big screen, including the comedy-drama Breast Men and the Bryan Singer thriller Apt Pupil.

Born in New York but raised in Los Angeles, Schwimmer was encouraged by a high school instructor to attend summer acting classes at Northwestern University.

He went on to study speech and theatre and in 1988 - together with seven other Northwestern graduates - co-founded Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company.

Schwimmer made his screen debut in the 1989 TV movie A Deadly Silence and was first seen on the big screen in the war movie Flight of the Intruder two years later.

At the same time he had recurring roles in the TV shows The Wonder Years and NYPD Blue and had small roles in features including The Pitch and Wolf.

However, it was in 1994 that he attracted widespread attention alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry in Friends.

Schwimmer had failed to land a role in the show Couples...but it was later reconceived by producers as Friends and he was the first actor be cast.

On the big screen, he starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1996 comedy-drama The Pallbearer and followed it with the romantic comedy Kissing A Fool.

In 1998, he co-starred with Harrison Ford in the action adventure Six Days Seven Nights and went to have a supporting role in Apt Pupil as well as making his directorial debut with Since You've Been Gone.

He played a fallen priest alongside Woody Allen in the 2000 comedy Picking Up The Pieces and a essayed a feckless officer in the acclaimed TV mini-series Band of Brothers.

The actor's love interest has included singer and actress Natalie Imbruglia, model and actress Carla Alaponte and rock chick Gina Lee.

Subsequent appearances have included Mike Figgis's Hotel and he provided the voice of Melman in the animated adventure Madagascar.