David Hyde Pierce is an American actor, writer, director, producer, and comedian. Pierce's most notable acting roles are in the television series Glee as the father of Kurt Hummel and Sheldon Cooper, in the film The 40 Year-Old Virgin, in which he plays a fictionalized version of himself, and in the independent film Juno. He is also known for his role as Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier.
Pierce was born in New Haven, Connecticut to William J
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Pierce, a writer and professor at Yale University, and his wife Susan (née Shaffer). He is the youngest child of their three children. His siblings are brother Jonathan Hyde Pierce (born 1963) and sister Elizabeth Joan Pierce (born 1967).
Pierce was initially raised in Westport, Connecticut before moving to New Haven when he was 8 years old. His family attended Trinity-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church when he was younger. He graduated from New Canaan Country School in 1979.
Pierce started his career when he was young at age 10 performing with an improvisational theater troupe called "The Party." He continued performing in theater throughout his teens at TheatreWorks in Stamford where he starred in two shows: "The Apple Tree" by Arthur Miller and "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare.
After high school he won a scholarship to attend The Juilliard School where he majored in Drama & Performance Arts & minored in English Literature. While attending Juilliard Pierce worked at Goodspeed Musicals Theatre Company where he played the lead role of John Proctor/Hughie/Billy Budd in "My Fair Lady".
Around this same time Pierce began working with David Shiner who taught him comedy writing. After graduating from The Juilliard School Pierce created his own company called "Dave Hyde Productions" to produce short films that parody popular culture while simultaneously promoting his comedy writing skills.
The first short film that Pierce produced was called "The Pancake Man", which parodied other famous personalities like Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and other icons; all while poking fun at celebrity culture itself. This first short film made its national debut on Comedy Central's televised CollegeHumor Showcase on October 8th 2004; which included many notable guests like Jon Stewart (host), Stephen Colbert (Anderson Cooper), Lewis Black (Jon Stewart), Dane Cook (Stephen Colbert), Will Ferrell (David Letterman),
