Larry David

David lives in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. He was married to Laurie Lennard from 1993 until their divorce in 2007. The couple had two daughters, Cazzie and Romy. In 2017, David met producer Ashley Underwood at a birthday party for Sacha Baron Cohen, and the two married in 2020.

An atheist and an avid sports fan, David closely follows New York sports teams, including the New York Jets, Yankees, Knicks, and Rangers. He is also a supporter of the Democratic Party and has occasionally published satirical essays and commentary in publications such as The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Lawrence Gene David was born on July 2, 1947, in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, to Rose and Mortimer David. After graduating from Sheepshead Bay High School in 1965, he attended the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was a member of the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity and earned a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1970. Following college, he enlisted in the United States Army Reserve, training as a petroleum storage specialist.

While trying to establish himself as a stand-up comic in New York City comedy clubs during the 1970s, David supported himself with odd jobs, working as a store clerk, taxi driver, paralegal, and chauffeur. In 1980, he became a writer and performer on the ABC late-night comedy show Fridays, working alongside future collaborator Michael Richards. He later joined Saturday Night Live as a writer for the 1984-1985 season, where he met Julia Louis-Dreyfus. During his time at SNL, David struggled to get his material produced and managed to get only one sketch on the air.

In 1989, David partnered with comedian Jerry Seinfeld to develop a pilot for NBC titled The Seinfeld Chronicles. The project evolved into Seinfeld, which became one of the most successful and culturally significant sitcoms in television history. The neurotic character George Costanza, played by Jason Alexander, was modeled directly on David, while Michael Richards' character Cosmo Kramer was inspired by Kenny Kramer, David's former neighbor in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen.

David served as head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons of Seinfeld, penning 62 episodes, including the acclaimed 1992 installment "The Contest." He left the show after season seven to pursue other creative endeavors, including writing and directing the 1998 comedy film Sour Grapes, but returned to write the two-part Seinfeld series finale in 1998. He also made recurring uncredited voice appearances on the show as New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and on-screen cameos as Frank Costanza's cape-wearing lawyer.

In 1999, David created and starred in the HBO mockumentary special Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm. Its success prompted HBO to commission a full comedy series in 2000. Curb Your Enthusiasm featured David playing a fictionalized, socially blunt version of himself navigating everyday conflicts alongside a cast that included Cheryl Hines, Jeff Garlin, and Susie Essman. Known for its retroscripted format in which actors improvised dialogue around detailed scene outlines, the series ran across 12 seasons and 120 episodes before concluding in 2024.

Beyond Curb Your Enthusiasm, David starred in Woody Allen's 2009 comedy Whatever Works, portrayed Sister Mary-Mengele in the 2012 film The Three Stooges, and co-wrote and starred in the 2013 HBO film Clear History. In 2015, he made his Broadway debut as the playwright and lead actor of the comedy Fish in the Dark. Starting in 2015, David also made frequent guest appearances on Saturday Night Live portraying politician Bernie Sanders, who was later revealed through genealogical research on the series Finding Your Roots to be his distant cousin.