Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles, David Schwimmer trained at Northwestern University. He is a co-founder of the Tony Award winning Lookingglass Theatre Company of Chicago, where he has acted in and directed many productions including The Jungle, Big Lake Big City, Trust, Our Town, West, The Master and Margarita, Eye of the Beholder, The Odyssey, The Idiot, Of One Blood and his adaptation with Joy Gregory of Studs Terkel's book Race. He starred in the premieres of D Girl and Turnaround in Los Angeles, Glimmer Brothers in Williamstown, Some Girls in London, the revival of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial on Broadway, and Detroit at Playwrights Horizons. Schwimmer most recently directed Sex with Strangers for the Second Stage Theatre in New York.

Schwimmer most recently starred as Robert Kardashian in Ryan Murphy’s new anthology miniseries, American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, for FX.

Schwimmer's notable television and film credits include The Iceman, Nothing But The Truth, Madagascar I, II, & III, Duane Hopwood, Big Nothing, Band of Brothers, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Days Seven Nights, Apt Pupil, The Pallbearer and the hit comedy series Friends, for which he received an Emmy® Award nomination. His film and television directing includes Friends, Growing Up Fisher, Since You've Been Gone, Run, Fat Boy, Run, the HBO series Little Britain USA, and Trust starring Clive Owen, Catherine Keener and Viola Davis.

He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Rape Foundation in Santa Monica, California.