David Schneider
Schneider atWeb Summit, November 2015
Born	(1963-05-22)22 May 1963 (age 62) London, England
Education	City of London School
Alma mater	Exeter College, Oxford
Occupation(s)	Actor, comedian, director
Years active	1980s – present
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)

David Schneider (born 22 May 1963) is an English actor,comedian, anddirector. His acting roles include the role of Tony Hayers, in theAlan Partridge franchise.

David Schneider was born inLondon, England on 22 May 1963 to aJewish family.^[1] He was educated at theCity of London School, anindependent school for boys in theCity of London, before going toExeter College, Oxford, where he studiedmodern languages,^[2] and studied for adoctorate inYiddish Drama. During his time at university, Schneider performed a predominantlyphysical comedy act that contrasted with the trend towardsstand-up comedy in live performance comedy in the 1980s. It was at this time that he metArmando Iannucci, who in 1991 recruited him for news-radio spoofOn the Hour. He is a fan ofArsenal F.C.^[3]

He performed in the BBC Sketch showUp to Something (1990) withShane Richie,Suzy Aitchison, Frances Dodge, &Lewis MacLeod (actor).

Schneider performed inThe Day Today, the television spin-off fromOn the Hour and also appeared in the spin-offsKnowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge andI'm Alan Partridge where he played the fictionalBBCcommissioning editor, Tony Hayers. In 1994, he made an appearance onMr. Bean, inBack to School Mr. Bean, as the judo teacher. In 1996, Schneider wroteThe Eleventh Commandment, a play for theHampstead Theatre about aJew marrying agentile. In the late 1990s he appeared in the topical satireThe Saturday Night Armistice (subsequently retitledThe Friday Night Armistice) alongsideArmando Iannucci andPeter Baynham. In 1997 and 2000, Schneider played the part of Bradley Wilson in the BBC sitcomThe Peter Principle.

Schneider wrote the screenplay for the 2001 feature filmAll the Queen's Men, directed byStefan Ruzowitzky and starringMatt LeBlanc andEddie Izzard. Schneider has also performed in the BBC sitcomGimme Gimme Gimme and appeared onBBC Radio 4 panel showThe 99p Challenge. He had small roles in several movies, includingThe Saint,28 Days Later,A Knight's Tale andMission: Impossible, where he played the driver of theEurotunnel train. In 2004, Schneider playedJoseph Goebbels in thesatirical tongue-in-cheek comedyChurchill: The Hollywood Years. Following this, in 2006 Schneider took his first lead role when he madeUncle Max, a series of 13 dialogue-free shorts forCITV. They focus onslapstick humour, with Schneider saying he wanted to be "a human cartoon".^[4]

In April 2008, he featured in an episode ofHotel Babylon as a magician, a character not dissimilar to Tony le Mesmer whom he played in an episode ofKnowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge. Schneider provides the voice of Blink for the CBBC seriesOne Minute Wonders. In 2008, he took part in BBC Three'sMost Annoying People of 2008, relaying his views about celebrities includingPrince William,Mark Ronson andPeaches Geldof. In 2009, Schneider explored hisYiddish heritage with a 30-minute documentary forBBC Radio 4,My Yiddisher Mother Tongue, with contributors including family members, academics,Colin Powell andMichael Grade.^[5]

He has written a play, calledMaking Stalin Laugh, based on the slaughter of theMoscow State Jewish Theatre on the orders ofJoseph Stalin.^[6] He also directed a sitcom pilot in 2007 calledUp Close and Personal, set in the offices of a celebrity magazine and starringRaquel Cassidy. The pilot was subsequently rejected byITV2.^[7][8] In 2011, he played Soggy Sid inHorrid Henry: The Movie, and in 2012, appeared in ITV dramaWhitechapel, series 3, as murder suspect and taxi driver Marcus Salter. His radio sitcomBirths, Deaths and Marriages, set in a register office and starring himself, premiered onBBC Radio 4 in May 2012.

In 2014 he co-founded That Lot, a social media agency alongside writer David Levin and David Beresford. In 2018 they sold the company to the PR firmWeber Shandwick.^[9]

Schneider appeared in the fifth episode of the second season in the TV showPlebs in 2014, portraying a slave auctioneer called Agorix. In 2017, Schneider wrote the screenplay ofThe Death of Stalin with Armando Iannucci.^[10]

• David Schneider atIMDb
• David Schneider atBritish Comedy Guide
• official website captured by archive.today in 2013

• 1963 births
• Living people
• People educated at the City of London School
• Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford
• English male judoka
• English people of Jewish descent
• English male comedians
• English male film actors
• English male television actors
• English male voice actors
• 20th-century English male actors
• 21st-century English male actors
• English television directors
• Male actors from London
• Jewish male comedians
• Jewish English comedians
• Comedians from London

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