David Hess(II)
- Actor
David grew up in Lakeland, Fl. His family had a history in music, his
father having sung in professional gospel quartets, his mother a singer
and instrumentalist. He attended Crystal Lake Junior High School, where
he won the Outstanding Bandsman Award in the eighth grade (which was a
big deal at the time).
David graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education. His last few years there, he was the first freestyle drum major of the Gator Marching Band, President of Phi Mu Alpha, and a member of Florida Blue Key and Omicron Delta Kappa.
After one year as the band director at Ocala Forest High School (where he received a First Chair of America Outstanding Band Director Award), David attended Louisiana State University as a graduate assistant in the School of Music. Among his activities in the instrumental music program, David played trumpet in the LSU School of Music's #1 jazz band and directed the #2 jazz band. While at LSU, David played trumpet for B.J. Thomas when he brought his concert tour into Louisiana.
After one year at LSU, David moved to Las Vegas, embarking on a professional trumpet career. Among his highlights was playing with Lynn Nicholson. It was while in Las Vegas that David was bitten by the acting bug.
He began his theatre study at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas working with Jerry Crawford, and soon transferred to the University of South Florida and enrolled in the theatre program there. At the end of his first year, he began receiving offers for professional acting work. Before another year had passed, he was given his Actor's Equity membership, performing leads in plays and musicals in the Tampa Bay area.
After a couple of years of nonstop performing in Florida and nudging from friend and director Annabelle Weenick, David moved to Los Angeles. He quickly found agents and began building a TV and film resume, supplemented with commercial and modeling work. Wanting a break after working five years in Los Angeles, David accepted the lead actor/singer position on the SS Norway, which toured the Caribbean. Originally contracted for three months, he stayed on for one and a half years. Too much fun.
Leaving the Caribbean, David shot a couple episodes of the Superman TV series at Universal Studios Florida. On his way back to LA, David headed to Denver, where he had been contracted to play Curly in a production of Oklahoma! for the umpteenth time.
It was in 1991 while in Denver that he met his wife, Joan Hess (formerly Joan Leslie Simms). Interestingly, after avoiding many opportunities to meet, David and Joan were cast in a commercial opposite each other the day before Joan's birthday, and that began the passionate and dramatic relationship that has been nonstop ever since.
They moved to New York City on Memorial Day 1993, and lived in an apartment on the Upper West Side for 15 years before buying a home just across the river in New Jersey.
His career has mostly been filled with theatre since then, performing on Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun and Sweeney Todd, as well as National Tours, Carnegie and Royal Albert Hall, Off-Broadway and regional theatre. He has also shot commercials, TV and film work in New York City, and has won three different regional theatre acting awards while being nominated five times. Most recently, he received Chicago's Jeff Award for his portrayal as Charlie in Shenandoah at the Marriott Theatre.
He most recently played Sweeney Todd to great critical acclaim in the Nationally Touring production of Sweeney Todd, which closed on June 29, 2008.
David graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education. His last few years there, he was the first freestyle drum major of the Gator Marching Band, President of Phi Mu Alpha, and a member of Florida Blue Key and Omicron Delta Kappa.
After one year as the band director at Ocala Forest High School (where he received a First Chair of America Outstanding Band Director Award), David attended Louisiana State University as a graduate assistant in the School of Music. Among his activities in the instrumental music program, David played trumpet in the LSU School of Music's #1 jazz band and directed the #2 jazz band. While at LSU, David played trumpet for B.J. Thomas when he brought his concert tour into Louisiana.
After one year at LSU, David moved to Las Vegas, embarking on a professional trumpet career. Among his highlights was playing with Lynn Nicholson. It was while in Las Vegas that David was bitten by the acting bug.
He began his theatre study at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas working with Jerry Crawford, and soon transferred to the University of South Florida and enrolled in the theatre program there. At the end of his first year, he began receiving offers for professional acting work. Before another year had passed, he was given his Actor's Equity membership, performing leads in plays and musicals in the Tampa Bay area.
After a couple of years of nonstop performing in Florida and nudging from friend and director Annabelle Weenick, David moved to Los Angeles. He quickly found agents and began building a TV and film resume, supplemented with commercial and modeling work. Wanting a break after working five years in Los Angeles, David accepted the lead actor/singer position on the SS Norway, which toured the Caribbean. Originally contracted for three months, he stayed on for one and a half years. Too much fun.
Leaving the Caribbean, David shot a couple episodes of the Superman TV series at Universal Studios Florida. On his way back to LA, David headed to Denver, where he had been contracted to play Curly in a production of Oklahoma! for the umpteenth time.
It was in 1991 while in Denver that he met his wife, Joan Hess (formerly Joan Leslie Simms). Interestingly, after avoiding many opportunities to meet, David and Joan were cast in a commercial opposite each other the day before Joan's birthday, and that began the passionate and dramatic relationship that has been nonstop ever since.
They moved to New York City on Memorial Day 1993, and lived in an apartment on the Upper West Side for 15 years before buying a home just across the river in New Jersey.
His career has mostly been filled with theatre since then, performing on Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun and Sweeney Todd, as well as National Tours, Carnegie and Royal Albert Hall, Off-Broadway and regional theatre. He has also shot commercials, TV and film work in New York City, and has won three different regional theatre acting awards while being nominated five times. Most recently, he received Chicago's Jeff Award for his portrayal as Charlie in Shenandoah at the Marriott Theatre.
He most recently played Sweeney Todd to great critical acclaim in the Nationally Touring production of Sweeney Todd, which closed on June 29, 2008.
