David Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s U.S. series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch. David also produced Baywatch for a number of series in the 1990s up until 2001 when the series ended with Baywatch Hawaii. David also crossed over to a music career during the end of the 1980s and the early 1990s and was noted for his performance when the Berlin Wall was brought down in 1989. He enjoyed a short lived success as a singer primarily in German-speaking Europe, particularly in Germany and Austria. More recently David has been involved with talent shows such as NBC's America's Got Talent in 2006. Hasselhoff's autobiography, Making Waves, was released in the United Kingdom in September 2006.

Biography

David in 1986David portrayed Dr. William "Snapper" Foster, Jr. on the soap opera The Young and the Restless from 1975 to 1982. In 1979 he played the role of Simon in Starcrash. He later went on to star as Michael Knight in the Glen A. Larson-created series Knight Rider from 1982 to 1986 (a role he would reprise in Knight Rider 2000 (1991) and cameo in 2008's Knight Rider TV film).

David describes Knight Rider as more than a TV show: "It's a phenomenon. It's bigger than Baywatch ever was." On the success of Knight Rider — "It's because it was about saving lives, not taking lives, and it was how one man can make a difference. And we had a blast making it, and we made sure nobody died on the show; just as we made sure nobody ever drowned on Baywatch." He describes the acting he has done as "a little more difficult than if you had a regularly well-written script – like, if I was going to be in, say, Reservoir Dogs, or The Godfather, or Dances with Wolves or Lawrence of Arabia or ER. I had to talk to a car."

While his star rose, fell and rose again in the US, Hasselhoff's popularity remained a little longer in Europe during the end of the 80s. David had one number-one hit in the German pop charts in 1989 ("Looking for Freedom"), which very much resonated with the fall of the Berlin Wall at that time, and two more top-ten hits in 1989 and 1993.

David returned to television on Baywatch which premiered in 1989. Although it was canceled after only one season, he believed the series had potential, so David revived it for the first-run syndication market in 1991, investing his own money and additionally functioning as executive producer. His contract stipulated royalties to be paid to him from the rerun profits, which gave him the financial liberty to buy back the rights to Baywatch from NBC.

In its second incarnation, Baywatch was much more successful. It ran in syndication for another ten seasons. It was also well-received internationally and has been shown in over 140 countries around the world. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Baywatch is the most watched TV show in the world, with over 1.1 billion viewers. David on the appeal of Baywatch: "I believe the camera photographs your aura, and it also photographs your heart. And I cast Baywatch that way. If you look at Baywatch, just about everybody on that show — even Pamela Anderson — has got a great heart."

This success combined with his royalties and his other ventures have placed Hasselhoff's fortune at more than $100,000,000.

In 1994, David was inducted into the Lyons Township High School Hall of Fame.

Also in 1994, David was scheduled to perform a concert on pay-per-view from Atlantic City. The concert was expected to help reignite his singing career in the United States. On the night of his concert, O.J. Simpson was involved in a police chase in southern California. Viewership of the concert was significantly lower than expected, due to the live coverage of the chase. Since then, David has not attempted another concert.

In 1996, David was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1997, he did a duet with Asia's Songbird, Regine Velasquez. The song was used as the main theme for his 1998 movie "Legacy". In the film, he was joined by Filipina actresses, Donita Rose and Chin Chin Gutierrez. The film was shot in the Philippines.

David made his Broadway debut in 2000 in the title role of Jekyll & Hyde. Beginning in July 16, 2004, he played the lead role in London performances of Chicago for three months.

David has made several self-parodic appearances in movies. He had a major appearance in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, released November 19, 2004, starring as himself (though very much in bygone Baywatch character) and meeting SpongeBob and Patrick (His full name is heard once in the movie. he is referred to as "Hasselhoff"). David also had another short appearance in the movie Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story as the dodgeball coach to the German national dodgeball team. Berating his team after being eliminated from a tournament, he shouts "Ihr seid alle Schweine!" (translated: "You are all pigs!", a common German insult) and smashes a photo of himself in his Baywatch attire. In 2004's Eurotrip, David appears in a fantasy sequence performing his early 90s hit single "Du". In a cameo as himself in John Waters' 2004 effort A Dirty Shame, David defecates in an airplane's washroom. The 2006 Adam Sandler film Click is the first film in which David plays a character, as Sandler's despicable boss. David also appeares in an episode of Wildboyz. David, Steve-O, and Chris Pontius in a Baywatch parody.

In his music video for "Jump in My Car", David again demonstrates a penchant for self-parody, this time of his performance as Michael Knight in Knight Rider. The car in the video was a black Pontiac Trans Am with a pulsing LED and an interior nearly identical to that of K.I.T.T. (this video was shot in Sydney, Australia and used a right hand drive KITT replica), including an aptly-timed use of K.I.T.T.'s seat ejection system. The video plays to a skit where he asks one of three girls to "jump in his car" to take her home. The girl initially refuses but then gets in so long as he behaves politely. She suggests that he should drive quickly, because she lives down south, "about 84 miles". When she insists she is not joking, he asks her to leave the vehicle, but she refuses, so he resorts to using the ejector seat to cause her to exit.

David presented a musical award with Gretel Killeen for the Australian Recording Industry Association on Sunday October 23, 2005 in Sydney. He was recently signed to Pepsi appearing in a massive outdoor campaign in January 2006.

David has also become something of an Internet phenomenon, mostly as a subject of fun. Numerous websites have appeared and there is currently a campaign to get him a number one single in the UK.

In May 2006, David returned to the spotlight after he was mentioned in an interview of Dirk Nowitzki, an NBA star playing for the Dallas Mavericks and a native of Germany. Nowitzki was asked what he does to concentrate when shooting foul shots. Dirk replied that he sings "Looking for Freedom" to himself. He meant this as a joke but it was thought to be a serious answer. Shortly thereafter, David attended the May 26, 2006 Mavericks home playoff game where they faced the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Western Conference Finals. Interviewed by Craig Sager, David stated he was as much a fan of Nowitzki as Nowitzki was a fan of him. In The 2006 NBA Finals, fans of the Miami Heat in the American Airlines Arena held up facial photos of David and chanted his name when Nowitzki went to the foul line.

Late 2006, a musical based on his life called David Hasselhoff: The Musical will open in Australia before moving to the United States. David describes it as "totally campy".

On August 2, 2006, David proclaimed himself king of the internet in a tongue-in-cheek advertisement commercial for Pipex.

In September 2006 he appeared in a radio interview with Gerard Gilroy on The Breakfast Show on Dublin's Newstalk 106, pushed his book on The Tubridy Tonight Show on RTE1, and sang and spoke to Grant Lauchlan of stv.tv, where he revealed that he would like to play a concert in the future at Scotland's Edinburgh Castle.

In November 2006, Mel Brooks announced David would portray Roger DeBris, the director of the Nazi musical Springtime for Hitler, in the Las Vegas production of The Producers.

Throughout the summer of 2006, Hasselhoff, along with Grammy-winning singer/actress Brandy Norwood and disgraced former British tabloid editor Piers Morgan was a co-judge on NBC's America's Got Talent, a show that showcases America's best amateur entertainers. He has been on the show's jury for all three season so far, in the second and third season alongside Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan. On the 2007 season finale, David sang "This is the Moment."

In 2007, it was announced that David is starring in a television series pilot for E! called Tales from the Hoff. Executive produced by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, the comedy follows an aging international star trying to navigate Hollywood life and re-energize his professional and personal life. Although David is portraying a fictional character, elements of the show's concept parallel Hasselhoff's real life.


In 2008, David was a featured guest in a Volkswagen commercial, where he talked about the company selling more cars in Europe and the rest of the world than any other brand. In response, the black Beetle commented that David is "not so big" in Brazil. In late October of that same year, David played a bit part in the EA real time strategy video game Red Alert 3 as vice president of America while also starring in its promotional microsite, conquerthislife.com. The website featured several tongue-in-cheek videos as well as a David soundboard.

In December 2008, David sang the national anthem at the NCAA Las Vegas Bowl. Although the game was televised live by ESPN, the station chose not to broadcast Hasselhoff's performance.

According to CelebTV.com, David will appear in the videogame "Ready 2 Rumble Revolution" along with other celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Justin Timberlake and Simon Cowell.

In 2009 David took part in "The Hoff: When Scott Came to Stay" for UK television channel Living. During the two part special, Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills lived with David for 4 days at his rented California mansion. Amongst other things they went jetskiing, visited Vegas and went to see "The Hoff Drops" (David's daughters) recording in the studio.

On April 21, 2006 fans of David Hasselhoff launched a tongue-in-cheek website "Get David to Number 1" in an attempt to get the 1989 hit "Looking for Freedom" to the top of the UK music charts through Internet downloads of the single. The campaign attracted attention on British radio and television broadcasts, in the national press  and on the Internet. Over 40,000 people signed up to receive the "Hoff Alert" email when the time had come to purchase the single.

The focus of the campaign shifted to "Jump in My Car", when that was actually released as a single, and BBC Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills lent his support. On October 3, 2006 the Hoff Alert was sent out, and David promptly gained his highest ever UK chart entry (number 3) on October 8, 2006.
e
David has launched a MySpace-like social networking site, known as "HoffSpace." He did so in part as a response to people opening false social-networking pages in his name, as well as those of his children.

David was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Dolores, a homemaker, and Joe Hasselhoff, a business executive. His pre-teen years were spent in Jacksonville, Florida, where he attended Christ the King Elementary School. After moving from Atlanta, Georgia, where he attended St. Jude the Apostle  and later Marist High School, David attended and graduated high school at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Illinois. He then studied at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and graduated with a theater degree from California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.

David was married to actress Catherine Hickland from March 24, 1984 to March 1, 1989. Their marriage was recreated in Knight Rider Season 4 (Episode The Scent of Roses which first aired on January 3, 1986). Before his divorce from Hickland, while they were separated, David dated Linda Butsnik, now Linda Morris, of Carrollton, Georgia.

David married actress Pamela Bach on December 9, 1989, and the couple had two daughters, Taylor Ann David (born May 5, 1990), who is attending the University of Arizona, and Hayley Amber David (born August 26, 1992). Although David was raised Roman Catholic, he and his family attended non-denominational church services. He remains religious, explaining that "amid all the adversity, whenever I had problems, God always said 'Here's Chicago, here's a book, here's the No. 1 TV show, here's the No. 1 movie, here's a recording deal, here's two million downloads. I'm gonna make you the biggest star in the world, David, and I'm going to give you responsibility with that, and you can either take it or you can fuck it up.' I fucked it up, I've taken it."

On January 13, 2006, David announced that he was filing for divorce from Bach after 16 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. His publicist stated that the couple has agreed to an amicable settlement. However, on March 9, 2006, Bach accused David of violent behavior towards her. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark A. Juhas signed the order March 6, 2006 ordering David to stay at least 100 yards (91 m) from Bach except for "peaceful contacts related to court ordered visitation" of their children. On June 15th, 2007, Hasselhoff's attorney, Melvin Goldsman, stated that David was awarded primary physical custody and full legal custody of the two girls. It was revealed on the The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie DVD that David likes to watch SpongeBob SquarePants.

Hasselhoff's autobiography Making Waves was released in the United Kingdom in September 2006. In an interview in April 2006, he promised that the book would present the "last chapter" regarding controversial elements of his personal life.

In 2006, David was allegedly thrown out of a bar at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London for drinking and rioting. However, Katie Rowley, a spokesperson for the Wimbledon Championship, denied it,  as did David himself. In an interview with the Associated Press soon afterwards, David also denied being ejected by The All England Club. "The tabloids make so much stuff up," he said. "I was at Wimbledon, and they said I was escorted out drunk. ... Absolutely not. I don't drink anymore."

On July 26, 2006, tabloids reported that David was publicly drunk at Heathrow Airport and was denied boarding a plane by British Airways. The airline only stated that a male passenger had been refused travel after being deemed unfit. The following day Hasselhoff's publicist denied the allegation of public drunkenness, explaining that David had a negative reaction to antibiotics and he voluntarily chose not to board the plane.

On May 3, 2007, a home video surfaced of David apparently in mid-stupor. The video showed him shirtless, lying on the floor, drunkenly trying to consume a Wendy's hamburger in a Las Vegas hotel room. His daughter Taylor Ann, who shot the video, can be heard saying, "Tell me you are going to stop, tell me you are going to stop." The daughter also warned her father that he could be jeopardizing his spot in the Las Vegas production of The Producers. In the wake of the leaked video David issued a statement saying that it was filmed by Taylor Ann so that he could see how he behaved when intoxicated and was released deliberately.

As a result of the video, Hasselhoff's visitation rights with his two daughters were suspended on May 7, 2007 for two weeks until the video's authenticity and distributor was determined. On May 14, 2007, a news report headlined "Pipex in a pickle: David Hasselhoff drunken antics last straw for $1 billion sale of UK ISP", questioned whether the video had impacted negatively on the sale of Pipex, a UK broadband and web hosting company. A major TV and newspaper advertising campaign in the UK for Pipex Communications Plc featured David as "The King of the Internet".

On May 3, 2009, David was rushed to the hospital, which Radar Online attributed to alcohol poisoning, reporting Hasselhoff's BAC was 0.39.  Hasselhoff's representatives denied the reports.

This David Hasselhoff Biography Page is Copyright © 2004 - 2009 Chuck Ayoub