Actor - SCREENWriter
David excels in playing characters who are vulnerable, highly sensitive, and intellectual. Critics have called his performances "emphatic and nuanced" (TimeOut NY), "charming" (Talkin' Broadway and Show Business Weekly), and "well acted" (New York Times). He has played everything from a concerned working class father, to an overly optimistic calculus teacher, to a British lovesick soldier, to a drunk Irish nationalist.
For the screen, David wrote and starred in the award-winning short films For Francis (executive produced by Project Runway’s Tim Gunn) and Backup Plan, the latter which is currently being developed into a feature film. You can also catch him on youtube starring in the Streamy-award nominated and International Online WebFest nominated series Spring Street.
David is at home in the theatre, appearing in nearly 40 productions in New York as well as throughout the country, ranging from Shakespeare and Brecht to daring new works by playwrights such as Neil LaBute and Rajiv Joseph. He has worked with Emmy winner Brian Cox, Tony winners Jack Hofsiss and Randy Graff, and Tony nominee Robert Cuccioli.
In 2015, David began a non-profit film company The Great Griffon. The short film "Backup Plan" is available on Amazon Prime. In addition to being the writer-director, David stars in it alongside Jennifer Bobbi (Aunt Barbara and Pose) and Valeria Cotto (The Florida Project). Tubefilter has called The Great Griffon’s web series Spring Street "a complex, eye-catching show...the show is a lot like the classical music it uses as its soundtrack. Give it time to piece itself together and it will impress you."
Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, David has been devoted to creating art his whole life. A classically trained pianist from the age of eight and the president of his high school Thespian Society, David ventured out to New York to pursue acting on scholarship at Marymount Manhattan College, graduating magna cum laude. New York has been his home base ever since, even though he is deeply grateful for his Midwestern upbringing. He has received subsequent master class training from Kathleen Turner, Ted Sluberski, Sabra Jones, and Brad Calcaterra.
News & Updates
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My acting has been featured in The New York Times, TimeOut NY, the NY Post, Huffington Post, IndieWire, Variety, GayCity News, and many others. For professional references, visit the contact page.
Watch my interview on Fox 45 promoting "For Francis".
Piano
Selections from Spring Street - The Web Series and For Francis, a short film
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David Beck (piano); Luis Villalobos (violin)
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David Beck
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Amorika Amoroso (vocals); Luis Villalobos (violin); Jon Schluenz (post music)
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David Beck
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David Beck & Chijen Christopher Chung
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David Beck
As a voiceover actor, David has recorded a dozen audio books for the blind at the New York Public Library. His voice can be heard at the Library of Congress and has been featured in PSAs, commercials, and infomercials.
Petrified of the light
Check out my TikTok, where I perform excerpt from my memoir, among other shenanigans!
Below is the BookLife Prize Critic’s Report for my new memoir Petrified of the Light:
Title: Petrified of the Light
Author: David Beck
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir
Audience: Adult
Word Count: 67,000
Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Petrified of the Light is David Beck's sharp, funny, terrifically honest memoir of being young, gay, drunk and in the arts in NYC. It is also a bittersweet love story between David and his lover of ten years, Luca, a talented fashion designer, and the forces that keep them together as they tear themselves and one another apart.
Prose: David Beck's voice is acerbic and his wit is sharp, and the book is laugh-out-loud funny in spots. It is also an unsparing account of his spiraling into alcoholism and painfully trying, time after time, to get a handhold on sobriety before losing everything he came to New York hoping to find, including the love of his life.
Originality: This may be one of the best memoirs about being young, talented, gay, and risking throwing everything, including love, away that readers will have encountered since Augusten Burroughs' Dry and Magical Thinking, yet it is not derivative in any way. Beck articulates an experience that thousands who've come to New York to hunt fame and success have undergone; his narrative is both totally relatable and uniquely his own.
Character Development/Execution: Fledgling writers are warned by their instructors that "Just because it happened doesn't make it real," but Beck's memoir is real and raw and utterly convincing. Those who have walked New York's streets will recognize their city by sound and sight and smell; those who have lived there for a decade or more, especially those who've been involved in the arts, will recognize the people he describes as friends, neighbors, colleagues and folks they've stood in line with to get tickets to Shakespeare in the Park.
Score:
Plot/Idea: 10
Originality: 10
Prose: 10
Character/Execution: 10
Overall: 10.00
Report Submitted: February 22, 2022