David Schneider (actor)

David Schneider
Schneider at Web Summit, November 2015
Born	(1963-05-22) 22 May 1963 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, and director. His acting roles include the role of Tony Hayers, in the Alan Partridge franchise.

Early life

David Schneider was born in London, England on 22 May 1963 to a Jewish family. He was educated at the City of London School, an independent school for boys in the City of London, before going to Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied modern languages, and studied for a doctorate in Yiddish Drama. During his time at university, Schneider performed a predominantly physical comedy act that contrasted with the trend towards stand-up comedy in live performance comedy in the 1980s. It was at this time that he met Armando Iannucci, who in 1991 recruited him for news-radio spoof On the Hour. He is a fan of Arsenal F.C.

Career

He performed in the BBC Sketch show Up to Something (1990) with Shane Richie, Suzy Aitchison, Frances Dodge, & Lewis MacLeod (actor).

Schneider performed in The Day Today, the television spin-off from On the Hour and also appeared in the spin-offs Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge and I'm Alan Partridge where he played the fictional BBC commissioning editor, Tony Hayers. In 1994, he made an appearance on Mr. Bean, in Back to School Mr. Bean, as the judo teacher. In 1996, Schneider wrote The Eleventh Commandment, a play for the Hampstead Theatre about a Jew marrying a gentile. In the late 1990s he appeared in the topical satire The Saturday Night Armistice (subsequently retitled The Friday Night Armistice) alongside Armando Iannucci and Peter Baynham. In 1997 and 2000, Schneider played the part of Bradley Wilson in the BBC sitcom The Peter Principle.

Schneider wrote the screenplay for the 2001 feature film All the Queen's Men, directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and starring Matt LeBlanc and Eddie Izzard. Schneider has also performed in the BBC sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme and appeared on BBC Radio 4 panel show The 99p Challenge. He had small roles in several movies, including The Saint, 28 Days Later, A Knight's Tale and Mission: Impossible, where he played the driver of the Eurotunnel train. In 2004, Schneider played Joseph Goebbels in the satirical tongue-in-cheek comedy Churchill: The Hollywood Years. Following this, in 2006 Schneider took his first lead role when he made Uncle Max, a series of 13 dialogue-free shorts for CITV. They focus on slapstick humour, with Schneider saying he wanted to be "a human cartoon".

In April 2008, he featured in an episode of Hotel Babylon as a magician, a character not dissimilar to Tony le Mesmer whom he played in an episode of Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge. Schneider provides the voice of Blink for the CBBC series One Minute Wonders. In 2008, he took part in BBC Three's Most Annoying People of 2008, relaying his views about celebrities including Prince William, Mark Ronson and Peaches Geldof. In 2009, Schneider explored his Yiddish heritage with a 30-minute documentary for BBC Radio 4, My Yiddisher Mother Tongue, with contributors including family members, academics, Colin Powell and Michael Grade.

He has written a play, called Making Stalin Laugh, based on the slaughter of the Moscow State Jewish Theatre on the orders of Joseph Stalin. He also directed a sitcom pilot in 2007 called Up Close and Personal, set in the offices of a celebrity magazine and starring Raquel Cassidy. The pilot was subsequently rejected by ITV2. In 2011, he played Soggy Sid in Horrid Henry: The Movie, and in 2012, appeared in ITV drama Whitechapel, series 3, as murder suspect and taxi driver Marcus Salter. His radio sitcom Births, Deaths and Marriages, set in a register office and starring himself, premiered on BBC 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 firm Weber Shandwick.

Schneider appeared in the fifth episode of the second season in the TV show Plebs in 2014, portraying a slave auctioneer called Agorix. In 2017, Schneider wrote the screenplay of The Death of Stalin with Armando Iannucci.

Filmography

Film

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Trial	Kullich
1996	Mission: Impossible	Train Driver
1997	The Saint	Bar Waiter
1998	Comic Act
1999	You're Dead	Ian
2000	If Looks Could Kill: The Power of Behaviour	Mr. Tanner	Video short
2001	A Knight's Tale	Relic Seller
2002	28 Days Later...	Scientist
2003	Blackball	Young Buck Reporter
	Cheeky	Todd
2004	Fat Slags	Tanner
	Churchill: The Hollywood Years	Goebels
2006	The Battersea Ripper
	Scoop	Joe's Co-Passengers
2009	Crazy Hands	Spencer	Short film
2010	The Infidel	Monty
2011	Horrid Henry: The Movie	Soggy Sid
	Arthur Christmas	General	Voice
2012	The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!	Scarlett Morgan	Voice Also known as The Pirates! Band of Misfits
2013	This Is Intercourse	Henry's Dad	Short film
	Underdogs	Chester	Original title: Metegol Voice, English version
2017	The Death of Stalin	—	Writer
2022	Fork	Demon
TBA	The Brilliant World of Tom Gates	Gluestick Ant	Voice Filming

Television

Television
1990	Up to Something!	Various	Writer
1991	Screen Two	Stamford Hill Cowboy	Series 7, episode 1: "Heading Home"
1992	Fireworks Safety	Ed Banger	TV short
1994	Mr. Bean	Judo Instructor	Episode 11: "Back to School Mr. Bean" Act 3: The Judo Class and the Toilet
	Paris	Butler	Episode 5: "La solitude"
	The Day Today	Sylvester Stewart / Alex - The Bureau / Brant / Adam Neils / Anthony Parr - Managing Director / Anton Sampson / Various	7 episodes Credited as Dave Schneider - 1 episode Writer - 7 episodes
1994–1995	Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge	Tony Hayers / Adrian Finch / Clown Leader / Clive Sealey / Tony Le Mesmer	7 episodes Writer - 2 episodes
1995	The Glam Metal Detectives	Constable / The Beefeater / Lucifer / Old Peg Legs	4 episodes
	Lloyds Bank Channel 4 Film Challenge	Martin	Series 2, episode 6: "Life's a Bitch"
	The Friday Night Armistice	—	Writer
1995–2000	The Peter Principle	Bradley Wilson	Also known as The Boss Main role; 13 episodes
1996	Kavanagh QC	Martin Haslam	Series 2, episode 5: "A Stranger in the Family"
1997	I'm Alan Partridge	Tony Hayers	4 episodes
1998	The Tribe	Man in Waiting Room	TV film
2000	Gimme Gimme Gimme	Neville	Series 2, episode 5: "Glad to be Gay?"
	The Canterbury Tales		Voice Series 2, episode 1: "The Journey Back"
2001	The Armando Iannucci Shows	Tooth Fairy	Episode 7: "Morality" - Uncredited Writer and program consultant - Episode 1: "Twats" Director - Episode 3: "Communication" Producer
2002	Look Around You	Man Outside Toilet	Uncredited Series 1, episode 4: "Germs"
2004	Shane	Bazza
	Animate Tales of the World		Voice Series 3, episode 1: "The Shoemaker's Son"
2005	Nathan Barley	Man in porn film	Episode #1.3
2006	The Ten Commandments	Tobia	Miniseries
2006–2008	Uncle Max	Uncle Max	26 episodes
2008	Clive Hole	Clive Hole	TV movie
2009	One Minute Wonders	Blink	Voice Main role; 13 episodes
2010	Little Howard's Big Question	Alan Monster	Series 2, episode 2: "How Can I Make a Monster?"
	How Not to Live Your Life	Derek	Series 3, episode 2: "Don's Angry Girlfriend"
2011	My Family	Solicitor	Series 11, episode 6: "A Decent Proposal"
	Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures	Ernst Bratfisch	Voice Episode: "The Silver Turk"
2012	Whitechapel	Marcus Salter	2 episodes
2013	Fit	—	Writer - Episode #1.2
2016–2017	Josh	—	Writer - 12 episodes Director - 18 episodes
2014	BBC Comedy Feeds	—	Director - Series 3, episode 1: "Josh"
	Plebs	Agorix	Series 2, episode 5: "The New Slave"
2020	Avenue 5	—	Director - Series 1, episode 8: "This Is Physically Hurting Me"

External links

• David Schneider at IMDb
• David Schneider at British Comedy Guide
• official website captured by archive.today in 2013